Shaftesbury
Perched on a hill high above Dorset’s gentle Blackmore Vale is one of England’s most scenically located and charming historic market towns. Founded 1100 years ago as the home of King Alfred’s citadel Benedictine Abbey for women, and today largely unchanged since the 18th century, Shaftesbury is a browser’s and historian’s treasure trove. A wealth of traditional shops, regular markets, secondhand books and antiques, and several museums await your visit. Located within Dorset but on the Wiltshire and Somerset borders, Shaftesbury also offers easy access to Salisbury, Stonehenge, Bath, Stourhead and Longleat, and its proximity to the A303 (7 miles north) makes it a perfect stopover for east-west traffic between London and Devon & Cornwall.
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