Villages & towns in DorsetDorset, England

A steep, pretty seaside town on the Devon border, its curving Cobb harbour and blue-clay cliffs the cradle of British fossil-hunting.

Dorset

A hilltop Saxon town famous for Gold Hill, a steep cobbled lane of thatched cottages falling away over the Blackmore Vale.

Dorset

A honey-stone and thatch village near Chesil Beach, strung along one street below its hilltop chapel, swannery and subtropical gardens.

Dorset

The most complete small Georgian town in England, rebuilt in fine brick after a 1731 fire on the banks of the River Stour.

Dorset

A Victorian seaside town at the eastern end of the Purbeck, with a sandy bay, restored pier and a preserved steam railway to Corfe Castle.

Dorset

A historic market town centred on its twin-towered minster church, with a Georgian core and a much-loved 1950s model town.

Dorset

A village of grey Purbeck-stone cottages clustered in the gap beneath its ruined royal fortress, with barely a modern building in sight.

Dorset

Dorset's county town of Roman origins, tree-lined walks on the old ramparts and streets thick with Thomas Hardy associations.

Dorset

A mellow ochre-stone market town built around its great fan-vaulted abbey, with two castles and elegant medieval streets.

Dorset

A characterful West Dorset market town of wide rope-walk streets, famous for its antiques quarter and bustling twice-weekly street market.

Dorset

A handsome village of timbered and thatched houses by the River Cerne, abbey remains and a chalk hill giant looming above.

Dorset

A relaxed seaside village between Lyme Regis and Golden Cap, its beach among the richest fossil-hunting grounds on the Jurassic Coast.

Dorset

An 18th-century model village of near-identical white thatched cottages set in pairs up a single curving street below the wooded downs.

Dorset

A Saxon walled town between the Frome and Piddle rivers, its grid of Georgian streets running down to a riverside quay near Poole Harbour.

Dorset

A Purbeck limestone village of stone cottages around a duck pond, high above the sea near the Square and Compass pub.

Dorset

A small market town in the heart of the Blackmore Vale, joined to Sturminster by a medieval bridge and old working watermill on the Stour.

Dorset

A small West Dorset town in a bowl of green hills, its golden-stone square gathered around the church of St Mary.

Dorset

An award-winning Piddle Valley village of old thatched cob cottages, quietly set among water meadows and heath.

Dorset

A quiet village of stone cottages and bright gardens under the downs east of Weymouth, near the White Horse hill figure.

Dorset