
Top places to live in Dorset Beaminster
Laid back, pretty town with an arty feel and an an attractive conservation area around the market square. Surrounded by lush countryside and not far from the sea. Part of our Top 200 Places to Live series.


WHY?
A laid-back, pretty town with a bit of an arty feel and an attractive conservation area around the market square. Surrounded by lush countryside and not far from the sea.
EAT
Mediterranean-influenced nosh at Brassica, founded by Cass Titcombe of Spitalfield’s Canteen. Restaurant and hotel The Ollerod, run by Michelin-starred Chris Staines (ex Mandarin Oriental) and Silvana Bandini, formerly GM of The Pig-near Bath. Both Michelin listed.
SHOP
There’s a butcher, a baker and for candlesticks try good ol’ fashioned hardware store Larcombes or Cilla & Camilla, which sells gorgeous homewares, clothes, gifts and has a cafe (this is one of their several Dorset stores). Homewares at Brassica Mercantile. Rambling Rose for floristry.
NEARBY ATTRACTIONS
The annual Beaminster Festival of Music & Arts attracts international performers. Mapperton House, home to the Earl of Sandwich, is a Jacobean manor house with lush Italianate gardens and well worth a mooch. The coast’s only about six miles away.
AVERAGE HOUSE PRICE
£269,193 in 2019. Detached, £392,975, terraced, £236,629, and semis, £227,268. Estate agents include Mayfair Town & Country.
HOT PROPERTY
SCHOOLS
State primaries and secondary Beaminster School has been rated ‘Good’. Independent Perrott Hill Prep is about seven miles away.
BEST KEPT SECRET
Beaminster is Emminster in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbevilles. Martin Clunes is the resident celeb.
COMMUTE
Five miles to Crewkerne station then London Waterloo in about 3 hours.
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