Poundbury – a new town with a difference!

On By Little Miss TravellerIn Dorset, South West, United Kingdom

As we were visiting the Dorset stretch of the Jurasssic Coast, we decided to take a short detour to Poundbury to see what it looks like for ourselves.  Poundbury is a thriving new urban development on the outskirts of Dorchester, West Dorset.  The town was commissioned  by Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales who outlined his pioneering ideas in his 1989 book ‘A Vision of Britain’.  It’s an experimental new town built on land owned by the Duchy of Cornwall.

Strathmore House, Poundbury
Strathmore House, Poundbury

Parking our car in Queen Mother Square we were charmed by the elegant mock Georgian architecture.  On one side of the Square stands this impressive yellow building, opposite is a branch of Waitrose in an equally elegant building and at the far end of the Square a block of high end apartments are under construction.

Waitrose, Poundbury
Waitrose, Poundbury

Walking round the town we found it to be a unique and fascinating place to visit, not exactly a quintessential English village but it does contain some picturesque cottages, village greens and a butchers shop that was voted Best in Britain 2015.  I liked the characterful architecture and the way different styles are blended side by side.

Town houses in Poundbury
Town houses in Poundbury

Construction started in October 1993 using Luxembourg architect Leon Krier’s plans.  The development focuses on an integrated community of shops, businesses and housing.  The town already has 2,500 residents but this number is expected to rise to 6,000 by the mid 2020’s when the final phase is completed.

Cottages in Poundbury, Dorset
Cottages in Poundbury, Dorset

There has been criticism for mixing too many different building styles and for the use of non local building materials which are inconsistent with the nearby historic county town of Dorchester.  Poundbury was intended to reduce car dependency and encourage walking, cycling and the use of public transport.  An electric shuttle bus makes regular trips between the development and nearby Dorchester but interestingly all this has had little impact as statistics show that car use in Poundbury is actually higher than in other rural districts of West Dorset.

Poundbury Signpost
Poundbury Signpost

Housing is a mix of modern and classical styles with such features as town houses built with some bricked up windows, as can be seen in many historic town houses around the country, the windows being bricked up as a cost saving measure to avoid payment of window taxes.  There isn’t an industrial zone, instead light industry is blended into the townscape.  A notable employer is Dorset Cereals who are based in Poundbury employing 100 people in their purpose built barn/ factory manufacturing breakfast muesli.

The Potting Shed Cafe, Poundbury
The Potting Shed Cafe, Poundbury

Before returning to our car we stopped for coffee and cakes at the Potting Shed which was full of rustic charm, served delicious food and had lots of interesting gardening gifts on display.

On leaving Poundbury, my impression was of a prosperous small town, with pleasantly laid out housing, shops dotted around on street corners rather than being along one high street and a feeling of calm.  It will be interesting to return when the development is finished to take a further look then.

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61 thoughts on “Poundbury – a new town with a difference!”

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    1. Thank you for your continued interest in my posts Brick. I’d read about Poundbury and it was good to take a look at the developments – much more attractive than other ‘new’ towns I’ve come across. Hope your UK travel plans are starting to take shape. Regards, LMT.

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  20. Lovely post, always good to see “local travel” and we are embarking on an England tour later in Spring after our 3 weeks trans USA rail journey. Thanks for liking my recent Nepal post, have followed you and hope you will follow back

    Liked by 1 person

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  21. penpaperandpetals

    Reblogged this on PEN, PAPER and PETALS and commented:
    This weeks Reblog Sunday is from Love Travelling. I love the photography and travelling right along with the posts. I especially enjoyed this post “Poundbury – a new town with a difference!” and the story behind it.

    With much love,
    Lisa

    Liked by 1 person

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  25. Lovely blog, brought back memories of when I was first married, my husband was in the British Army stationed in Blandford, Dorset. We lived there for five years. Beautiful area! If I moved back to England thats where I’d live. Thanks for sharing.

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  26. Sounds interesting. The pictures look like it is a cute little place to visit or live. I would think by integrating housing with shopping that car traffic would be greatly reduced. Do they have an understanding of why it is higher? Also, being in the USA, I don’t know what a window tax is. I assume you get taxed on the number of windows in you house. I would be in deep do-do if they did that here. My house is almost all windows. Because of that, my heating bill is lower in the winter. Just wondering why they would want people to not let the light in. I’d hate to be claustrophobic in my own house because I couldn’t afford a tax.

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  31. travelrat

    I think I see a faint parallel here with Portmeirion, in Wales. But, where ‘Portmeirion’ is Italianate, this is a mix of English styles. In fact, the ‘streaky bacon’ houses are just like some of the ones on the new estate, near where I live. ,

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      1. travelrat

        We’re going to North Wales next weekend, on a blogtrip which includes a visit to Portmeirion … last seen around 1978 … Hope to get some good photographs & video.

        Liked by 1 person

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