Walpole Court

Puddletown | Dorset

Far from the Madding Crowd

Walpole Court is built in the former stables and walled garden of 17th-Century Ilsington House, home to the first Lord Walpole. An impressive archway leads into an attractive garden courtyard surrounded by delightful cottages, beyond which are the stables and coach house, now converted into delightful cottages and apartments.

Pretty Puddletown is just a short walk away and offers a doctors’ surgery, library, post office/grocery store, bookshop and The Blue Vinny, the pub named for the local cheese of the same name. The town has many links with the writer and poet Thomas Hardy, and it is claimed that Puddletown was the inspiration for Weatherbury in ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’. There are plenty of activities for all interests, including the Puddletown Plodders who make regular forays into the surrounding countryside. Dorchester, with its cinemas, bars and bistros, interesting museums, glorious gardens and river walks, is not far away, and the incredible beaches at Lulworth, Chesil and Weymouth Coves can be reached within 30 minutes.