Tim Palmer, April 2022, The Sunday Times.

This town is famous for historic schools and Hardy — but, today, with 232 community groups, it is its neighbourliness that’s now in the spotlight

Sherborne was described by John Leland — the Tudor Nikolaus Pevsner or Simon Jenkins if you will — as “the best town . . . in Dorsetshire”, and we still agree. Centuries ago residents of this ancient market town gathered to trade sheep, cattle, hides, and later silks and buttons. Now locals can choose from a wealth of independent retailers, from a violin repairer to made-to-measure corsetière; bustling markets on Thursdays and Saturdays; more antique shops and art galleries than you can shake an ormolu candlestick at; and a community kitchen that has taken neighbourliness to historic heights — as well as a Waitrose.

“Everyone is encouraged to be part of the local scene,” says Jill Warburton, a co-founder of the Sherborne Community Kitchen, which has been delivering meals and serving sit-down lunches since the start of the pandemic. With 232 community groups for every interest, there is a real sense of everyone pulling together, whether they’re generations-old locals who call the place “Sher-borne”, or the “Sher-burn” brigade, connected to the famous private schools. Both come together at Sherborne Abbey, founded by St Aldhelm in AD705, one of the most beautiful parish churches in England. The TV mini-series Wolf Hall was partly filmed on location here, as was Thomas Vinterberg’s adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd when Sherborne Abbey Close was transformed into the town square of fictional Casterbridge.

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