Number 5

Dorset


The restoration of this Georgian town house has clearly been a labour of love: elegant fabrics and subtle colours meet bathrooms with tiled floors and slipper baths. The breakfast is rich in food from the local farmers market – walk off a bit of it on the two-minute stroll into town.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Dorset attractions

1. Shaftesbury Abbey

0.08 MILES

These hilltop ruins mark the site of what was England's largest and richest nunnery. It was founded in 888 by King Alfred the Great, and his daughter,…

2. Gold Hill

0.1 MILES

The often-photographed, painfully steep, quaint cobbled slope, lined by chocolate-box cottages, that starred in a famous TV advert for Hovis bread.

3. Old Wardour Castle

5.23 MILES

Six-sided Old Wardour Castle was built around 1393 and suffered severe damage during the English Civil War, leaving these imposing remains. The views from…

4. Stourhead

8.56 MILES

Overflowing with vistas, temples and follies, Stourhead is landscape gardening at its finest. The Palladian house has some fine Chippendale furniture and…

5. King Alfred's Tower

10.67 MILES

A 50m-high folly with wonderful views. It's part of the National Trust property Stourhead, some 8 miles south of Frome.

6. Longleat

12.94 MILES

Half ancestral mansion, half wildlife park, Longleat was transformed into Britain's first safari park in 1966, turning Capability Brown's landscaped…

7. Sherborne Old Castle

13.81 MILES

These days the epitome of a picturesque ruin, Sherborne's Old Castle was built by Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, in 1120 – Elizabeth I gave it to her one…

8. Sherborne New Castle

14.15 MILES

Sir Walter Raleigh began building the impressive Sherborne New Castle in 1594, but only got as far as the central block before being imprisoned by James I…