About Sherborne

“Sherborne can lay claim to being the prettiest small town in Dorset”
Sir Simon Jenkins, author of “England’s 1000 Best Houses”

   

The Pheasants bed and breakfast is in the heart of historic Sherborne, Dorset, just 100 yards from the picturesque Cheap Street with its interesting and individual shops (and regular Farmers’ Market), and a short walk from the Abbey (founded in AD705 and burial place of the Saxon Kings of Wessex, King Ethelbald and King Ethelbert), the famous schools and Sherborne’s two castles – the 12th century “Old Castle” slighted by Cromwell, and the “New Castle” built by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1594 with its 50 acre lake and 40 acres of “Capability” Brown parkland.

There is a good choice of restaurants, pubs, tea-rooms and cafés within a short walk. "The Green", an excellent restaurant serving modern Mediterranean-influenced cuisine, is almost opposite The Pheasants and is open from Tuesday to Saturday inclusive, with orders taken from 12pm to 2pm for lunch and from 7pm to 9pm for dinner. We can book you a table if you require.

Sherborne House, which was voted South-West regional winner in the BBC programme “Restoration” in July 2004, is just a couple of minutes’ walk from The Pheasants, and houses art exhibitions.

Sherborne was written about by Thomas Hardy as ‘Sherton Abbas’ and by John le Carré (who went to school here) as ‘Carne’ in his novel ‘A Murder of Quality’. Sir John Betjeman called Sherborne "An Abbey town of golden ironstone - a town of schools”.

In May 2005 Sherborne celebrated the 13th centenary of its founding with the Sherborne Festival, a huge series of celebrations involving music, the arts, markets, street parties and many other events.


"On Monday Fisher took me a magnificent Ride to Sherborne: a fine old Town - with a magnificent Church finer than Salisbury Cathedral." - John Constable, 1776 - 1837.


Not far from Sherborne are Dorchester (19 miles), Cerne Abbas and many other attractive and historic towns and villages. Within easy touring distance of Sherborne (up to an hour to an hour and a half or so by car or train) are Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Salisbury, Poole, Bournemouth, Taunton, Wells, Glastonbury, Stonehenge, Dorset’s superb coastline with its sandy beaches, coves, old fishing ports and Jurassic cliffs, and many other of the West Country’s most beautiful and interesting places – including historic houses like Montacute, Stourhead, Wilton, Thomas Hardy’s Cottage and others.