Key facts
OS grid ref: ST947223
Postcode: SP7
What3words: ///cycled.backdrop.mixing
Post town: Shaftesbury
Unitary Authority: Wiltshire Council
Parliamentary Constituency: South West Wiltshire
Berwick St John
The small, idyllic village of Berwick St John, often just known as Berwick, sits in the Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (National Landscape). The Ebble and the Nadder, two of the five rivers which merge at Salisbury, rise in Berwick, and the village and surrounding area has spectacular, far-reaching views – even as far as the Isle of Wight on a clear day.
Berwick is just a 15-minute drive on the A30 to the bustling market town of Shaftesbury with its famous Gold Hill and all its facilities. It’s also just over 30 minutes to the cathedral city of Salisbury. More locally, Tisbury train station is 20 minutes away where you can access the Exeter/Waterloo line. A Salisbury Reds bus route runs through the village.
The village of Ludwell, with its award-winning shop and post office, butcher, primary school and two pubs, is just three miles down the road.
The village has a thriving community with a parish website, church and a village hall, and an event list that includes the likes of wassailing, Burns Night celebrations, a Harvest Festival and its own Bake-Off.
The Talbot Inn dating back to the mid-17th Century has an inglenook fireplace for the cold months and a beer garden for the warmer ones.
The village hosts the biennial Berwick St John Country Fayre, a festival for steam enthusiasts that attracts visitors from far and wide and raises funds for local charities.
History
The village and the area around Berwick St John is rich in history, with a number of prehistoric sites, more recent historic estates and the Grade II listed St John the Baptist Church dating back to the 14th Century. The name ‘Berwick’ originates from the Old English bare or barley, and wic as farm or settlement. The name and the fact that the village sits by running water suggests it’s Anglo-Saxon in origin.
The ancient ruins of Old Wardour Castle were a backdrop for the 1991 blockbuster film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
Walking and cycling
Berwick St John has plenty of natural spaces for walking and cycling, with at least two Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Winklebury Hill with its early Iron Age fort, and Pincombe Down.
The Ox Drove, a medieval drover’s road which runs from Dorset to Salisbury, crosses the parish about a mile south of the village and offers plenty of walking routes and off-road cycling opportunities.
If you’d like to explore the area on foot, then here’s a walk from travel writer, Christopher Somerville, which was first published in The Times – luckily it starts and finishes at The Talbot Inn!
