Broad Chalke

Broad Chalke was listed in the Sunday Times’ Best Places to Live List 2023!

Broad Chalke, sometimes spelt Broadchalke, sits halfway along the Chalke Valley and is the liveliest of the valley’s villages with good facilities including a sports centre, village shop and café, GP surgery, post office and library.  

There’s also a primary school, pre-school nursery, story times and ‘happy bats tennis’ for toddlers, plus a bus route from Salisbury Reds making the village a popular choice for families. 

The village is around nine miles from the cathedral city of Salisbury, with its shops, restaurants, pubs, culture, heritage and facilities – a drive of around 25 minutes. From the city, the Exeter to London line takes you to Waterloo in less than 90 minutes. 

Broad Chalke is surrounded by chalk downlands with two streams flowing through it, The Chalke and The Ebble. Its winding lanes take you past thatched cottages and through the hamlets of Stoke Farthing, Knighton, Little London and Mount Sorrel.  

Watercress has been produced in Broad Chalke since 1880, fed by the clear, cold waters of the River Ebble and, in season, there’s a watercress point where you can buy it grown on the doorstep with an honesty box for payment. The local shop also stocks locally-produced milk, fresh meat and vegetables, and supports local growers and producers such as Chalk Stream Trout and Nunton Farm Dairy. 

There’s a strong sense of community in the village and its hamlets, with a parish website that keeps locals informed of what’s happening, a visitor guide, and a newsletter called Chalke Sheet.  

To the west of the village is Gurston Down Speed Hill Climb which is regarded as the South’s premier motor racing speed hill climb and holds 300 meetings a year.

The village fete is a key event in the summer with traditional games and competitions, and a barbecue with locally-sourced produce, tea and cake, ice cream and a well-stocked bar. The Village Volunteer Group looks after the community facilities and the landscape and there’s a volunteer link service to help those who need to travel for hospital appointments.