Key facts
OS grid ref: ST910328
What3words: ///admires.badly.relegate
Postcode: SP3
Post town: Salisbury
Unitary Authority: Wiltshire
Parliamentary Constituency: South West Wiltshire
Hindon
Hindon is a beautiful Wiltshire village, formerly an old coaching spot, surrounded by countryside and farmland, which has been largely unchanged for centuries.
Ideally positioned in The Nadder Valley in the Cranborne Chase National Landscape, Hindon is around 16 miles west of Salisbury, nine miles south of Warminster and seven miles north of Shaftesbury. Tisbury, the liveliest of the Nadder Valley villages with its facilities and amenities, is just a 10-minute drive away.
Against a backdrop of farmland and rolling Wiltshire Downs, the village itself has traditional streets of stone cottages made from locally-quarried Chilmark Stone. Many were built in the 18th Century after a fire tore through the village destroying nearly 150 homes.
The village today is still bustling and there’s a strong community spirit. Hindon Village Stores is a community-run shop with daily groceries, a dry-cleaning service and a Post Office. There’s also a GP surgery, thriving village school, a pre-school called Brambles, a playground and an old coaching inn.
The Lamb Inn dates back to the 12th Century, and once kept 300 horses for the mail coaches of this coaching town. But now the inn is a local’s, dog-friendly pub, with rooms and a garden terrace. Boasting that it has “all the quirks & qualities a country pub needs to be unforgettable”, it serves a seasonal menu all week and dry-aged roasts on Sundays.
The Grosvenor Arms serves hearty food made from local ingredients. Once a thriving coaching inn for travellers, the pub is steeped in history.
History
Unusually for English villages which evolve piecemeal, Hindon was planned as a centre for markets and fairs in 1218 by the Bishop of Winchester. In the 13th Century it was a prosperous market town, renowned for its country fairs and occupied by craftspeople; this artisan feel still remains today.
By the 18th Century its location on the main Exeter to London Road secured its place as a coaching village and in 1754 there were 14 inns and public houses in the village!
The High Street was lined with trees in 1863, mostly lime, but with a few oak which still stand today. Pollarded annually, they give the village an almost French look that matches its artisan vibe.
Walking and cycling
Three long-distance footpaths pass through Hindon: the Wessex Ridgeway, Monarch’s Way and Orange Way, so the area is excellent for walking, cycling and horseriding.
This walk from Christopher Somerville starts and finishes at the Lamb Inn which is handy! It’s an eight-miler, but with a pint at the Lamb as motivation, it should be a breeze.