Sedgehill and Semley

The villages of Sedgehill and Semley sit in idyllic, rural countryside, part of a merged parish. Their neighbouring villages are Hatch and Wardour. It’s a pocket of Wiltshire that borders Dorset in the Cranborne Chase National Landscape, and the River Sem meanders through it.

Although peaceful, they’re not isolated with easy access to the A350. It’s a drive of around 15 minutes to Shaftesbury and about 10 minutes to the liveliest of the Nadder Valley villages, Tisbury, with all its amenities and train station. There’s a bus route through the villages. 

Semley has a Community Shop, Semley Village Stores, which stocks essentials, as well as artisan produce from local food and drink producers, including organic eggs and local honey. The store is run by volunteers which speaks volumes about the community spirit in this picturesque village. Their website boasts: “This is dairy country and from Bath Soft Cheese to Little She, our cheeses are legendary”. If you like your milk fresh and unfussed then at Church Farm Dairy there’s an unpasteurised milk station. 

The Benett Arms, dating back to the 17th Century, is a country pub with rooms at Semley. Dog-friendly, it serves real ales and locally-sourced, home-cooked food and pizzas straight from their pizza oven. 

Chaldicott Barns is home to a range of businesses from Compton McRae delicatessen and fromagerie through to a dog training service and a company selling high-end safaris – all in the beautiful rural setting of an old dairy farm. 

There is also an independent travel book shop and the popular Semley CE VA Primary School 

Semley was the birthplace of actor Robert Morley, renowned for playing traditional English gentlemen on stage and screen.