Key facts

OS Grid Reference: ST915265
What3Words: ///emptied.obeyed.refrained
Postcode: SP3 
Post town: Salisbury
Unitary Authority: Wiltshire
Parliamentary Constituency: South West Wiltshire 

Wardour

Wardour is a pretty estate in the Nadder Valley and inside the Cranborne Chase AONB (National Landscape). 

The estate is about 14 miles from Salisbury, a drive of around 30 minutes on the A30, and eight miles from Shaftesbury. It’s only 10 minutes from the largest and liveliest of the Nadder Valley villages, Tisbury, with all its facilities and amenities including a train station. So, Wardour is an ideal blend of quiet, traditional village life, but with plenty of conveniences including a primary school.

For all the fans of Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, this would be the perfect place to call home. Its backdrop is Old Wardour Castle, the ancestral home of Robin in the blockbuster movie.  

Dating back to the 1500s, the castle was built as a luxury home for the Arundell family, but while her husband was away fighting for the Crown during the English Civil War, Lady Blanche Arundell, with just 25 men and her maidservants, bravely defended the home from a bloody siege by Parliamentarians, until it was almost destroyed and she surrendered. The new castle dominates the village, a grand mansion built in the 1770s just a mile from the original. It’s now a stunning collection of luxury apartments, including one owned by British fashion designer, Jasper Conran. 

The castles, like the rest of Wardour, sit serenely in gentle countryside and the old castle is an idyllic spot for dog walking and a Saturday picnic, just a short walk from the estate. 

History

A settlement at Wardour can be traced back as far as Neolithic times, but it was by the Middle Ages that the village had become an agricultural hub, with crops, sheep farming and wool. This was the backdrop for the construction of Old Wardour Castle. 

The castle was built in the 14th Century in a hexagonal layout. In its time it would have been a defensive fortress but also an innovative luxury residence for entertaining. The castle was besieged in 1643 during the English Civil War and was partially destroyed. It then fell into disrepair before it came under the guardianship of English Heritage as a medieval ruin. 

New Wardour Castle may be its successor, but the two have very different personalities! It was built in the 18th Century to a neo-classical design by the Arundell family, who also owned the old castle. A grand Georgian country house, it had extensive landscaped gardens and parkland. Today New Wardour Castle is a private home and not open to the public. 

Walking and cycling

If you would like to explore Wardour on foot, this loop walk from Alltrails is ideal in dry weather. It’s just over four miles and takes you past both old and new Wardour Castles. 

 

Explore our
Patch

It’s safe to say that we live in one of most beautiful places in the British Isles, with everything from the culture and heritage of a city and the buzz of a market town, right down to the quietest rural villages. Each area has its own unique charm, so explore our patch to uncover where is perfect for you.