The lilac coloured front door to Star "Gazy Cottage", one of the whitewashed 18th century thatched cottages of Milton Abbas. Dorset, England, UK.
The picturesque and orderly Dorset village of Milton Abbas consists of a single wide street lined on both side by 36 whitewashed thatched cottages, each one lovingly cared for with well tended gardens and manicured lawns at the front. The regularity and symmetry of the place makes it look planned, like part of some grand design, which is exactly what it was. In 1780, Joseph Damer, Lord Milton, the first Earl of Dorchester and owner of Milton Abbey, decided that the adjacent market town, Middleton, was disturbing his vision of rural peace. He commissioned architect Sir William Chambers and landscape gardener Capability Brown (both of whom had already worked on the Abbey building and grounds) to design a new village. And so it was that Milton Abbas was built, out of sight, in a wooded valley (Luccombe Bottom) to the south east of the Abbey. The offending settlement of Middleton was demolished, the site landscaped and most of the villagers relocated. The original abbey and house is now Milton Abbey School.
Size: 4287px × 2848px
Location: Milton Abbas, Dorset, England, United Kingdom, UK, Great Britain, GB.
Photo credit: © Andrew Wood / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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