Pictures of Sydling St Nicholas

About Sydling St Nicholas

This is a particularly scenic village lying deep in a chalk-stream valley between open downs. Every approach to it is beautiful, whether crossing the hills from Cerne Abbas or Maiden Newton, or coming up the waters of the River Cerne between meadows flooded with spring lambs and ponies.

The village sits on the Sydling Water, it has a wealth of ancient properties, some covered with thatch, others of attractive stone or colour-washed. Many of these cottages line the banks of the trickling stream which is covered in parts with pretty connecting bridges. At the centre of the village there is a pleasant 19th-century inn, this is an excellent place to tarry after enjoying a stroll around Sydling's quiet country lanes.

St.Nicholas's Church is the focal point of the village, this was built during the 15th-century and was the subject of much rebuilding in the 18th-century. An unusual feature is the fireplace inside the porch, which prior to to-day's village hall, the church porch was often the place villagers used for church and village meetings. Church treasures include a font thought to be around 1000 years old and a clock of 1593. The church is well worth a visit, its rich interior has many monuments and its tower has gargoyles. It can be found in a peaceful churchyard setting surrounded by old graves and tombstones.

The village has a profusion of landscapes and a rich variety of wildlife, it is a contented, harmonious place with a lovely rarefied atmosphere, hard to find in today's turbulent world and once here it is difficult to believe you are just a few short miles from the bustling town of Dorchester and the lively seaside resort of Weymouth.