Blandford Forum

Blandford Forum is a town in Dorset. The town is noted for its Georgian architecture

Understand
Blandford Forum suffered a major fire in 1731 which destroyed most of the town leaving 480 families homeless. The town was rebuilt in the next ten years in a grand Georgian style to the designs of local architect brothers John and William Bastard.

The town has a population of 10,400 (2021). A major local employer is the army which has a camp (opened in 1724) two miles outside the town.

Get in
There is no train service to Blandford Forum. The nearest main line station is at Salisbury or Wimborne Minster. The town is 15 miles (24 km) from Poole railway station and 15 miles (24 km) miles from Bournemouth Airport. In order to reach the town by public transport, it is possible to take the X8 service from Poole (hourly, takes 40 minutes), the 20 service from Salisbury (four trips per day, takes 52 minutes), the X10 from Yeovil (every two hours, 105 minutes), or the X12 from Weymouth (every two hours, 70 minutes).

Get around
Blandford Forum is a small town, and so sees a very limited bus service (only one route runs around the town every half hour). However, the town is small enough for walking to be convenient. There are also local taxi firms.

Do

 * North Dorset Trailway is a 14-mile walking and cycling path along the trackbed of a former railway. It runs from Sturminster Newton southeast to Shillingstone, Blandford Forum and Spetisbury. Shillingford's old railway station has been restored.
 * Great Dorset Steam Fair is held at Tarrant Hinton, five miles along A354 towards Salisbury. It's held from the Thursday before the August Bank Holiday, with the next on 25-29 Aug 2022.

Eat
There is a variety of restaurants and fast food in Blandford Forum. Try:



Out of town

Connect
As of April 2022, Blandford Forum has 5G from EE, 4G from O2 and Vodafone, but only a basic mobile signal from Three.

Go next

 * Wimborne Minster is a charming town nearby.
 * Shaftesbury
 * Wareham