A plethora of cultural events have helped to put Salisbury and the pretty villages of South Wiltshire on the map.

South Wiltshire has always had a strong connection to the arts, over the centuries drawing many well-known creative people to Salisbury and its beautiful valleys. Not only do they buy or rent property in the vicinity but their presence makes this a particularly cultural place to live and in the process, attracting others to move here as well.

Salisbury’s iconic cathedral and surrounding landscape has inspired many respected painters, most notably John Constable & J M W Turner. There are also strong literary connections from Thomas Hardy, Anthony Trollope and in more recent times, Leslie Thomas, Terry Pratchett and Vikram Seth.

From the world of screen entertainment, Michael Crawford, Joseph Fiennes and Christopher Biggins were all brought up in Salisbury. Famous musicians such as Sting and Eric Clapton have country residences in the area whilst previous incumbents include Robert Fripp & Toyah Wilcox whose house in Broad Chalke was once owned by Cecil Beaton. Another former Beaton home in the Chalke Valley belongs to filmmaker Guy Ritchie which he shared with his ex-wife, Madonna.

Cultural Events in South Wiltshire

A plethora of cultural events have also helped to put the region on the map and enhance its reputation. These include the Salisbury Arts Festival, Wylye Valley Art Trail, Deverills Performing Arts Festival, Larmer Tree Festival and the Chalke Valley History Festival.

With many fine productions at the Salisbury Playhouse, shows at City Hall, concerts in the cathedral and diverse exhibitions in Salisbury’s various museums, there is no shortage of high (and low!) brow entertainment and interesting events on offer.

South Wiltshire Housing Market

What is the relevance of this to the local housing market? Actually, quite a lot. Alongside the natural beauty of the Salisbury Valleys, its rich history and excellent schools, the depth of local culture helps to attract buyers and tenants new to the area, maintaining demand for properties even when the market is weak, thereby shoring up and even raising prices.

Somewhere in recent years that has seen something of a property boom directly as a result of a change in its cultural significance is Bruton. Although it has had a thriving art scene for many years, the establishment of the innovative Hauser & Wirth gallery has brought the once sleepy town into the spotlight and made it a fashionable place with the trendy art set.

Identified in The Times as one of the best places to live in England, it will be interesting to see if the Messums Wiltshire gallery just a couple of miles from Rural View’s office will have a similar effect on Tisbury and its neighbouring Nadder Valley villages.

Hindon is one of the most sought after villages in the beautiful Nadder Valley and we are delighted to have been instructed to sell an attractive older style chalet bungalow on the edge of it. With its versatile accommodation, good-sized South facing garden and pleasant outlook this property would make an ideal Christmas present! More information can be found on the Properties For Sale section or give us a call.

There has recently been a survey of insurance claims resulting from damage to cars in car parks, the result of which is that the insurance industry has seen a substantial increase over the last ten years. The cause? Apart from careless and possibly impatient driving, the principal reason seems to be that cars have got bigger. The vogue for ever larger cars and SUVs has meant that that the older car parking spaces are now simply too small, resulting in dinks to car doors and scrapes to wings.

Older garages, too, are becoming less of an attractive proposition as their width restricts even the slimmest of us struggling to squeeze out of the car door – that is if you want to keep your car in a garage at all. Let’s face it, unless you have a prized classic car that needs to be locked up for insurance purposes or under cover to keep it in shape, are you likely to need a garage for keeping a car in? At this point I should apologise to those of you who do indeed store your car away from the elements, since I know that some do, but the majority of people these days are happy to park in the open.

So how valuable is it to have a garage at all? They are useful for all sorts of things; storage being the principal benefit, of bikes (motor and peddle), boats, gardening equipment, outside furniture and more. But they are also an escape, somewhere to tinker, somewhere to think. The Americanism ‘man-cave’ may have gender overtones, and when viewing a house it is normally the husband who is the most keen on the outbuildings, but the truth is that we all need that that getaway and a garage or other decent outbuilding is therefore an essential requirement for many.

The properties that we sell do invariably have a garage or accessible shack of some size, and they are held back in value if they don’t. Alternatively, most of the country houses and some of the village properties that we market will have space within the grounds to build a garage or car port and many heritage designs are very attractive, with plenty of space and often a first floor room for an office or hobbies. They come at a cost, but add a further dimension to a property and will generally see a good return.

The right choice of school can of course have an enormous impact on a child’s education, development, well-being and future prospects. It is for this reason that the region is so popular with parents due to the excellent choice of schools in both the state and private sectors across all age ranges. The location of the family home can therefore be crucial, particularly with state schools, so as to ensure that it is situated within the catchment area of the desired school.

Buying property near good local schools

Many buyers and tenants are drawn to Wiltshire, Dorset, Hampshire and Somerset from not only London and other parts of the UK but also from overseas because of the reputation of the local schools, some of which can claim to be amongst the most prestigious in the country.

There are one or two towns in the area that act as educational ‘hubs’ as they boast having more than one leading school. These include Salisbury (Wiltshire) with its two grammer schools; Bishop Wordsworth’s (boys) and South Wilts (girls) and several private schools with The Goldophin (girls) being just one.  The small town of Bruton (Somerset) is another and Sherborne (Dorset) is a third being home of one of the well-known boys’ public school.

Visit our blog posts for local school lists in specific areas:

south east somerset schools
north west hampshire schools
north dorset schools
south wiltshire schools

Are you looking to buy or rent that perfect country cottage or family home in Wiltshire?

If you are looking to buy or rent that perfect country cottage or family home in Wiltshire then you have picked a great place to live in. With its sweeping chalk and limestone downland and pretty valleys and vales, this sizable (1,345 sq miles), mainly rural county, stretches from Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire in the North to Dorset and Hampshire in the South with Somerset to the West and Berkshire to the East.

Introduction to Wiltshire life

The bulk of the county’s population of 613,000 live along the M4 corridor to the North with Swindon, Chippenham and Marlborough being the main towns, the former being the largest and known for its engineering, electronic and manufacturing industries. To the West are a number of smaller towns such as Trowbridge, Melksham and Westbury that grew from the 19^th Century wool industry.

To the South of the market and brewing town of Devizes on the Kennet & Avon Canal is the large expanse of Salisbury Plain known for its military training grounds and prehistoric archaeology with Stonehenge and Avebury being amongst the most famous Neolithic sites in the World.

Property in Wiltshire

Rural View sell and let village homes, farmhouses and country property in South Wiltshire. This lovely agricultural area being made up of five river valleys called the Chalke, Nadder, Wylye, Woodford and Bourne Valleys. Rather confusingly, the rivers running through the Chalke and Woodford Valleys are actually the Ebble and Avon respectively whilst the Western end of the Wylye Valley is known as the Deverill Valley and the upper reaches of the Nadder Valley are called the Donheads! These rivers cut through rolling chalk downland, much of which is classified as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and all join up near or at Salisbury to become the River Avon.

Salisbury, Wiltshire

Salisbury’s roots go back to the Iron Age hill fort of Old Sarum before construction of the iconic cathedral began in 1217. This attractive medieval city holds twice weekly markets and is well known for its arts, schools, hospital and the many historic buildings around the Cathedral Close. The railway station has direct mainline services to London (Waterloo).

Just to the West of Salisbury, at the gateway to the Nadder and Wylye Valleys, is the small town of Wilton; the ancient capital of Wessex, site of the riverside stately home of Wilton House and once famous for the quality of its carpet production.

Warminster, Wiltshire

Despite its military connections, Warminster’s name is thought to derive from the River Were and owes its prosperity in the middle ages from corn, cloth and bell making. Close by is the Longleat Estate with its stately home, safari park, holiday centre and boating lake at Shear Water whilst Stourhead is much loved for its splendid National Trust owned gardens.

The southern border of the county forms part of Cranborne Chase, a large chalk plateau, the highest point being at Win Green with views as far as the Isle of Wight.

5 little known facts about Wiltshire

1. The largest Chinese restaurant in the UK is The Pagoda Palace in Swindon
2. Bremilham Church, Malmesbury measuring just 13 x 11ft, is the smallest church in Britain with a single pew for 4 people & standing room for 6
3. The Britpop band Oasis took their name from an Inspiral Carpets tour poster in Noel & Liam Gallagher’s bedroom; one of the venues was the Oasis Leisure Centre in Swindon
4. The phenomenon of crop circles originate from the 1980’s in North Wiltshire particularly around the Marlborough Downs & Pewsey Vale area
5. The people of Wiltshire used to be known as Moonrakers following excise men catching smugglers trying to retrieve contraband hidden in a pond at night; the criminals said they were raking the moon’s reflections on the surface of the water to gather cheese