IS this Britain’s Most Picturesque Street? That’s what we’ll find out today when internet mapping service Google Street View announce the winner of its contest to find the nation’s prettiest thoroughfare.

But why should Gold Hill care if it wins or not? Because, over the years, this iconic thoroughfare has become so popular it could be forgiven for thinking it was the UK’s favourite street, never mind it’s most picturesque one.

Gold Hill as we know it today dates back to Medieval times, part of the town of Shaftesbury founded in 880 by King Alfred the Great. The name isn’t thought to refer to any precious metal but, rather, the Guild Hall near the top of the street.

For centuries tourists have visited it, to climb the steep hill, marvel at the Grade I listed retaining wall, built in the 14th century as part of the town’s defences, and to take in the fantastic view.


Our readers other favourites

• Market Street, Poole. ‘It has St James’ Church and this lovely, solid old Guildhall at the end and with the Georgian houses it’s really pleasing to the eye’.


• Church Street, Christchurch. ‘It still looks so old and pretty and then there is the beautiful Priory as a backdrop’.


• The Street, Milton Abbas. ‘It is, quite possibly, England’s first original planning development which made for the uniformity of the houses and it’s amazing they are still there like that today’.




It featured as the hill leading up to Thomas Hardy’s fictional Casterbridge market place in the film of Far From The Madding Crowd and has appeared on numerous chocolate box lids and postcards.

But what really put Gold Hill on the map was when Hovis decided its cobbled roadway was just right for an advertisement called ‘Bike Ride’ it shot in 1973. Nearly thirty years later, in 2006, it was voted Britain’s best TV advert ever.

A spokesman for the town’s tourist office said: “We still get people coming in here and asking for directions to what they call the Hovis street. It must have been responsible for hundreds of thousands of visitors to the town over the decades.”

She said the townsfolk were extremely proud of the street and recognised its importance to Shaftesbury. So what’s it’s secret?

“There’s nowhere else in Britain like it.”