Whitchurch Canonicorum

Whitchurch Canonicorum

This lovely rural village is named after Saint Wite (or Saint Candida), and her ancient shrine in the parish church was an important place of pilgrimage; it is still worth a visit as one of the very few churches to contain the remains of its name saint, as is her nearby healing well – believed until recently to cure eye ailments.

Set in the middle of the Marshwood Vale, Whitchurch is a good place to enjoy rural peace and quiet, yet within easy reach of the busier charms of local resorts like Charmouth and Lyme Regis. The local pub, the Five Bells, offers good home-cooked food if you don’t feel like catering for yourself. A little further afield, the famous Moore’s Biscuit Bakery shop sells sweet treats for everyone (will you be lucky and get there when the bargain bags of broken biscuits are put out?), and has an interesting art gallery attached.