POUNDBURY I Dorset, England

King Charles' theme park for little Englanders?

Poundbury is famous for being built on land owned by King Charles. In 2006 it was described by AA Gill as ‘neurotic, irritably sighing, obsessively curated, wilfully blinkered suburb’ but The Guardian has recently called it Charles’ ‘lifeline, and his biggest success’. Is the tide finally turning for this town as it approaches its 30th birthday?

Charles has got previous with architects. In 1984, at Royal Institute of British Architects’ 150th anniversary dinner, he infamously cracked out the phrase ‘monstrous carbuncle’ to describe some modern buildings and to get the nation searching for a dictionary. In a country still reeling from some post-war concrete excrescences, the media largely agreed but there was also squirming over the potential influence of an unelected aristocrat. Charles preferred a traditional look and attempted to spread his word with a school, a book, a TV programme and an exhibition. For his own pet project, he enlisted the services of Leon Krier, an architectural theorist and urban planner from Luxembourg.

30 years ago the plan was drawn up for a 400 acre site on the edge of the old town of Dorchester. This wasn’t royal meddling, the land was owned by Charles’ Duchy of Cornwall estate. That said, this is the heart of beautiful Thomas Hardy country so the stakes were high. Krier’s master plan was backed by a series of classically minded architects like Ben Pentreath and George Saumarez-Smith, with different building firms working more autonomously on the interiors. The stated aim was for a mixed use, pedestrian friendly town with 35% affordable housing spread throughout.

Walking (natch) around Poundbury on a changeable summer’s day is a surprisingly pleasant experience. There are few straight roads, even fewer signs. New York grid plan this is not. The organic road pattern encourages slow driving or maybe no one can remember where their house is. The architectural style is a melting pot of cottages, villas, Scottish baronial, Arts and Crafts, and even a Greco-Roman piazza. It’s surprisingly fun and somehow gels harmoniously. It’s also energy efficient, one resident told me she only has her heating on for two or three days in a year when her mother visits! In some of the newer areas, it has the feel of a Thamestownesque stage set but, spending time here you realise it’s much more of a whole piece, made with love.

Over a coffee in the Duchess of Cornwall (nicknamed Camilla’s surely) pub I met Blake Holt, the chairman of the residents’ association: Love Poundbury. He finds many people arrive with prejudices and then change their minds having visited. The town gets a surprising number of architects from overseas on fact finding missions. Dotted around the streets are 200 small businesses and a school just opened which has made the demographic significantly younger, Blake’s own grandchildren recently moved to Poundbury. The UK’s new towns often get some stick until they are bedded in which takes time.

Blake struggled to come up with anything bad about Poundbury so I asked around, he is on the committee after all. The harshest criticism was that it’s against estate rules to BBQ or hang your washing outside. It does feel very orderly, one resident has been battling the estate to keep her magnificent container garden which spills out slightly, improving an otherwise bland square. This sense of everything being in its place isn’t for everyone of course. It is a dense urban environment but there is a calmness to the place which is enticing, being surrounded by Dorset’s rolling hills helps. Your food shopping options are limited though, there’s a posh deli and an expensive Waitrose. You weren’t expecting a Lidl now were you?

Whilst The Coracle probably wouldn’t choose to live there, Poundbury seems to be growing into a resounding success story whose influence might well ripple out as Charles intended. Unlike many building projects they even stuck to their aim of 35% affordable housing. Maybe a Poundbury resident should have the last word, as Blake says, when people talk about the architecture of Poundbury they keep ‘forgetting about the people, this works for the community’.

Check the residents website here

Buy some spanking fresh seafood from the Well Dressed Crab Company in the photo here