Why Shaftesbury is the Perfect Town for a Bookshop Day Out
Shaftesbury may be a small hilltop town, but it has a remarkable collection of independent bookshops — more than most market towns twice its size. Whether you are after a specialist title on the natural world, a cookbook that will actually change how you cook, a bargain paperback, or a beautifully printed walking map of the Blackmore Vale, the High Street and its yards have you covered. Here is your guide to the best places to browse.
1. Folde — the nature writing bookshop on Gold Hill
Folde is the headline act. Tucked into Gold Hill House at the top of the famous cobbled street, this is one of the most beautiful and carefully curated independent bookshops in the South West. Its speciality is nature writing, wildlife literature and books about the outdoors, and the selection is exceptional — you will find titles here that you simply would not stumble across anywhere else. The shop was founded in 2020 and opened its physical doors in April 2021; in 2024 it won Independent Bookshop of the Year for South West England at the British Book Awards, which tells you everything you need to know. It is also a certified B Corp. Browse, take your time, and do not leave without stepping outside to look down Gold Hill — the view alone is worth the trip.
Open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm.
2. The Kitchen Table — cookbooks, food writing and proper kitchen kit
Part cookshop, part bookshop, part food event space — The Kitchen Table sits on the High Street and does something quite distinctive. It stocks an excellent range of cookbooks, food writing and foodie fiction alongside hard-to-find ingredients, beautiful table linens and local serveware. If you have ever given up on a bookshop because it didn't have what you were after, this is the antidote: it is a shop with genuine personality, run by people who actually love food. There is also a regular programme of cookery demonstrations and workshops if you want to make a proper day of it.
Open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, with some Sunday openings.
3. The Green Man Book Shop — second-hand and hard to find
Head down the High Street and duck into Swans Yard — a small artisan courtyard that is easy to walk past and well worth stopping in — and you will find The Green Man Book Shop. Owner Dave stocks a wide range of second-hand fiction and non-fiction, with a particular talent for sourcing unusual and hard-to-find titles. It is the kind of shop where you go in looking for one thing and come out forty minutes later with three books you had never heard of. Also stocks some new titles from local authors. A proper browser's bookshop.
Open Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm.
If your reading tends toward OS maps, walking guides and cyclist's charts, The Little Map Company are a Dorset-based specialist with a shop right on the High Street at 59a — just a few doors along from The Kitchen Table. They stock beautifully printed paper maps perfect for exploring the Blackmore Vale, the Cranborne Chase and the North Dorset countryside around Shaftesbury. If you are planning walks from the town — and there are some magnificent ones — picking up one of their maps is a far more satisfying experience than squinting at a phone screen on a muddy bridleway.
If your reading tends toward OS maps, walking guides and cyclist's charts, The Little Map Company are a Dorset-based specialist with a shop right on the High Street at 59a — just a few doors along from The Kitchen Table. They stock beautifully printed paper maps perfect for exploring the Blackmore Vale, the Cranborne Chase and the North Dorset countryside around Shaftesbury. If you are planning walks from the town — and there are some magnificent ones — picking up one of their maps is a far more satisfying experience than squinting at a phone screen on a muddy bridleway.
5. Oxfam Bookshop — the charity shop worth a proper browse
At number 19 on the High Street, the Oxfam Bookshop Shaftesbury is not just a charity shop — it is a well-stocked, well-loved local institution. You will find fiction, biography, children's books, poetry, art, cookery, gardening and more, all donated and all at excellent prices. Proceeds support Oxfam's development work around the world, and the shop sits just down from the Abbey grounds in a spot the Oxfam team themselves describe as one of Britain's loveliest hills. Pick up a few paperbacks here, then work your way up to Folde — it makes for a very satisfying Saturday morning.
Open Monday to Saturday, 9am to 5:30pm.
Tip: pair your bookshop tour with a stop at The Salt Cellar café at the top of Gold Hill. Order a coffee and a slice of cake, sit on the terrace, and look out over the Blackmore Vale. Then keep reading.
Plan your visit
All five shops are within easy walking distance of each other on or just off the High Street, so a single visit can cover the lot in a morning. For more things to do in town, visit our things to do guide. If you are making a weekend of it, browse our places to stay — Shaftesbury has some excellent accommodation a short walk from all of this.