Feria Urbanism helped the Puddletown Area Parish Council prepare the ground for a neighbourhood plan for Puddletown village and the associated civil parish is in the West Dorset district of Dorset.

The village is situated about 7 kilometres’ northeast of the county town Dorchester and is sited by the River Piddle, from which it derives its name. Puddletown’s parish church has significant architectural interest, particularly its furnishings and monuments. It also provided the inspiration for the fictional settlement of Weatherbury in Thomas Hardy’s novel Far from the Madding Crowd; Weatherbury Farm, the home of principal character Bathsheba Everdene, is based on a manor house within the parish.

Our work involved the preparation of a village character assessment plan, an architectural design guide and the organising and running of a community design workshop, held in March 2017. This event allowed a variety of different community groups to have their say on a range of planning and design issues. We also organised and ran a three-day design forum for the group in September 2017.

The final plan was approved at referendum in May 2020 with an 88% yes vote on a turnout of 34%.