Jonathan Thomas (00:00)
Welcome back to the Anglotopia podcast. This week, we are going to do something a little different. We're going to virtually go to a very special place. And for those who have followed Anglotopia for a while, you'll know that we have a very special relationship with a little town in Dorset called Shaftesbury It is my English happy place. And it is

Keri Jonees (00:01)
the Anglotopia This week, we are going to do something a little different.

we're going to virtually go to a very special place. And for those who have filed in Utopia for a while, you'll know that we have a very special relationship with a little town in Doris to called Shaftesbury. It is my English happy place. And it is the one place that I have been to most in 25 years of travel around Britain. I discovered it when I was in high school, when I bought a poster of a, with a quiet, but we've seen on it and I hung it on my wall and dreamed of going to that place one day and that place

Jonathan Thomas (00:21)
the one place that I have been to most in 25 years of travel around Britain. I discovered it when I was in high school when I bought a poster of a with a quiet village scene on it and I hung it on my wall and dreamed of going to that place one day. And that place was called Gold Hill, which is a very famous street in Shaftesbury that has become world famous for reasons that we'll get into in a little bit. And I visited for the first time in 2004 and since I fell in love with it and I've been back several times since then I've

Keri Jonees (00:36)
called Gold Hill, which is a very famous street in Shaftesbury that has become world famous for reasons that we'll get into in a little bit. And I visited for the first time in 2004 and since I fell in love with it and I've been back several times since then I've cumulatively

Jonathan Thomas (00:51)
cumulatively spent several months there over the years and I always can't wait to go back. And to take us there virtually today, our special guest is Kerry Jones from the local podcast and radio station, This Is Alfred, which started as a podcast covering the issues and places important to Shaftesbury and the Blackmore Vale and has since turned into a volunteer run radio station. so welcome Kerry.

Keri Jonees (00:59)
from the local podcast and radio station, This Is Alfred, which started as a podcast covering the issues and places important to Shaftesbury and...

So welcome, Kerry. Thank you. Nice to talk to you again.

Jonathan Thomas (01:16)
So for those who don't know why Shaftesbury is so famous, can you tell us why Gold Hill is one of the most famous streets in the world?

Keri Jonees (01:22)
famous streets in the world? Well it depends how old you are really because we had one of the most enduring and famous British TV commercials of all time was filmed in 1973 on the hill on Gold Hill. In fact it had its 50th birthday last year. It was the first job for a guy who's gone on to become quite famous, the film director Ridley Scott, the guy who made Aliens and it was his first job for an advertising agency. The advert was called The Boy on the Bike, we never knew that at the time. It was a 30 second commercial

about a young lad in Victorian clothes, sort of rags and a flat cap who pushed his bike laden with bread up the cobbles of Goldhill. Very quintessentially English, very scenic. And it was voted Britain's favourite TV commercial of all time. So quite a big hitter. And a lot of people came to see where the ad was filmed and it was lampooned in send ups and sketches and skits on some top rating TV shows throughout the 1970s.

1980s so it became very very well known. So if anybody that's kind of I suppose in their 40s upwards knows it from the TV advert anybody younger I guess they're probably Instagrammers and it's just one of the most beautiful landmarks in Britain it's said to be the most romantic site in England it's said to be the most beautiful site in England people come on a tour of Dorset and have a look at Gold Hill and some of the other natural features locally and it's always on a kind of the Instagram list we have people from

Asia from all over the place is standing there and pout and pose on the hill each day

Jonathan Thomas (02:54)
Right, and for those who want to see the commercial, we will put the link in the show notes. And so would you say Gold Hill is the primary reason most outsiders visit Shaftesbury? What has it done to the town?

Keri Jonees (02:59)
so would you say gold?

later through the Chester, what has it done to the town? Well, it's hard to say what it's done to the town because the town has always been a draw for tourists and we're going back to sort of the year 1100, 10, 100, that far back because it was a major attraction. Are you aware of in France, Lourdes, the place that's a Catholic, Catholic pilgrimage site? It was kind of like that, the English equivalent. People came here to get cured in the Abbey of Ailments.

Jonathan Thomas (03:26)
Yeah.

Keri Jonees (03:30)
people came from all over England. So it was really rich, a big tourism place. So it was always popular. That died down after the Abbey got destroyed by Henry VIII. They had a quiet period, I guess, for about 400 years or so. But as people discovered tourism, people came to look at the hilltop town. The whole town's on a hill. The views are amazing. It's the highest point in the south of England, the town, the highest town, where 700 feet above sea level. So you can see for miles. You can see Glastonbury Tor, where

The Arthurian King Arthur legend is set and you can see amazing stuff just on the countryside. So it's always been somewhere that people have come to to have a look at the scenery. But certainly the Hovis commercial in the last 50 years has really heightened the profile of Shaftesbury. But a lot of people don't know it's Shaftesbury. They see the hill on TV and think that's lovely. I'd love to go there one day. But people never see a caption on TV saying this is Shaftesbury because why would you? It's TV commercial. They think it's in the north of England because they've used a traditional

brass band, silver band playing their instruments and those are synonymous with the north of England with the mining communities they all had those sort of bands so people always think it's set in the north although it's not.

Jonathan Thomas (04:41)
Yeah, I remember when I first visited in 2004 we were got to talking to some pensioners who were had visited Shaftesbury on a coach tour and they were wondering how we found the place and they were they were Just as equally baffled that this iconic street scene was in Dorset because they all thought it was in Yorkshire

Keri Jonees (04:47)
visited Shaftesbury on a coach tour and they were wondering how we found the place and they were just as equally baffled that this iconic street scene was in Dorset because they all thought it was in Yorkshire. So each day for the radio we do a thing called View From The Hill where I go out and record a conversation with a visitor and ask them why they came to Shaftesbury and what they like about Shaftesbury and I love it. Often when you find Americans who come to town because the town itself is very old, it's very quaint, it's got old cottages.

It's what you think England looks like, I'm told. And they like the town centre. And some people are about to set off back to their next destination. And I said, have you been to Gold Hill? And I'll walk them through the gap. There's a narrow passage. It's probably about 10 feet wide that goes through the steps down to the hill. And the vista opens out in front of you, the rolling countryside and the cottages, some of which are thatched with the kind of basket type roof going down in steps down the side of the hill. And they see that view. They hadn't seen it before. There's a woman from

California that I spoke with near Palm Springs last week and she was tearful and she just lost power of speech. She was there saying, I can't believe it. It's like something out of Disney and she was crying. She was so emotionally moved by it because people have no idea it's there sometimes. I just think it's a nice little market town, very pretty and then the big reveal. You just walk literally 30 seconds walk from the main street and you're there with the most photographed view in England and people don't know it's there.

Jonathan Thomas (06:16)
Yeah, it is very hidden. I know when we visited the first time, the taxi driver who dropped us off from, we had rode the train into Gillingham and he, the taxi brought us to Shaftesbury and he said, and we were like, so where's gold Hill? Cause we're on the high street. We're like, what doesn't look, this doesn't look like the picture. And he goes, just walk behind the town hall next to the church. And it's right there. I'm like, okay, I'm a little worried about this. This seems a little strange. And then we walked down, as you said, and as soon as you turn in the corner,

Keri Jonees (06:23)
train into Gillingham and the taxi brought us to Shaspairies and we were like, so where's Gold Hill?

Yeah. Good answer.

Jonathan Thomas (06:45)
the Vista opens up and you see this famous street scene and it is it is probably other than my wife, the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life. And it's, you know, well, she will be listening. So and it's just it took my breath away. And I couldn't believe that this place was real. And it's just to see the iconic cottages, you know, lining the hill, the ruined abbey on the side and then seeing the

Keri Jonees (07:01)
It's just, it took my breath away. I couldn't believe that this place was And it's just to see the iconic cottages, you know, lining the hill, the ruined abbey on the side, and then seeing the Blackmore Vale beyond, which is just quintessential Which leads me to my next question, which is, can you set Shaftesbury and its landscape? Like, what is...

Jonathan Thomas (07:14)
the Blackmoor Vale beyond, which is just quintessential England. Which leads me to my next question, which is, can you set Shaftesbury and its landscape? Like what's the Blackmoor Vale? What's the Cranborne Chase? What are all these weird English names of things?

Keri Jonees (07:26)
What's the Blackmore Vale? What's the Cranborne Chase? What are all these weird English names and things? OK, gosh, it's a bit of a topography and history test, isn't it? Not my skill set. So I'll give it a go. Shaftesbury is set on a promontory. It's like a kind of a bluff. I think that's the term Americans might be familiar with, like a big, long landmass. So on three sides, it was easily defended. That's why King Alfred in the year 888.

or a little before then actually, there's a fortress before then here, decided to set up the abbey because it was somewhere where we were at war with the Vikings at that time. And you could see if they were coming because you were so high up, you could just attack them if they tried to climb up the very steep escarpment on three sides. So it juts out and it stands above the Blackmoor Vale, which is obviously a lower plane.

Not that flat, but it's undulating, but it's much lower. It stands about 300 feet above. You can see the town of Shaftesbury with the hilltop church rising above the countryside. So we stand out in an area that's very lowly populated for the south of England. There's not terribly much housing here. Locals say it's grown a lot recently, but you can go for a long way without seeing houses. There's lots of tiny little villages. It's very rural. We don't have any...

motorways or interstate equivalents here. It's very, very quiet. You have to make a pointed effort to come here. So it's got an edge of isolation about it, but people choose to come here and people choose to stay here. So the town in its setting is beautiful and there's rolling countryside. It just looks like velour or velvet, green in colour, particularly when it's been raining in the spring, just rolling out in front of you. Lots of hills that look like whale's backs. They're undulating in the distance.

rolling out towards the Dorset Coast, which is one of the most beautiful coastlines in the United Kingdom. So it's a beautiful setting. A lot of people just fall in love with it when they come here. A lot of people just get enchanted by the town because it's a very artistic, creative and supportive community. And people want to move here because they've done the London thing and any city is never as friendly and they just see something in Shaftesbury So in this landscape, it's very pretty.

A lot of the buildings are stone. It's a very unique sort of stone. It's called green sand. It's a type of limestone and it has a kind of an olive -ish hue to it. Very distinctive in colour and it just creates creates really unique sense of place. If you were blindfolded and driven around the country and then somebody took the blindfold off here, if you'd been to Shaftesbury you'd know just from looking at a street scene or the buildings or the setting, you'd have an approximation of where you were. It's not distinctive.

Jonathan Thomas (10:06)
You did that perfectly. Yeah. And I, I, I would say the, that's one of the things I love about Shaftesbury is it's in such a great location for exploring so many things. Like you said, it's you're two hours from London. You're less than an hour from Bath. You're an hour to the coast. There's dozens of stately homes and castles within an easy drive of the place. Plus the beautiful landscape. There's just so much there and it's quiet.

Keri Jonees (10:08)
Thank you.

dozens of stately homes and castles.

plus the beautiful landscape. There's just so much there and it's quiet. That's one of the things that really I love about Shaftesbury is it's so quiet. There are no motorways in Dorset, so there's, you know, the busy roads are not that busy all the time and you can just experience a kind of silence that you, it's really hard to find in the modern world. It's very quiet, it is very safe and I say that as somebody who reports to local news every day. We don't get crime stories.

Jonathan Thomas (10:35)
That's one of the things that really I love about Shaftesbury is it's so quiet. There are no motorways in Dorset. So there's, you know, the busy roads are not that busy all the time. And you can just experience a kind of silence that you, it's really hard to find in the modern world.

Keri Jonees (11:00)
I mean, if you do get a crime story, it'll be something like people will drive in from outside the area and decide to just steal from workmen's or workwomen's vans, you know, their trucks. It'll be concerted effort. They'll just do a sweep across an area overnight, as sometimes happens. You don't get issue with personal safety here. You see people walking home at night on their own. It's just not a problem. It's a small town of 9 ,000 people. Most people know each other. It's kind of like an island mentality.

because you're on a big hill and you feel cut off and certain days if it's really misty, we get this weird weather effect called cloud inversion. So you're standing 700 feet above the countryside and you normally can see the rolling fields, the Vale beneath you. But in certain times of the year, in the autumn, the fall or in the spring, this weather effect happens. It only rolls in for a half hour or so, but it makes everything disappear below you. So it looks like a sea and you feel like you're in some kind of

strange, ethereal island. And so it does feel different. So there's a feeling of safety here. And because the streets are narrow, we don't have fast roads for the town centre. It's a 20 mile an hour speed limit for the town centre. You couldn't really drive any faster anyway because the roads are just too narrow. It just feels safe and friendly and people have time to talk. That's one thing you notice. People who don't know will say hello in a way that you won't have people say that to you if you're in some parts of the country, if you're in London in particular.

Jonathan Thomas (12:27)
Yeah. And I, as a visitor, I would say that's very true. I've always had nice chats with vocals. Everyone's been very welcoming and warm and you know, a lot of travel writers will say, well, the English aren't welcoming. Well, I've never experienced that. They've always been perfectly welcoming to me. So, and that's, that's one of the things I love about Shaftesbury It's a very warm and welcoming environment. And I'm, I'm glad you mentioned that sort of island mentality with that, with that weird weather effect with the clouds. Cause I have seen that and it is, it is, it is.

Keri Jonees (12:48)
 is you have to experience it to truly sort of understand what it's like you're like it's like you're above the world and you're not a part of it anymore and it's it's it's super cool that it kind of reminds me Shaftesbury kind of reminds me of Port Wenn from Doc Martin this sort of isolated community. Yeah.

Jonathan Thomas (12:57)
You have to experience it to truly sort of understand what it's like. You're like, it's like you're above the world and you're not a part of it anymore. And it's, it's, it's super cool. And it, it kind of reminds me of, Shaftesbury kind of reminds me of Portman from Doc Martin, this sort of isolated community away from everything.

Keri Jonees (13:17)
But we are real. And obviously Doc Martin is set in a fake place and Martin Clunes, the actor, actually lives down the road and about 40 minutes from here in a place called Beaminster. So he's a he's a fan of Dorset. He loves Dorset. I suppose with the weather thing, you know, when you fly sometimes you might fly above the Rockies and you can just see because of the way the cloud is. You can see the peaks of the mountains peeking through what looks like a sea because you're you're above the mountains and you can see the

Jonathan Thomas (13:28)
He left Dorset.

Keri Jonees (13:45)
the tops of mountains peeking through, you can't see the bottom. Is that kind of effect?

Jonathan Thomas (13:48)
So let's talk about This Is Alfred. What is it? It was a podcast and now it's at a volunteer -run radio station. Tell us a little bit of the story behind that, because it's kind of my window into Shaftesbury now that I, you know, because I can only go over a few years. So if I want to keep up on local news, I just listen to this podcast and I can find out what's going on.

Keri Jonees (13:59)
It's kind of my window into chess.

So if I want to keep up on local news, I just listen to this podcast so I can find out what's going on. Well, we're a very different radio station. We are, first of all, we're staffed entirely by volunteers. That's not so unusual. We don't have any paid staff at all. I'm not paid. Nobody's paid. We don't have any studios. Everybody has their stuff remotely. Or while our team of volunteers living in the area who record sometimes on their mobile phones or iPads or laptops.

and go and record interviews. And we're all speech, we're all talk, all news and information and conversation. We don't play any music at all on the radio station. And the other thing that makes us really unique is that everything we do is limited by a five mile radius of Shaftesbury We never go any further. So although we can be heard because as we've established, the town is 700 feet up on our tower, our aerial is actually on one of the old churches that has been deconsecrated. It still looks like a church, but it's not a place of worship anymore.

That's another 100 feet above the town, the Trinity Tower. So we kick out because we're 800 feet above sea level, our aerial, so it goes a long way. But even though we go so far, we don't talk about anywhere beyond five miles away. So it's really, really local. Everybody who's lived here for a while knows all the places we're talking about. A lot of people know people who are on the radio, their friends or people they don't like might be on the radio. But it's to reflect a community. And we do all sorts of programs where I go to all of the town council meetings.

public meetings, I talk to the girl guides, whoever is fundraising. We're out and about talking to people, doing things on a Saturday morning. Every day of the week we're out recording. So there's a real reflection of local life where local people will hear what they know, totally unlike any other radio station in the world. We're not part of any network. We're not affiliated to the BBC or a commercial radio station. It's just a town station and we hardly play any commercials because it's so cheap to run out and it costs us

3 ,000 pounds, so about four and a half thousand dollars a year to run the entire radio station. So we just have like probably about 45 seconds of commercials every hour. The rest of it is all interviews and local information. So from that, we put together a one hour daily program every day of the year, 365 days of the year. We do an hour of local news and information, usually about seven to eight interviews featuring local people every single day.

That all started as a podcast and it started as a weekly podcast of local news and information because there was no way to get news and information in such a remote place. And then Covid happened and our then Prime Minister locked down the country and we sensed it was going to happen just because I was talking to people in Asia who had been through the same thing a couple of weeks before. And we decided to do a daily podcast and that was on the 20th of March 2020.

and we've done a daily hour long program ever since. So we've recorded thousands of interviews and features and on the strength of that we've got an FM radio license. So we've turned it into the podcast is on the radio and then when the podcast isn't airing it's on every other hour effectively during the day. We fill those odd hours if you like with some of the best bits we've got from our big archive of programs going back to.

Well, about 2019. So there's a lot of stuff, lots of interviews and features and history programs that we have that are all going round and round and round. So it's all entirely local.

Jonathan Thomas (17:25)
It's fantastic. I love it. I applaud your energy. I don't know how you do it every day, but it's it's you do such great work and your volunteers do such great work and I admire it greatly. And as a as a casual listener from overseas, I love it. I think it's I think it's a what you guys do is very valuable to local community.

Keri Jonees (17:25)
fantastic. I love it. I applaud your energy. I don't know how you do it every day, but it's it's you do such great work and your volunteers.

and as a casual listener from overseas, I love it. I think it's what you guys do is a very valuable local community. Thank you. And we all love the town. That's the thing. You can't fake it. You can't run a radio station like this in a place that people don't love because why would they do it?

Jonathan Thomas (17:55)
Yeah. So, give me an update on Shaftesbury. I haven't been to, I haven't been to Shaftesbury since a brief visit in 2022. How's summer in the veil going?

Keri Jonees (18:05)
summer in the Vale building? Well Britain's decided not to have a summer this year that's obviously a meteorological decision. Actually it's just started to look a little bit better. I mean the town has changed in a good way not majorly but lots of little things have happened. We've got a new town council of elected people who are in control now they were all elected a couple of weeks ago and we have a very very dynamic I don't know the American term but it might be comptroller I think.

The paid official who kind of runs the council, she's not elected but she's very dynamic and brie she's called and over the past couple of months they've had a concerted effort to improve the appearance of little things around the town that make a difference like the trash cans in the town centre. We've got nicer new ones. We've got new benches, wooden ones where the old ones might have been say falling apart a bit with the town's logo. They've got a new town designed logo and they're going on there.

St James Park, which is a beautiful rolling park that rolls down from the town centre, a gentle slope towards a row of traditional thatched cottages. A lot of the play equipment was very 1970s, it was bright and plasticky, all metal with garish primary colours. That's all been removed and they've got beautifully designed, crafted wooden play equipment. They've consulted local kids about what youngsters today want and they want more of a thrill.

with what they do and to be more connected with nature. So that's all been redesigned. That's cost a lot of money, but it looks really nice. And there's a lot of work like that has happened in the past year all over town to really improve the public spaces, improving the planting of gardens. Once again, we're a finalist in the national town floral competition. Each year, towns across the country compete to see who can have the best floral displays, but it's moved beyond just flowers now. It's more about.

what you can do to boost biodiversity, to encourage the community to plant things in areas where you can encourage perhaps bees or pollinators. So that's been a big success. And in the town, we now have a monthly artisan and traders market featuring people who make stuff within probably about a 60 mile radius of Shaftesbury. They come and fill the high street and the ancient park walk going up to the Abbey. They do that.

every, well on a Sunday once a month, that's become a big thing. We have a new food festival, which is amazing this time that launched in May and there were loads of traders with pop -up stands and TV chefs telling people how to cook. We've got a celebrity TV chef, Leslie, who now works as a volunteer in the Abbey. She's on one of our national TV channels. So like the equivalent of NBC, she's on there doing cookery shows and she lives down the road and volunteers at the Abbey, walking to the Abbey and some people are

my gosh, I recognise you. It's here off the telly, off the television. So that's been really good as well. The fact that the food festival has become a big thing and that's the event where people carry the 25 kilo. I don't know what that would be in pounds and weight, but very heavy. Cheese is up the hill, the really steep hill, which is 17 % gradient. They run up those cobblestones carrying these heavy weights to see if they're the fastest. And that's a big event as well. That's all part of that.

Festival. So those are some big changes that visitors will notice. We've also got a cinema now. They've done a great job at the Arts Centre. It's really changed. Again, it's all staffed by volunteers. We have a really vibrant arts community. They've got a gallery where there's different artists every week who have got exhibitions, lots of local drama, stand -up comedy, and they've launched a campaign to raise £3 million to refurbish the Arts Centre and provide a much better facility for the town and the community.

and they've opened a cinema and they're showing the latest blockbuster movies. Now, if you went to like an out of town multiplex, you'd have to drive all the way to Yeovil, which is probably about 30 miles from Shaftesbury. It'll take you about an hour. So people haven't been able to see cinema and it would cost you the equivalent of probably, I don't know, 13, 14 bucks to go and see a movie, the latest movie. They've done the deal because it's all volunteer run where you can see the latest movies for five pounds. So seven bucks. So it's quite a difference. And they've got the big sound system.

So that's really creating a difference. So there's a lot of really cool community initiatives and projects underway that visitors might be able to see the benefits of if they go to something like the Arts Centre, but they wouldn't realise the huge difference it's making to the community behind the scenes with all people finding things to do weeknights in the winter. It's actually lifting the town, making it much more vibrant and connected and engaged space. So it's really good.

Jonathan Thomas (22:36)
That all sounds very lovely. I'm happy to hear that there's now a movie theater. That'll be exciting to check out when I visit next. So what's the talk of the town right now? What is everyone fired up about other than the election? Because we don't want to talk about politics.

Keri Jonees (22:51)
don't think people are. I'm talking about the election actually. To be honest, I've been to a couple of the hustings, which I have to do because of my job, as it were, but I think it's a done deal. I think people just know who's going to win. So there's no point talking about it really. You can't do anything about it. It's just the way the politics were arranged with the first -past -the -post system we have here, like you guys, I suppose. Whoever gets the biggest number gets that seat. So there's no point discussing it. It's not the kind of stuff everybody has to say because it's not proportional. It's just who comes first.

The biggest things in the town at the moment, I suppose it's, we've got a new council, that makes a difference. So I suppose if you imagine the whole of the UK is the United States one country, then it's the overall government for the entire country that we're going to be electing with some differences for Scotland and Northern Ireland and Wales, but generally for England if you like, there's one.

governments can be elected that by the time you hear this we'll have a new Prime Minister. But each part of the UK is broken down to counties which have a bit more prominence I think than American counties, they're almost like little states and their stature and what they can do. And there's been big political change in the local county. So they look after, because counties have a greater role with British culture than perhaps the American county might have, they look after education, they look after aspects of

adult social care, so looking after people with social services, retired people who are elderly or infirm or disabled. They have the highways authority role. They look after the roads, make sure the roads are maintained. They look after refuse collection, waste, trash collection. So it impacts on a life a lot. And after one party been in control for years, a new party has taken control. And that means big changes for the way that things happen with the town. The thought is that there'll be more opportunity for Shaftesbury, hopefully.

because of just the people who've got elected have a different perspective on how things need to be done. So that's quite a, it's easing in. It only changed about a month ago. Apart from that in town, we have no empty shop premises apart from one. And it's a premises that's not going to sell because the landlord wants too much money for it and nobody's gonna buy it. And for some reason he just doesn't wanna sell it. It's been empty for four years. But apart from that, which is extraordinary, everything is taken.

We've got a new antique shop that's opening in a couple of weeks time. We've got a pottery cafe. So you go in and you can paint a pot and you pick it up when it's been kiln dried a couple of days later as a souvenir. It's a whole therapeutic thing that's become a big thing in this country that's opening tomorrow. So there's lots of new things happening in the town centre, but antiques are becoming quite a big thing since you were here last, Jonathan. There's what was an old fashioned traditional gent's

not so much gents, a fabric store that sold different sorts of fabrics. Heinen Parsons had been there since the 1930s. The owner, I believe he was in his 90s and just didn't want to carry on anymore, as you might understand. So that got sold. It's become an antiques and collectible centre and beautifully created, interesting and affordable things are on sale there. And it's become a real buzz and another antiques place is opening. And it's there are some people think it could actually.

really add something to the town because a lot of people want to come in frequently because with antiques, if you love your antiques, you'll come back again and again and again to see what's turned up. It's not a one time thing. People get addicted. So that could be a cool thing for the town. So lots of positive change like that. And then the town, there's a lot of talk. It's not something that particularly interests visitors, but there's going to be a new community hall for one part of the town. And that's been quite a hotly contested issue. And it looks like it's going to get to the point where

Different factions are involved. It's side A versus side B and it looks like there's going to be a resolution on that so that's a big thing for the town.

Jonathan Thomas (26:40)
So I'm very happy to hear that the high street is faring well. I've seen it change several times over the last 25 years. And when I visited, I mean, when I first started visiting to when the economy collapsed in 2008 to recently, and you know, there's been a lot of turnover on the high street. So I'm happy to hear that they were almost at full occupancy. And I've always...

Keri Jonees (27:04)
I should mention actually I'm remiss not mentioning there's an amazing store that's open. It's unique. There's only one. There's only three like this in the UK.

It's a specialist culinary bookshop and it's called The Kitchen Table. And there's an amazing woman called Sarah and her partner John, who I think they're married actually, husband John, who run it. And they sell beautiful, really interesting coffee table style books that talk about the history of food and they have recipes and they've got some specialist herbs and spices and a little bit of pottery and sort of kitchenware, but not much.

but a really nice selection. But they've got so many bright, colorful, interesting books and you can go in there and spend an hour losing yourself in little bits of culture and history from all over the world and wonderful pictures of dishes. And even better, she brings the authors of these specialist books that come from London or wherever. They come and talk about their books and cook up some of the food. They've got a little kitchen there and they've got an arrangement with one of the cafes across the road. If it's something that's a really big hit, it will attract a lot of people. They'll go across the road and cook a meal there while they talk about their book.

and they started doing these kind of potluck suppers where they have a theme. So they'll say, right, this new book is out. It's by some famous chef writing about Greek food. So we're going to be talking about this book, everybody go and read it, talk about it and bring a Greek dish. And we're going to meet here at six thirty on a Tuesday and talk about our Greek food love. And it's just a really shared experience bringing people together and visitors are welcome to get involved with that. So it's a really amazing book. We've also got just down the road in Samley, which is the next village over.

it's about three miles away. They've got a bookshop that's devoted to travel and all they sell is travel books. So again, it's one of those amazing places where you can go for an afternoon basically. So the thematic bookshop thing is becoming a real thing. And it's really interesting that they've got these choices.

Jonathan Thomas (28:54)
Yeah, I was just going to mention Fold right on Gold Hill has had a lot of success. And it's like, if I was going to make a bookstore, it would be like that.

Keri Jonees (28:59)
And it's like if I was going to make a bookstore, it would be like...

Jonathan Thomas (29:03)
So now I know I'm going to be browsing a lot of bookshops when I visit again. Is there a new landlord for the two brewers? Because I believe I heard that the previous landlords were selling up. And that's one of my favorite pubs down in St. James. How's it fairing?

Keri Jonees (29:04)
So, now I know.

heard that the previous landlords were selling up and that's one of my favorite pubs down in St. James. How's it faring? Well the pub's doing fine. Daniel and Juliet have taken it. The two lads that were there, Chris and John, they've gone, they already had another pub on the seaside about two hours drive north of here on the north coast of the West Country, a place called Ilfracombe and they've opened a second pub up there now so.

I've been up to see them there actually. I've been up for a drink, so I walked into their bar, surprise. So yeah, it's fine. It's a pub that's got amazing gardens, as you know, the two brewers, and it's got slightly different food offer. You don't see as much of Daniel as you would have of Chris and John, because Chris and John had their own chef in the kitchen, but Daniel comes from a chef in background, so he's in the kitchen. That's his thing. So he's there, but he's not...

out there serving pudding pints and serving drinks. But it's doing well. It's good. It's busy. It's all fine.

Jonathan Thomas (30:11)
hear it because no visit to an english pound is complete without without visiting the vocal pubs so on that go ahead which one

Keri Jonees (30:19)
we're not going to have Gritchy much longer, I'm afraid. Guy Ritchie's beer.

Jonathan Thomas (30:24)
no, I actually that's one of my questions. So Guy Ritchie has a lot of local connections. I know he lives nearby. He owns a local airport now. Can you tell us a little about that? I hear you could take a Spitfire flight now from from the local airport.

Keri Jonees (30:29)
So, Guy Ritchie.

You can I mean it's it's it's an airfield it's not it's not kind of an airport and there's no schedule flights there you can some people who have shares in planes or own their own aircraft keep them at a hangar up there and Pilots from around the country obviously you've got pilots license then you can make arrangements to fly in but it's not an airport you can't go out there and kind of book a flight to go to a different destination it's not the sort of airport

So he's refurbished it and they have this weekend they've got Harvard's and Spearman's and, Stearman's and Spitfires up in the air for three days. And you can take a Spitfire flight. I mean it's a stunning scenic view I should imagine. I've not done it. It's quite expensive as you might imagine. But that's something else on offer there. And they are planning an air show, a two day event in.

August, I think about the 15th and 16th over two days. They're expecting 5 ,000 people a day, which is going to be interesting because it's a really narrow lane, one of those English sort of lanes where you can't get two cars to pass that goes up to the airfield. And what they can do is bus people in from a nearby, there's an old school, a public school, a private school down the road. And they're going to bring people up in, I believe, vintage buses and sort of decant them at the front door rather than have

Jonathan Thomas (31:59)
That sounds fun.

Keri Jonees (32:00)
5 ,000 lots of cars go up and down the road, which wouldn't be such a great thing.

Jonathan Thomas (32:04)
Yeah, and how's did he make any changes to the restaurant at the airport because I remember the restaurant was always very good

Keri Jonees (32:10)
Sorry, I lost you for a second and it froze.

Jonathan Thomas (32:12)
I was gonna say, how's the restaurant now? Cause I hear he made some changes to the restaurant. I've always enjoyed the restaurant at the airfield.

Keri Jonees (32:13)
say, I'll house the restaurant now, because I hear he made some changes.

reviews are variable

Jonathan Thomas (32:21)
So, what's the daily rhythm of life in a small English town like Shaftesbury? Like what's, you know, what, guide me through a day of Kerry Jones, podcast producer.

Keri Jonees (32:22)
So what's the daily rhythm of life in a small...

What guided me through a day of Kerry Jones podcast producer? Well, I think my day is quite weird and totally dissimilar from most people's day. In terms of the town, the pace of life is very slow and gentle here. Very few shops. The thing about our main street, in Britain we call Main Street High Street, that's the term that people use for a main street. And our main street doesn't have, it's not very wide, you can't park on it, it's only about probably about

15 feet wide in some points and it's not that busy in terms of traffic but it doesn't really come to life till about 10 o 'clock in the morning. Most of the shops in our town pretty uniquely are independent. I think 85 are owned by local people or people who live locally. They're not chain stores, they're not nationals. The nationals all because they have a prescriptive UK wide policy with these sort of things as you would in the States with Walmart or whatever. They say nationally in head office, when are you going to open?

in the UK, the independent businesses open when they feel like it. So we've got lots of 10 o 'clock starts and nothing really happens before 10. And most businesses close about four o 'clock as well. And most businesses, a lot of businesses are closed on a Monday and a fair few are closed. Certainly places for food are closed Monday and Tuesday as well. So there's a kind of relaxed quality of lifestyle approach, which has become more important and more evident since Covid.

The pace of life is very calm. It's not frenetic, it's not crazy. We're too far from London to make this really possible for commuters. Some people do, but it's a long, long, difficult trek, really. You've got to get from here to the town where the railway station is, and that's a five mile drive. The trains aren't that reliable, and it's two hours, and you might not get a seat because the carriage, the train's really tiny. So...

It's not that great an option. So people are here because they want to be here. And so that means it's got much calmer kind of mentality. I think people just saunter around the town. So that's good. My day, totally different to that, because I'm up at 4 .45 in the morning checking nothing's happened overnight with my various sources that I use and ringing people like the fire department who are based out of town to see if anything's happened in our area to get ready to go on air at 6 a with our local news hour. So.

My day is quite different from how other people live, but at the end of the day, it's not a late night town either. It's not a place where people are out at 11 o 'clock at night. I mean, if you walk out at 10 o 'clock on a Saturday night, it's really quiet in the town centre. There'll be people in the pubs, but it's not crazy. It's not threatening or loud or raucous. And they actually turn the street lights off at one o 'clock in some streets. And I have been

I'm a bit old for this now because I'm in my fifties but years ago I have been to parties and it's like the walk of shame because you leave somebody's party and you realise that you're in complete darkness because it's gone one o 'clock in the morning and all the street lights are out.

Jonathan Thomas (35:35)
no. So would you say Shaftesbury is kind of a microcosm of traditional English culture and life?

Keri Jonees (35:37)
I would say Shasbury say Shaftesbury of a microcosm.

in life? I think that's difficult. I don't think it's just like in America. There isn't, there's a perception of what people think it is, but there are lots of regional differences and nuances and there's not homogenous approach to that. Every area is different. This has a special feeling because of its setting, the hilltop setting, the greenery around it. It has a special feel as well because

it's relatively difficult to get to. You have to want to come here and that brings a certain sort of person. And because it is a bit of an artist colony and quite creative, that too, and the Abbeys with a history brings people who are interested in history and arts. And so that changes the makeup of people as well. There'll be some people and you hear kids saying it or people saying it's so boring this town and they leave because they want to go to the multiplex cinemas or go ten -pin bowling or...

want to go to nightclubs and we don't have that. So everywhere is different, but there are a lot of interesting people here who've had really fascinating, sometimes high powered, really significant lives and played a big role in the shaping of this country. And you wouldn't know because they've had senior positions in government or in the military or in the judiciary. And you just find out by chance they've had an interesting form of life, but they're there just volunteering.

selling postcards as a kind of a steward at the museum or the Abbey. You're selling ice cream at the Abbey, you don't know what they've done before, everybody mucks in together and that makes it quite a leveler and that's quite nice.

Jonathan Thomas (37:19)
That's not nice. Boring is nice. Young people, boring is good.

Keri Jonees (37:22)
Yeah, well, it's never boring. If you look at our What's On's today, I mean, we're talking now on Friday afternoon. I've just written up the What's On's for today, Friday and tomorrow, Saturday. And I think there's 20 things, Jonathan, all within five miles radius of where I'm standing now. So there's quite a lot of stuff going on for a little town.

Jonathan Thomas (37:40)
Now, so, you know, Shaftesbury is obviously famous for Gold Hill, but if you had to recommend something for people to do other than Gold Hill, what would you send them to go see or do?

Keri Jonees (37:46)
But if you had to recommend something for people to do other than Gold Hill, what would you send them to go see or do? it depends what you're thinking of. Do you mean food or drink or activity or history?

Jonathan Thomas (37:57)
Attraction activity.

Keri Jonees (37:59)
An activity. I always tell people to go to Castle Hill because I think it's more dramatic the view from there looking out towards Glastonbury Tor on a clear day and you can see the downs, the chalk landscape rising, the chalk landscape of Wiltshire and it is one of those slightly different scene, less verdant and green. It's still very green. It's not like looking at the foothills around California.

Jonathan Thomas (38:08)
It is.

Keri Jonees (38:23)
It's not a barren at all. It's still green. But you see the chalk come through with that element of whiteness in the landscape. So it's got a slightly different look to it. And that's lovely. It's very quiet and peaceful, but it's quite a big expanse, a big parkland on the northern tip of that, that bluff from which the town stands with incredible views sloping out in front of you. And you can see the various communities, church spires and church towers nestled in

folds in the countryside rolling out in front of you as far as the eye can see and you can see 80 or so miles. It's quite an incredible view from there. So that's a very peaceful place to go. For me, the other things that make the town nice, I just like, I suppose when you live somewhere, you know the places to go and you know people. So it's just nice just going to a pub and just socialising, just go to a pub and have a drink and have a chat. I look forward to it. And I have to say our chip shop, I live a

a couple of doors down from the chip shop in the town and it is amazing. My brother lives in Brooklyn and he's an American citizen now. He's been there for years, years and years. And the thing he loves doing when he comes back to Britain is going for fish and chips. He always makes sure that he's here on a Friday. There's no reason why it has to be a Friday, but there's a tradition about fish and chips on a Friday in Britain. And he's always here for fish and chips with curry sauce, which is a bit like katsu sauce, but a very particular sort of British thing. And it's just lovely. And the chip shop.

Leslie Waters, the TV chef that I was telling you about who's on national TV, she was spotted in a chip shop and everybody was like, she can't be in a chip shop. She's like a national TV chef. You wouldn't expect it, would you? Having somebody that's like having Gordon Ramsay going to buy chips. You wouldn't think that would happen, but she does. And she rates them really highly. And she said on the radio that she thought that Kevin's chips were as good as a Michelin starred restaurant would produce. And she mentioned that on the radio.

and then the next weekend there were like big queues of people around the block. So he was kind of mock angry with me. He actually gave me a bottle of wine that night when I went to pick up my fish and chips to thank me. But he was like, look what you've done. But luckily the queues subsided after a couple of weeks because I could have been a really unpopular person after that. But that's a real highlight actually. That's a good Friday night out. Fish and chips from Coppers Street. Go around the pub, see a couple of friends and if it's summer, just go and watch the sun down from Castle Hill.

Jonathan Thomas (40:42)
Well, we're gonna have to do that next time I'm in town. I want some of those chips. Well, what's next for Alfred? What are you guys planning? What do you have to look forward to? What's next?

Keri Jonees (40:44)
You will.

Do you know what? We're so unambitious, we can't have plans at all. I mean, there's, because we're just all about the town, there's no, we don't want to expand. There's no way we can expand. We have no interest in expanding. We just want to carry on doing what we're doing like we've always done. We don't want to take on another business because that would water down what we do. We're not for profit, so there's no need to try and make any more money. We have, you know, we survive financially.

There's no compuncture to do anymore apart from get more information on there and cover things better. And we've always got more volunteers coming. It's an ebb and flow. You get people to come and do things. Then after a while, some people have left the town. They've gone and got new jobs elsewhere or they've decided they've got another personal reason to move. We've lost some people as well. We're in a slightly older population here and some of our team members have passed away, which is always sad. So it's always a kind of a churn going on. And sometimes we have to come up with new features because people

say I'm out of ideas. There's a guy who did brilliant guided walks on the radio recordings as he went out and about describing what he saw, the wildlife and the scenery, making beautiful soundscapes. These seven minute pieces we broadcast every week. And after doing 200, Tom said, I'm out of ideas. I've done every possible walk. I can't do any more. I thought, do you know what? That's fine. Because you have. You've done a really good job. Sometimes just reach the natural end, don't they, things?

Jonathan Thomas (42:18)
I love those walks too. I love the soundscapes. I love the sounds of Shaftesbury with the birds, the rhythms of the town, the church bells. Do they still ring the church bells

Keri Jonees (42:21)
love the

I love the sound.

yeah, yeah. We've got the town hall clock that chimes every hour on the hour, even through the night, and it's slightly discordant. It's slightly off, which makes it... And we have that on the hour on our radio station every hour. We have a recording of the town clock because that's the sound of Shaftesbury. If you've been to Shaftesbury, you'll know, Jonathan, what the town hall clock sounds like. And it's off key because it's old and it's battered and it sounds a bit wrong. But that's actually quite heartening because...

There's no town clock that chimes like that. It doesn't play a tune, it just chimes and it sounds like somebody's banging a swordsman a bit, but a bit more musical. So we've got that. We've got the church bells on St. James, which is, we've got two churches in Shaftesbury with church bells, both Church of England churches. So in America you'd call it Episcopal, I think. And one in St. James down the bottom of the hill, they ring on Sundays and we've got the

main church in the town which is 14th century, so it's pretty old, St Peter's and they've got a appeal of church bells and we've had special ringing recently for the King's birthday and for the 80th anniversary of D -Day, the bell ringers all went up to the tower there and rang the bells out and some of those bells are from the 16th century.

Jonathan Thomas (43:46)
Wow. And I just, I love the bells. It's one of my favorites. I have a video when we were, when we visited over Christmas break back in 2013, I recorded the, the peal of the bells on Christmas day. And whenever I want to be transported to Strasbury, I'll just play that video and it sounds so lovely. So, well, I think I've taken it up, taken up enough of your lovely time today. I know you've got a...

Keri Jonees (44:06)
Well, I think I've taken enough of your lovely time today. I know you've got a podcast to put out later, so I think we'll wrap it up there. And so thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us and giving us a picture of small town English life. And it's been lovely to chat with you. Lovely as always. And we look forward to you coming over again, Jonathan.

Jonathan Thomas (44:12)
You've got a podcast to put out later, so I think we'll wrap it up there. And so thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us and giving us a picture of small town English life. And it's been lovely to chat with you.

I'm counting the days. Thank you.

Keri Jonees (44:33)
Thank you. Thank you.