A30/Wilton - Shaftesbury

West | East

Wilton - Shaftesbury

We leave the A36 at Wilton Roundabout, imaginatively titled after the town to which it borders. We head south from here and pass an advanced direction sign which tells us that Shaftesbury is 17 miles away, and that Yeovil is 40 away. We pass Wilton House on the right before entering the village proper, where the road starts to narrow, before we are forced to stop at Traffic lights. From here on the centre line markings are rather sporadic if not non-existant. We soon soon meet a mini roundabout and head up hill to the outskirts of Wilton, in which the limit rises to 40mph and then soon after back to NSL.

The road is quite narrow, and there is normally a double white line along it. The road goes on for a mile or two before it gets to Barford St Martin. The road is rather tight and it meets the B3089 in the middle of the village at a over 90 degree turn before descending out of the village and returning to NSL as it leaves, crossing the River Nadder soon after. This section is already more interesting than, and a stark contrast to, the previous long straights and occasional little bypassed settlements.

Having said that, there isn't much to say about this section of road though as it meanders its way across the Wiltshire countryside. We soon meet the village of Fovant, and it's 40mph limit. Upon entering, you do wonder why the limit is there as after two or three houses you're back in the countryside, but the main part of the village is a little further ahead. We go through the village and meet a road in the middle at a fork. We veer left and out of the village, and meet the NSL signs once past the last house in the countryside.

This area is the countryside, but there are quite a few houses along the route before we get to Ludwell. It seems that quite a few liked Ludwell, and so decided to build where they could, and so it is quite a few collections of different houses all vaguely separate from each other. Due to the fact that it is quite long and a narrow bridge crossing, at which we have to give way, the many parts of the village get a 30 mph limit instead of the usual 40, although upon the entry and exit of the centre of the village it returns to 40.

The A30 leaving Royal Chase Roundabout

It remains at 40mph for a good few miles, before returning to NSL far out of Ludwell. Soon, we pass a petrol station and shop and pass the last few houses before waving goodbye to Wiltshire and say hello to Dorset. From here, Shaftesbury comes into view and soon we meet the first dual carriageway of this section. We pass the B3081 at a T-Junction and multiplexes with us the remaining 200 yards to Royal Chase Roundabout where both roads now multiplex with the more dominant A350, where we end this section.