Fiddleford
The River Stour runs through Sturminster Newton and a little way downstream  is the hamlet of Fiddleford and it is here tht Wiliam Barnes toiled in the fields in his youth and it is said that his poem 'Leaves may have been inspired by the area.

But Barnes was not the only poet in the area as The old mill was once a hiding place for contraband liquor and though it is no longer working there is a poem engraved in one of the walls which is dedicated to the Miller and written in Old English, the date being around 1566.

'He thatt wyll have here any thynge don
Let him corn fryndly he shall be welcom
A frynd to the owner and enemy to no man
Pass all here frely to corn when they can
For the tale of trothe I do always professe
Miller be true disgrace not thy vest
I falsehod appere the fault shal be thine
And of sharpe punishment think me not unkind
Therefore to be true it shall the behove
(To) please god chefly (that liveth) above.'.

The Manor House, which was built in Mediaeval times, is said to be the finest of its type in the county and was constructed aroun 1380 a wing which is two storeyed and half of the main hall still stand today.