King Charles Built A Town And It Surprised EVERYONE

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I remember the criticism he faced at the time for his book and stance on the destruction of our arcitectural heritage, he was bang on target.

Couldn't agree more. Architects are the only people who praise modern architecture, and they choose to live in old houses. There is an estate in Durham that looks old but isn't and it is very popular. Build beautiful. We have no excuse not to.

I am currently in the process of purchasing a home in Poundbury. Despite currently residing nearly 100 miles away, I am eager to leave the poorly constructed, unsightly housing developments in Devon by developers like Bovis and Barratt. Poundbury's beauty, infrastructure, sustainability, and overall charm make it an ideal place for me to call home.

I'm not an European myself, but old european buildings truly are fascinating. With so many trees in surrounding, easy access everywhere, it's no wonder that this is a success.

People who first saw it being planned and built thought it was just kitsch and a fake idealistic image of what a traditional town was supposed to look like, but it was actually planned well and had a human scale behind it, and many of the buildings are not only traditional in the aesthetic sense but use materials that are longer lasting and age gracefully.

And one not often mentioned advantage of traditional architecture is that it ages well unlike "modern" styles that are only modern for 10 years after they're built and soon become eyesores when they lose their shine and novelty appeal.

American here, seeing this type of architecture can still be built in the modern day while still being include all current modern amenities that have developed over a century gives me hope that maybe the same can be done here in the states, modern architecture is a blight not just to the western worlds aesthetic but history and heritage.

This is the first time I am learning about this and Charles is bang on. We replaced our heritage and style with brutalism and made England extremely depressing. Poundbury looks very quaint, I love it.

This is a very pleasant-looking town, with a more humane feel to it. I'm not surprised people want to live there.

Charles III is a more interesting person than what the media has tried to tell us

I live here and it's honestly a lovely place to live. The design is well thought out and there's decent parking for cars while not feeling cramped for space. Every other road has a feature or unusual looking building that makes for something nice to look at, be it a park, a fountain, a sculpture etc. The more business orientated areas don't have loads of parking spaces so you'd think that'd be an issue, but it really isn't, as you just park one road further away. There's plenty of little cut throughs between each road so you can get from a to b as a pedestrian really efficiently. The "it looks like a toy town" argument is somewhat true as there's a sense of fake old or modern archaic-ness to the buildings, but i think those people need to realise that in a few decades it'll look absolutely idyllic. The ivy walls will have grown, the trees will look more harmonious with the buildings, moss will have grown near the fountain etc. The only gripe I would say about living here (and it's quite minor) is that there are quite a few extra regulations that you won't get elsewhere. These can be things like washing lines can't be seen from the road, doors can only be a certain shade/ colour etc. I understand why they're in place, to keep the aesthetic to a certain uniform standard, but if you live in a flat with a balcony not being able to hang your washing out on it on a hot day can seem somewhat tedious. Anyways, if anyone has any questions about living here and would like to know more, I will do my best to answer them.

I visited Poundbury last year. I was struck by the absence of signs everywhere and road markings. It makes a huge difference to the feel of the town. It feels a very relaxing place to be. The houses are in small groups and are copies of housing styles that can be found across the UK. For example Georgian town houses can be found near small terraced workers cottages. Its fascinating to spot all the styles. A lovely place to visit and a lovely place to live I would think.

I live in Australia but lived in UK 55 years ago. I saw all the flats going up and they looked awful. Poundbury is lovely.

I’m British and had no idea this place existed (and neither did my husband or friends). I’d love to see this project get another wave of airtime on mainstream media here

I grew up in Dorchester (the town adjacent to Poundbury), so have witnessed its development (from 2010 or so). In my opinion the first stage of poundbury is lovely, it’s very green and feels normal. However, the newer parts often feel devoid of character and almost like you’re walking around a movie set. This video makes poundbury look really good and hasn’t mentioned some of the weird rules in poundbury, for example, every property is listed, you can’t use a washing line and washing up liquid cannot be visible from the street). Not everyone is a fan of it, that being said I think almost everyone I know is in agreement that Poundbury is much better than other modern estates. Great video!

I am an American, but my roots are in England and Ireland. I love architecture and history and felt this is home to me. The weather and landscape of Europe are calming.

He did the same with the Chelsea barracks and now there are beautiful buildings standing instead of boring glass and steel.

“higgledy-piggledy” is the most British word I’ve ever heard, and it’s now my favourite

I once visited Poundbury without realising it’s genesis story, and I remarked how stunning it was then, now I’ve watched this video, I appreciate it even more.