It occupies a hilltop position in the Chiltern Hills about 2 miles south of Wendover.

[1] Much of the surrounding land is owned by the National Trust and is heavily wooded with beech trees, and bracken.

Due to its elevation the village is occasionally cut off by treacherous road conditions during harsh winters.

In the past the village supported a shop and two public houses, The Fox and The Black Horse, but these have now closed and been converted into residential dwellings.

Dunsmore is close by to Chequers, the country retreat for the serving Prime Minister, and the local Second Boer War memorial on Coombe Hill, Buckinghamshire.