It nestles within the East Dorset administrative district of the county, about 8 miles north-east of the town of Blandford Forum.

It is sited by the side of a small stream in a shallow valley on the lower dip slope of Cranborne Chase.

Ackling Dyke, a disused Roman road, crosses the valley to the northwest, and forms the parish boundary at that point.

To the south of the village lies an Iron Age settlement excavated in 1972 by Dr G. J. Wainwright, of the Department of the Environment.

The settlement is formed by an enclosure that is roughly circular in plan and some 3 acres in extent, with a single entrance in the east defined by two pairs of flanking antennae ditches.