It is situated by the River Piddle, from which it derives its name, about 4.5 miles (7 km) northeast of the county town Dorchester.

Puddletown's civil parish covers 2,908 hectares (7,185 acres) and extends to the River Frome to the south.

[3] In 1906 Sir Frederick Treves used Puddletown in Highways & Byways in Dorset—describing it as "the Town on the River Puddle" and a "curiously named place".

[5] One explanation for the preference of Puddletown over Piddletown is that Major-General Charles William Thompson, who lived at Ilsington Lodge after returning from the Great War, pushed through the puddle variant because piddle had other connotations in army circles.

[6] The broadcaster and writer Ralph Wightman (1901–71), a native of the Piddle Valley and one-time Puddletown resident,[6] believed it was due to Victorian "refinement", as he recalled that in his youth elderly aunts referred to Piddletrenthide as just "Trenthide".

[10] The Roman road between Durnovaria (now Dorchester) and Badbury Rings passed through the area of the civil parish; it cut a WSW-ENE route through Puddletown Heath, between the village and the River Frome.

[13] At the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, Puddletown was a large and important manor that contained several villages, with 1,600 sheep recorded.

In 1970 its remains covered about 5.7 hectares (14 acres) and consisted of ten closes bounded by low banks, though the site is not shown on modern Ordnance Survey maps.

[10][16] The site at Waterston consists of earthworks covering about 2 hectares (4.9 acres) on a terrace on the south side of the River Piddle.

Cottage industry, often undertaken by women and children, was used to supplement agricultural income, though there were fewer opportunities for this after the French Revolution.

[21] In 1830, Puddletown was one of the places in Dorset where agricultural labourers took part in the Captain Swing riots of southern England, protesting against very low wages and long working hours.

The General adopted King George III's illegitimate grandson by Princess Sophia, and brought him up at the manor.

In places these are overlain by younger Quaternary drift material: river terrace and head deposits, clay-with-flints, and alluvium—the last found only in the valley floors of the larger watercourses.

[32] The River Frome, which forms the southern boundary of the parish, is designated by Natural England as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

[33] Southwest of the village and almost wholly within the parish is Puddletown Forest, which covers 301 hectares (740 acres) and is managed by Forestry England.

The forest is on the edge of the Dorset Heaths Natural Area and some of the forest is being restored to heathland; the heath flora consists of Calluna, Ulex gallii, Ulex minor and bilberry; fauna includes the rare smooth snake and sand lizard.

[37] Excluding ancient earthworks, there are fifty-six structures within the parish that are listed by Historic England for their historic or architectural interest, including two (the parish church and Waterston Manor) that are listed as Grade I, and three (Ilsington House, The Old Vicarage, and 8 The Square) that are Grade II*.

[10][40] The 12th-century font is particularly notable, being of a tapering beaker shape, with diapering depicting crossing stems and Acanthus leaves; its cover is an octagonal pyramid dating from about 1635, when the church interior was refitted.

[41] Waterston Manor, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) WNW of Puddletown village, is of early 17th-century origin, though it was largely rebuilt after a fire in 1863, and altered again in about 1911.

[10][44][45] Puddletown has a village hall, which has a kitchen and bar, full disabled facilities and access, and a capacity for between 100 and 160.