It is sited on the River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, 6 miles (10 kilometres) east of Yeovil.

Much of the old town, including the abbey and many medieval and Georgian buildings, is built from distinctive ochre-coloured ham stone.

In 1437 the Abbey was damaged by fire after tensions between the town and the monastery came to a head, but much of the Norman structure stands today.

In the 12th century Roger de Caen, Bishop of Salisbury and Chancellor of England, built a fortified palace in Sherborne.

In 1594 Sir Walter Raleigh built an Elizabethan mansion in the grounds of the old palace, today known as Sherborne Castle.

The school is one of the independent schools in Britain, with alumni such as Cecil Day-Lewis, Alan Turing, Jeremy Irons, Chris Martin, John le Carré, Hugh Bonneville and John Cowper Powys.

The 2022 ISI inspection report described the quality of pupils' personal development in the senior school as excellent.

Notable alumnae include businesswoman and conservative life peer Dido Harding, Baroness Harding of Winscombe and actresses Kristen Scott Thomas and Serena Scott Thomas Sherborne School for Girls, often simply known as Sherborne Girls was founded in 1895.

Its notable alumnae include the opera singer Emma Kirkby and the scientist Rosa Beddington.

It was expanded in 1866 in indistinguishable medieval architecture, and continues to be a residential institution to the present day.

Famed for its mural by Sir James Thornhill,[17] it was a subject for the BBC's Restoration programme in 2004.

[20] Originally a Methodist church, it was built in stages through the mid-late 19th Century and is Grade II listed.

The Quarr Local Nature Reserve at the northern end of the town makes use of an old quarry and landfill site, Sherborne Area Partnership oversees a successful environment forum and, in 2009, Sherborne became an official Transition Town,[24] running a number of projects and events as a community response to climate change and peak oil.

This active town twinning began in 1991 and there are regular events, such as a produce market from each of the other countries and festivals.

[26][27] Discussions regarding membership are also in hand with three further towns (Agros in Cyprus, Škofja Loka in Slovenia, and Tryavna in Bulgaria).