Milton Abbey

Dorset is spoilt for rural-thinking schools in beautiful locations, but Milton Abbey, a converted monastery in a Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown landscape, is particularly splendid (the TV adaptation of R. F. Delderfield’s public-school novel To Serve Them All My Days was filmed here).

Pupils can bring ferrets and ponies, keep bees, look after farm animals, go beagling and walk dogs. Academia (it’s non-selective and part of Round Square) is individually tailored, with a strong emphasis on vocation – two-thirds of sixth-form pupils take BTec – and there’s a large learning-support department.

• 250 pupils aged 13–18, co-ed, mostly boarding
• £6,750–£13,350