Rodden Row, the Old Post Office and the Swan

The Swan Inn, Rodden Row. Photo: The Swan Inn, used with permission.

Rodden Row is the road in from Weymouth, so it is the first of the village most people see. The thatched cottages are 17th century, the terraces between them Victorian, and nearly every building on it is Grade II listed. The Old Post Office, its sign still up, is a bed and breakfast now. The Swan has been the village pub here for generations. It has been in the same family since 1966, and this November the same landlord will have been behind the bar for sixty years. It was gutted by fire, closed for seven months and reopened on 21 August 2026, rebuilt, with its skittle alley, its beer garden and the red telephone box that looks out over the hills. It is the Beachcombers' base, so the fireworks and the fête are run from here, and it now has backup power, so it stays lit and warm when the rest of the village goes dark.