AROUND the world, there are towns and villages with the same names as places within the Vale.

Blandford, New South Wales, Australia.

Manston, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Mere, Chad.

Mere, Haiti.

Mere, Vanuatu – there’s a lot of Mere’s.

We decided it was high time to learn a little bit more about our international cousins…

Manston, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Sani Valley Lodge, Drakensberg.

In Dorset, Manston is an idyllic village known for its sharp bend and the Plough Inn.

Its African cousin sits in an area embodying “everything” about the continent, according to Rough Guides.

KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa recognised for its subtropical climate and mountainous landscapes.

During the period of apartheid, KwaZulu was a non-independent Black state, serving as the legal homeland of the Zulu, within the Natal province.

When the system was abolished in 1994, the areas became one – this is where you find Manston today.

Zebras in Drakensberg.

Managing to be even more remote than Dorset, it’s home to a handful of farms and the luxury escape, Sani Valley.

Not far from the border with Lesotho, an enclave fully surrounded by South Africa, life occurs in the shadow of the Drakensberg.

This is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, the second longest mountain range in the world, stretching more than 3,000 miles.

In other words, this is their Hambledon hill.

To find out more about Sani Valley, or book a stay, visit sanivalley.co.za/activities

Blandford, New South Wales, Australia

Blandford, New South Wales general store. Photo: Google Maps.

Blandford, New South Wales (NSW) might appear to be more remote than Blandford Forum, but comparative to the rest of Australia, it’s practically an urban centre.

A particularly equine area, it has numerous stables, stud farms, and even a dedicated saddlery.

To complete the outback dream, Google Street View shows a 4×4 parked outside a general store.

Opposite this, we can see evidence of the settlement’s nineteenth century train station, with disused carriages left by the roadside.

Blandford, New South Wales. Photo: Google Maps.

Phil Buckley, expert in NSW heritage railway, said: “The Blandford railway crossing… was once a key station on the main north line.”

It’s unknown exactly when the site closed.

Also based in Blandford, NSW, is the Israeli-born artist Hanna Kay.

A prolific creator, she’s held more than 40 solo exhibitions in Australia, and has won several prestigious awards, including the Norvil Landscape Art Prize and the Muswellbrook Regional Gallery Prize.

With her studio based in a converted stable, she’s fully embraced Blandford life.

flurry 9, 2023 (left) and refuge, 2007 (right) by Hanna Kay

In an interview with the Australian Wildlife Protection Council, she said: “I live in the Upper Hunter, in the midst of five acres, with a studio and a small cottage.

“By moving here over 20 years ago, I fulfilled a long dream of painting in the midst of some acreage that creates a border between me and the rest of the world.”

She grew up in Tel Aviv, studied art in Vienna, lived in New York for a decade, and Sydney for a decade, but it’s in Blandford that she’s been “living a dream”.

Does our Blandford attract the same kind of stars?

Mere, Belgium. Mere, Vanuatu. Mere, Haiti. Mere, Everywhere

Kruiskoutermolen wind mill in Mere, Belgium. Photo: Google Maps

Of all the place names found in the Vale, Mere is the most globally popular.

There’s a historic village in the Belgian province of Flanders, halfway between Ghent and Brussels, called Mere.

Records survive from 1003 AD referring to it as Meren and its main attraction is the Kruiskoutermolen, a three-story wooden windmill first rotated in 1384.

Chad, a French colony until 1960, has four rural communities called Mere.

Other places with the name can be found in Vanuatu, Cameroon, New Caledonia, France and the Central African Republic – which all speak the language.

La Belle Mère, or the Beautiful Mother, is a commune section in Haiti.

This is where you can find L’Université Chrétienne de la Communauté de Caïman – the country’s leading medical school.

Is that the next step for Mere School in Wiltshire? To start giving out bachelor’s degrees in medicine.