American Reacts to Poundbury!

[@jamiejames9593]

Fair play, you ate that earthquake like it was nothing. Must be scary, but "Oh, earthquake" is a very British way to react. Well done sir.

[@nbartlett6538]

Given that most Brits have never felt an earthquake, I very much doubt we would handle it calmly.

[@brigidsingleton1596]

​@@nbartlett6538 My eldest daughter has experienced an earthquake... Mind you... She moved away from her home here in London to (initially, Banff, Alberta) Canada in 2019 but now lives (with her rescued dog, Milo) in Kimberley, B.C, Canada,🇨🇦 where she (& Milo) felt the quake earlier this year... She told me it was an alarming, though fairly brief and not too strong a quake, but being new to her, elicited the phrase born of sheer surprise...😮🇨🇦🤔 "What the f***?!!"😮🥺🇨🇦🤔🤭 (though, Milo's 'verbal response' was 'unrecorded'🦮!!🤫) 🤭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🖖

[@catbevis1644]

Charles I wrote a letter to his son, the future Charles II, saying "it is better to be remembered as Charles the Good, rather than Charles the Great". I genuinely believe it's a case of third time lucky with the current Charles. He has always championed English architecture, farmland, old-fashioned craftsmanship, giving disadvantaged kids better opportunities in terms of skills/training, and many more things that slowly change us for the better. People ridiculed him as out of touch when he campaigned for organic food (years before anyone actually cared about that), but it's because he genuinely wants to improve the lives of ordinary people in the long term. See that's the difference between a politician and a monarchy... the politicians only care about a "five year plan", or getting past the next election. They'd rather throw up a town cheaply so their government gets the credit for it, regardless of how shoddy or soulless the work is. A monarch can plant an acorn and not worry about how long it takes the oak tree to emerge. Without people like that, we wouldn't have any more oak trees in the future. I don't doubt that some of Charles's ideas come from his ivory tower, but his heart is most definitely in the right place and I have great respect for him.

[@margaretflounders8510]

Great post and thanks...

[@alimar0604]

Great comment! I agree with all you say 🇬🇧

[@BillyBoy1235]

Bloody well said.

[@psychoprosthetic]

Yeah, I don't like his backwardness on architecture, but he has good intentions and has worked for the betterment of things in a few important areas. Good points.

[@marvinc9994]

"but his heart is most definitely in the right place" Absolutely! Alas, that cannot ALWAYS be said about his head, in as much as he CAN be a little too trusting and gullible at times. Poundbury is an absolute triumph, however. I rather suspect that when he follows his OWN instincts, he's on safe ground. But when he allows himself to be persuaded by OTHERS...I think you get my drift?

[@davidhall7811]

Something he missed off is that throughout the development Charles would often visit Poundbury and would personally speak with the residents/business owners there to get feedback from the actual people living/working in the town.

[@Sam-um3xj]

True, we were planting trees there about 5 years ago and Charles showed up and helped

[@andrewcornwall9754]

OK! Archaeologist hat on! In UK, all placenames have meanings. Poundbury Hill on the outskirts of Dorchester has evidence of Neolithic & Bronze Age settlements, an Iron Age Hillfort and remains of a section of Roman aqueduct. The whole area is a prehistoric funerary landscape, that once competed with Stonehenge. Many claim that it was in prehistoric times the foremost ritual landscape in Europe. 2 hillforts, 4 henges and a funerary landscape. So much more than just Maiden Castle!!! Charles chose to name his project Poundbury because it links his vision of a traditional community with the oldest known settlement in the area, about 6,000 years ago. Dorchester is a wonderful place to visit, as is Dorset as a whole. Lots of history, lots of fantastic walks, great museums, great pubs & beers & local foods. Celebrated my 60th birthday with a 10 day walking holiday and stayed in an ancient manor house that my maternal ancestors worked in in the 1600's. So yes, I confess to being biased. I've excavated at many sites in the county and grew up staying with family in the Piddle Valley & along the coast. Pound = enclosure, often for cattle or stray animals Bury (burgh) = fortified enclosure

[@margaretflounders8510]

I love history, thank you for your post..(also I love Piddle Valley!)

[@andrewcornwall9754]

​@margaretflounders8510 Lots of childish giggles even now I'm in my 60's. In my childhood, there were several farms along the Piddle that grew watercress. It was delicious & so fresh. At some point growing up, I realised that it had been grown in Piddle water 😂 A wonderful clear chalk stream flowing from Alton Pancras to Poole Harbour. Small spring at Alton P. and not a lot of water, so in Dorset a Piddle rather than a stream.

[@terryhunt2659]

A few weeks ago I was on a guided tour of the iron-age hillfort of Maiden Castle, 1.6 miles from Dorchester. Poundbury is well seen from this viewpoint, and I can say that it fits very harmoniously into the landscape.

[@danielferguson3784]

The area was already called Poundbury, it was not a new name. Archaeologists found an ancient cemetery there that dated back to Roman days, which had been the reason for the name. It means something like the burial ground in an enclosure. It had been the place where the dead were buried outside the Roman town of Dorchester. This first floor in the UK is the one above the ground. The bottom floor is the ground floor in the UK. The shops are on the ground floor.

[@gdok6088]

I looked at a property there. The interior layouts and designs are just as interesting and classical as the exteriors with high ceilings and light filled rooms. But there is a now a premium to live in Poundbury. It is an impressive achievement and another example of King Charles III forward thinking in architecture, the environment, organic farming and traditional craftsmanship.

[@EartwisterTV]

I spent a day walking round Poundbury with my wife. We both found it eerie. There were signs of people, houses, cars, buildings etc ,but no actual human beings. The streets were deserted, the shops and cafes empty. It was as if the population had been abducted. Very weird. indeed

[@sp4rtavus244]

Yes, its like a ghost town.

[@ShelleyOtter]

I live near Poundbury and have been there several times. The architecture is lovely. But I agree, it is a ghost town. Many of the shop units are still empty. Driving and parking is sometimes confusing. And ordinary people would have no chance at affording to buy.

[@hilarycharman-2924]

​@@ShelleyOtterThere is social housing though.

[@lynette.]

Always admired the way he stood up for thought in archtecture instead of the architects wet dreams that kept appearing without thought for human beings.

[@nemoschimp]

One of your better additions to your palette of subjects that you have introduced. As you normally do you have great comments on your subjects using enough of 'english' to help many especially those from across the pond to 'get' the subtleties of pun, understatement and historically based querkiness of the language with humour. Thumbs up to your fact checking in real time which giving your subscribers depth to your theme of the day especially when you let your followers hear the commentary too its educational as well. Your precomments are enlightening as many watching have a common base with you to start from (though occasional tendency to mention stuff off the cuff.... Such as Chinese village) seems more like over thought pre comment than reaction. If you check you almost certainly reacted to a tremor.Bravo to you!👍🏾🐵🙊🙉🙈

[@Gabaja21]

We don’t get many earthquakes in the UK, the most recent ones were linked to fracking operations. I’m impressed by your composure given the situation. Oooh Earthquake! Exit stage left lol

[@seldom_bucket]

Interestingly we have more tornadoes per square mile than any other country on earth 😅 Pretty terrifying tbh, some of them are strong enough to knock over an empty wheelie bin 😬

[@robertwatford7425]

In the words of the Pub Landlord, "We don't get earthquakes in Great Britain because we don't deserve them." I admired your composure and stoicism - dammit, man, you could almost pass as a Brit!

[@neuralwarp]

A prince is "His Royal Highness". A king is "His Majesty".

[@jayzandstra1830]

great reaction to a pretty underrated channel! the aesthetic city is doing alot in the way of trying to rekindle the flame of old world architecture here in europe,would like to see more of that here!

[@KevinMedlam]

Check out Portmeirion, a coastal village in Wales. That was used in a TV series called “The Prisoner”.

[@JackMellor498]

What he said about the post war council housing, they were utilitarian, quite often ugly and brutalist and grotty yes, but they served a utility in terms of getting people out of slums and also, being council housing, the rent you paid went straight into the coffers of the council to maintain them and build more of them. It gave a lot of people economic stability in the post war years to live at the time of the housing boom, especially without the fear of landlords hiking rents like they do nowadays. That they created isolation is not really true, they were built in urban areas to break down social barriers between people of different backgrounds, everyone could live in council housing. It’s literally only gotten negative stigma since the days of Margaret Thatcher and the mass sell off of council housing, that it began to be seen as a thing to get away from, the estates were allowed to fall into disrepair and become crime riddled. It was part of Thatcher’s Right to Buy programme that allowed people to become home owners by purchasing their council house for a big discount, and turn what is by all definitions something human beings should have a right to, that being shelter and comfortable housing, into a speculative asset that generated housing equity for individual profit. So if anything, Thatcher created the individualism and isolation, because she stood for anti-collectivism, she allowed racial tensions to thrive that had once brought communities together, she stood for the idea that “you have to lift yourself up by your own boot straps and never depend on anyone ever, if you do, you are a failure”. In the 40 years since her reign as PM, good affordable council housing is hard to come by, there’s a massive housing crisis and housing shortage, because after Right To Buy, affordable housing was bought up and not replaced with new affordable housing, thus constraining the market, with fewer houses to go by meaning prices increased, landlords run rampant and unchecked like parasites on low income workers and so much more. In short, the disappearance of good affordable housing in this country has seemingly deliberately created insecurity, economic instability, and fear of rising prices and rents. All for the interests of free markets and profit. There’s a great doc you can watch called Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle that talks all about this.

[@Tass...]

People here forget or just have blinkers on when it comes to our monarchy. Often spewing "a waste of tax payers money" (when in reality the monarchy costs each tax payer just a couple of quid a year) and ignoring all the good they do and the income they bring. Tourists spend many millions a year visiting royal properties. The royals are patrons to over 1000 (one thousand) charities. The princes trust has helped so many underprivileged children. The duke of Edingbourough's scheme again helped so many children overachieve. The queen was a diplomatic goddess with grace all over the world. And this video is just another example of the good they do today. I'll never understand why British citizens can be so anti-monarchy whilst calling themselves patriotic. The royals do more for the country in one day than most do in their entire lives.

[@nobilesnovushomo58]

The thing that’s also frequent about projects from Royals, is the money usually comes from the relevant areas. The Duchy of Cornwall is an estate that belongs to Charles and funds for it were organized from either the area or what is deemed as personally accrued funds. I also love Charles personality, his quotes are hilarious and very British, like telling the Italian Prime Minister bringing out some of the best wine “ I don’t care what it is. Bring me a beer.”

[@SPierced]

Put the kettle on, I'll be round in a bit for tea and biscuits now I know where you live 🤣🤣🤣

[@CatGrindle]

I did some transport work for the Duchy's ongoing development at Nansleden, adjacent to Newquay, Cornwall. This has been designed on the same principles as Poundbury and I have seen the site at its various stages of development. The principles are admirable, and the developments highly sustainable. However, the houses are not cheap, which is a shame.

[@mbeechey]

Yeah, my parents moved there before COVID, and the price increases since have been absurd. Like a 1/3 price increase in 3-4 years.

[@bobclarke1815]

The stretch of sand is Chesil Beach and joins the town of Weymouth to the island of Portland which is owned by the Royal Navy. i was Royal navy and worked there for a couple of years.

[@paulhanson5164]

At the risk of being pedantic it doesn't, a bridge from Chesil connects Portland to Weymouth. Chesil Beach stretches for 18 miles up to West Bay, its not until about the half way mark near Abbotsbury that the beach is connected to the mainland, as Fleet Lagoon runs behind it until that point.

[@bobclarke1815]

@@paulhanson5164 Pedantic is good.

[@sp4rtavus244]

A the risk of being a touch more pedantic, Portland is actually a peninsula and not an Isle, as Chesil beach connects it to the mainland.

[@sp4rtavus244]

@@paulhanson5164 Abbotsbury Swannery yes.

[@bobclarke1815]

@@sp4rtavus244 Yep, definately more pedantic.

[@jwfairey]

Whatttttttt! JJLA doing a video on Poundbury! Used to live there!

[@lesley9865]

Look up Dumfries house and estate. Charlie renovated the house and garden and its now a training centre for building,gardening,art for low income people.

[@JackMellor498]

The bit about loads of houses between 1955 and 1985 being demolished is framed incorrectly. Old homes with poorer plumbing, poorer facilities and such were being knocked down. The 1960s was the last time this country met housing targets, a healthy mixture of local authorities building housing, housing associations and the private sector. In the nearly 60 odd years since, only the private sector builds houses and all the markets understand is profit, so it only builds what is profitable and not what is affordable and serves social utility to the owner.

[@JohnnyZenith]

True but many perfectly good areas and communities were destroyed unnecessarily. The UK absolutely was defaced. Birmingham is one of the worst.

[@cloverite]

The flats that were built in the 60s, replacing terrace housing and destroying communities, are now being demolished. The council houses were built earlier than the 60s, I know because I grew up in one. The government need to build more, although I’m weary as to who they would be given to.

[@andypandy9013]

Charles was "His Royal Highness" when he was Prince of Wales but as soon as he became the Monarch he became "His Majesty". 🙂

[@KevinAmatt]

Years ago I used to see a speech therapist in Poundbury. I found the place to be soulless. Very little life. I had lunch at the nearby pub. Think it was called the poet laureate. Have to admit the food was excellent. I’ve visited Dorchester 1000 times and will continue to go there. I can’t see any reason to go back to Poundbury.

[@CatGrindle]

I used to LIVE in Dorchester, for many years. I am familiar with Poundbury. I am also an engineer who has been involved in another of the Duchy's ventures at Nansleden in Cornwall. Soul-less they are not. Maybe your single visit was on a day where people were elsewhere for some reason. Which just goes to show that you can't judge a place by a single visit. Dorchester ... now THAT's dull and largely uninspiring.

[@decrulez]

If it was years ago won’t it still have being still built? So there’s not as many people there? What you did was the equivalent to walking onto a building site and being annoyed it’s not finished.

[@psychoprosthetic]

JJ asks lots of the right questions. How much are the properties, how much did it cost to build? Noting it is on Land Charles already had title to - I wonder if the houses are fully freehold? Is he letting go of that land? Developments like this were beautiful when they were cutting-edge, 100 years or more ago, such as Bourneville and Port Sunlight. The idea of mixed development is an old solution arrived at organically. I think the reason zoning became popular was because it was one of the pillars of the garden cities movement over 100 years ago. It was necessary because the idea was that people should feel a taste of the countryside in their urban homes and 100 years ago places of work were DIRTY. But then zoning became a bit of a dogma. Apart from this one improvement, possible with modern light industry, all the other ideas appear to be ripped off wholesale from the garden cities movement and the arts and crafts movement. Including the 18th and 19th century architecture and styles. The arts and crafts movement was a wonderful utopian response to the industrial revolution, with great notions of local and quality craftsmanship with the workers maintaining pride and dignity in their work: but only the filthy rich could really afford it. Charles means well, but he is filthy rich; he is out of touch; and he would erase all development and improvements in architecture of the last 200 years. The problem with most architecture that has been seen to fail has been planners and councils cutting corners and building cheaply and several urgent situations such as post-war housing shortages which necessitated fast and not properly thought-through solutions. The average citizen doesn't look too much into the developments in architecture and tends to have the same sort of backward looking, largely uninformed vie Charles has, and people are unaware of the great advances because no-one wants to spend on doing it right. Poundbury is a case of people spending, and I'm supposing this development has a very low population density. People who can afford it always prefer that, so of course it's a "success". Very expensive houses everywhere in the country tend to be a success if the environment is nice because a few people can actually afford it. It's great there is a 35% provision for low income housing, but my guess is that this will not really be fore people with low incomes, but more fairly well-heeled working class and upwardly mobile families. Even most people building their own houses these days do not use traditional building methods because it is too expensive. I suspect these buildings probably have a core of breeze block and an outer skin of brick to look pretty, because traditional bricklaying is costly time consuming and doesn't take advantage of modern economies and ecologies, and to give him due credit, Charles is very pro ecological balance. Part of the film in fact shows a single-skinned wall being erected which appears to use half-bricks periodically which is possibly for the sake of giving a false and dishonest impression of brick wall ties. But that's mostly a guess as I can't see that much detail. Again, Charles means well, but turning Britain into a Victorian or Georgian theme park is no solution to decent modern housing, it's just turning the clock back and mostly motivated by out-of-touch nostalgia.

[@pogleswife7572]

Houses for sale at Poundbury on Rightmove are freehold

[@psychoprosthetic]

@@pogleswife7572 Ah good research. Thank you, that's good to hear.

[@weiser880]

I live just a few miles away from Poundbury. It's ... interesting. Very expensive if you want to live there.

[@CatGrindle]

@@Sradders Not exactly 'the elite', but yes, the houses are more expensive than those of equivalent size in say, your Taylor Wimpey estates. Unfortunately, as ever, cost dictates :( I do wish the Duchy had stumped up the difference in the cost of the houses so that most people could afford to buy there. There ARE a lot of 'affordable homes' (including rented) at Poundbury, though - a greater percentage than the minimum which is required by law and to which Taylor Wimpey et al adhere (i.e. the very minimum permitted).

[@weiser880]

@@CatGrindle I’m just comparing it to the rest of the area around here - Weymouth and even Dorchester are much cheaper. However, if you compare it to somewhere like London, it’s cheap.

[@weiser880]

@@Sradders it’s not really priced for the elite, but definitely more expensive than surrounding areas.

[@helenkowaluk3618]

Just up the road from me in Weymouth , great place as is Weymouth and Portland (that spit you admired at the beginning). Lots of independent shops. It is like marmite, you either love it or hate it

[@weiser880]

@@helenkowaluk3618 I'm in Weymouth also. Love the little coffee shop there and a walk around the park next to it.

[@gvigary1]

Chesil Beach is lovely. The tide sorts the pebbles so they're small one end and the size of your fist the other. Poundbury, on the other hand, is... an acquired taste. It is to a real town what a Disney castle is to Windsor castle. Inoffensive, but no character. Cool earthquake, BTW. A couple of weeks ago we were in Vietnam and had a 5.5, the biggest earthquake in that province in over a century. My daughter was very excited. I slept through it.

[@mary-y8x8h]

I did not think your earthquake reaction was for real, at first. I thought you were having a joke with us, and was surprised you were back only moments later! A true pro. JJ. You did not even break sweat, or your mug. "Keep calm. Carry on, Have tea and a biscuit for your nerves afterwards."🤭🤭

[@gemlou763]

Gutted... I didn't have my glasses on at first. Thought it said reacts to Poundland..

[@juliewylde5238]

That’ll be a fun one.

[@gemlou763]

@@juliewylde5238 yeah the shock nothing is a pound 😆

[@Dazza5007]

😂

[@JackMellor498]

Thing is, I agree that towns and cities don’t have to be ugly and can be beautiful, and they ABSOLUTELY SHOULD BE WALKABLE AND CYCLABLE (in the modern age with cars getting expensive, there is good reasons to make alternatives to driving better for as many journeys as possible, you said it yourself, cars stress you out, walking and cycling is fun and good for your health, no two ways about it). They can look nice and still be affordable if done right Reminds me of a thing I read about the Soviet Union, they had this period called “socialist realism” that resulted in a lot of their housing styles being real ornate with columns and cool stone aesthetics and such, they were also affordable too being provided as utility by the state, it’s one of the VERY VERY VERY few things they got right, wanna stress that, that they at least built good social housing, put people in them and made the cities walkable.

[@lulusbackintown1478]

I would like to live in a place like Poundbury. The problem always is lack of money. I do think the King's influence in building homes on a human level rather than towers in the brutalist manner can be seen in the style of new housing being built however the idea of it being a self contained community doesn't seem to have been.

[@goingnowhere7845]

Poundbury is a bloody nightmare! It's weird and it ruined the view from neighbouring Maiden Castle (a HUGE Iron Age hill fort right next to Poundbury).The only people who like Poundbury are the weird residents (really weird) and the King. Pretty well everyone else in Dorset hates the place.

[@sp4rtavus244]

Yeah, that is true.

[@captainnik]

i dont mind modern architecture when its done right, but nothing will ever feel nicer than a pedestrian area with wide paths and lots of green space. i hope they can learn to do both at once

[@discontentedcitizan6046]

Cant believe an earthquake hit mid recording. If that was me I would not be back until the next day. Scary reality bites. Great show love Poundbury . Most British people want to live in traditional looking homes in streets with all modern conveniences .

[@nolaj114]

Say, J - ever given serious thought to emigrating to a charming walkable affordable town that's not situated near a gigantic fault line? 😬 Stay safe!

[@johexxkitten]

They don't point out that poundbury is one frigging HUGE HOA... What colour you paint your door is controlled, whether you have a clothes line is controlled, whether you can park near your home is also controlled. So I LOVE the concept I hate the way it is controlled & governed. My dream in life would be to have enough money to buy land and build a house, however I want what looks like an old "Estate" that has been there for 100s of years. I want people passing to think it has always been there. But it's actually only a few years old... Inside I'd use old room proportions like square rooms with high ceilings. But it would have ALL the modernities of life and be somewhat future proof by adding hidden dry & wet risers for running more cables & pipes at a later date. Plus a server room that services anything tech. So integrated sound systems, hidden TVs. I'd even add things like an old fashioned orangery, walled garden, greenhouse & orchard plus a hidden more modern garden for sitting in the sun & having a BBQ or party. It's all planned out in my head, I just need a f*CK tonne of money 😜

[@stevenpirie8199]

Holy shit hope everything is OK

[@onecupof_tea]

My father drove into Poundbury, and couldn't find his way out. He said it was stressful, there was no 'centre' but the buildings were nice.

[@moppilicious]

You reacted to that earthquake the way I react to the microwave pinging

[@Cunning.Stunt7]

😂😂😂

[@MuddyDuck...]

I came across your video by chance, and am writing this comment from my house (one of the first built) in Poundbury. Yes Prince Charles is a huge landowner in the south of England, and he decided to build Poundbury on his land on the western outskirts of the old town of Dorchester (founded by the Romans nearly 2000 years ago). I could write a book about the pro's and cons of Poundbury as an architectural design template. But IMHO, having watched its development over the last 30 years it has broadly been a success. I still believe that Phase One is best, but I am obviously biased - but think it was closest to what King Charles really wanted to achieve. However it faced huge financial challenges in the early days as building was started just as the UK went into a financial crisis, which put huge pressures on the local builders - as it proved very difficult to sell properties to fund the larger later Phases. But the upside to buyers, was that plot sizes were generally larger than subsequent phases, and properties were not built in a hurry. But the BEST thing about Phase One was its scale (village-like) and the very real sense of community built there - with people all joining something new around the same time. It was an amazing time to be here, and Prince Charles would regularly visit to check on progress and walk around. However with the end of the recession, Phase Two grew much more quickly. It was much larger scale, and by now there was serious money to be made - so it felt somewhat different to the original part. But on the whole, still pretty good. But where I disagree with the video you watched is with Phase Three. As the success of Poundbury started to attract wealthy retirees, the architecture of Poundbury radically changed. Some large grand buildings, more in common with London wealthiest areas, were added around Queen Mothers Square, and penthouses costing well over £1m - a far cry from the "in keeping with rural Dorset" mantra from its original design brief. There are not many rural Dorset locations where one would ever see THREE Bentleys parked at the same time outside the local shop ! I also remember attending a very early Poundbury residents meeting with planners and architects, where a promise was given that NO building over three stories would ever be built in Poundbury. But with Prince Charles no longer able to visit as regularly, and the Poundbury development raking in huge profits, those original design briefs were soon forgotten as it was left to the developers and architects to keep building. Some would call that progress I suppose. Fortunately lessons do appear to have been learnt, and some of the excesses of Phase Three are not repeated in the final phase. So to summarise: - Poundbury was a brave project for Prince Charles to undertake, and kudos to him for taking the risk. As it nearly failed before it had hardly got started, due to the recession. - But Phase One ended up ticking almost all the design requirements, and due its smaller scale and circumstances built an amazing community. - Later phases proved much more 'successful' financially, but correspondingly never achieved the same sense of community. - And IMHO that is perhaps the greatest lesson to be learnt from Poundbury - the need for balance.

[@Tom-nm9qy]

Ha that dudee hair is awesome like clouds

[@KateSander22]

That was surprisingly exciting for a video on architecture! 🫨🫨🫨

[@debbee0867]

My ex's parents used to own an apartment (holiday home) in Poundbury, just around the corner from Waitrose (supermarket) in Queen Mothers Square. They sold before the town expanded more.

[@richardpoynton4026]

I think Al Murray, Pub Landlord said it best when he said “we don’t have Earthquakes in this country because we don’t deserve them…” 😉 [glad your ok - lots of love from the UK]

[@alysonhopkins2037]

Al Murray also said why build on something called the San Andreas Fault? Asking for trouble and then go and blame the Mexicans!! 😂

[@alanmon2690]

unfortunately for the joke, we do have small earthquakes! Part of the natural world. But is true that we don't deserve big ones...

[@jbeattie02]

A number of my colleagues worked on several of the poundbury buildings

[@user-man-now80]

I knew of Poundbury, but this video is the most comprehensive introduction that I've seen , I love the concept ; I hate what much of British towns and cities have become : UGLY. Charles has a sensitive brain in his head - and will make a great King. Thanks jjla. Cheers ! Sheffield South Yorkshire.

[@goldencherry9033]

I live in Dorchester and there is a feeling of ‘them and us’ between the main town and Poundbury, but personally I don’t mind it. They’ve built infrastructure there which seems a positive addition to the local area (schools, shops, doctors etc.), and while I wouldn’t want to live there myself as I love my Victorian period house in the town, Poundbury really isn’t as offensive as people make out. It’s nice to look at and, despite the comments about being expensive, it does have affordable housing that low-income families CAN afford (I teach children who live there and it is definitely not just wealthy/middle class there, that’s for sure!) King Charles and other members of the royal family have regularly visited over the last couple of decades, bringing attention to the area too, and they are very involved with its development so haven’t just put their name to it and left it to its own devices. Ultimately, there are some really ugly and ‘you could be in any town’ type housing developments around the U.K., and Poundbury isn’t one of those. It’s pretty, is trying to include people of different levels of wealth, attempting to be more environmentally friendly, and while it has taken up a chunk of the countryside outside of Dorch, we’re blessed to be surrounded by miles upon miles of beautiful countryside so the impact is minimal compared to other developments. I think some just don’t like it because it’s Charles’ project and it’s about their attitude to the royal family above the realities of the town itself.

[@marvinc9994]

Now THIS is one of Charles' greatest achievements IMHO - at a time when many trendy architects would MUCH prefer to have us all live in Lego Buildings, or glass-and-metal monstrosities that have no Soul (like most modernist architects), even if they ARE (how does it go) "Exciting, new, innovative, dynamic, looking to the future rather than the past" etc, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah. At any rate, Poundbury more than makes up for some of his sillier views - on subjects of which he has little, if any, understanding!

[@keithreynolds]

Poundbury appeared in an epsode of 'Black Mirror'.

[@michaeldowson6988]

Looks like a fashion discount mall in my city.

[@togerboy5396]

18:18 So Dollarbury?

[@rickygrimshaw1255]

Poundbury is a brilliant town but then again I’m biased as I’m a proud Dorset native 😉

[@sp4rtavus244]

Poundbury isnt a town but rather an extension of the town of Dorchester.

[@cazzyuk8939]

I can't believe how chill you were when the earthquake hit, like it was an everday occurance.

[@jameslewis2635]

To me the secret of this Poundbury's success is that visually it was designed around traditional British building designs which helps living around there feel much more comfortable and tranquil than if they were surrounded by more modern designs which often lack charm or personality. Sorry to say but when that earthquake happened my mind went to Alexei Sayle's Pub Landlord character saying 'Anyone who builds on something called the San Andreas Fault has really got it coming - It's not San Andreas's fault, it's yours for building on it!'.

[@theresam6857]

Electric Dreams had an episode set in Poundbury. Think it was an imaginary town or something. Timothy Spall was in it!

[@sp4rtavus244]

I live very near to Poundbury, in fact I was born in Dorchester, less than a mile away from Pounbury. It is a very strange place. Its like a ghost town and many of the houses and flats are not occupied permanently. Rich people have bought a lot of the property and do not live there. Only a fraction of local people live there and is difinately not for normal working class people as its is stupidly expensive to live there. He said that "35% of Poundbury is Social Housing" I can confirm this is bs, 35% is of the housing is "affordable housing" and is only affordable for the middle class. If you live there you are not allowed to have a white van and you cannot hang your washing out to dry. That beach you looked at the beginning of your vid is called Chesil Beach next to the town of Weymouth and is the longest beach in the UK, right in the heart of the Jurassic coast, fanouse for its Paleontology.

[@elliesconcerts]

Considering i get paid about £1,500 a month...i dont think ill be renting in Poundbury anytime soon 😅😂😂

[@littlemy1773]

It’s a 25 min city but for posh people lol

[@ladylove3636]

I was offered a flat in poundbury. It was in one of those classic buildings by the square. But no garden & i really want to grow my own food. I still don't know moving out of London is hard. Im currently on the kings road which goes to Buckingham palace for the king 👑 x

[@richardedgar9670]

I live nearby and initially it’s visually mental.Imagine a city centre just dumped in the middle of the countryside. One minute it’s hedgerows then it’s something that looks like the Bank of England. It’s certainly jarring in places. That said the architecture is good, there is thought put in to individuality (except when it comes to which colour you can paint your front door), and it’s generally a nice place. It’s a damn site nicer than most towns, though this may have more to do with the high percentage of retiree’s that live there. Incidentally I grew up in the other place you looked at nearby on Google maps, the Isle of Portland. Now that is a nice place. Rough and ready but stunning with loads of interesting history just laying about the place.

[@miamonan9627]

I knew Prince Charles was once very scathing about ugly architecture, (and very rightly so imo) but had no idea about the Poundbury project! Fascinating video, and what a beautiful end result. Marvellous what a bit of table thumping can do in the right hands. Go King Charles!👊🇬🇧

[@JohnnyZenith]

I'm baffled at the amount of people who don't know Poundbury!

[@stuartcalow737]

Hilarious! Earthquakes: The highest building in England was the spire of Lincoln Cathedral until it fell in the earthquake of 1185. This is probably the worst damage ever. We are more stable in more ways than one!

[@adamsermet5953]

So cool you filmed that earthquake! I’ve been to a few hot zones in my life and never experienced one!

[@seldom_bucket]

It's unbelievable to me how calm you were during that earthquake 😮 It seems terrifying to me, i know it doesn't make sense but I'd feel like the ground is just gonna fracture into a chasm and swallow my house.

[@hilarycharman-2924]

I live in Poundbury in social housing. Its an unusual place.

[@DE-xt7jv]

He built one in Scotland too.

[@mastokbreedtbg1398]

HAHA no way you've done a video on this.... I live 30 mins from there. Nearly got a property there around 10 years ago. But there are rules set by whoever runs the project to live there. They are still building it now, it just keeps getting bigger. And YOOOO that's insane an earthquake mid rec. The King also has a program called The Prince's Trust, which sends students to help/train in foreign countries. The name has probably changed to The Kings Trust but i'm not sure.

[@benhodkinson6467]

Bravo

[@enemde3025]

Poundbury is pronounced Poundbree NOT Pound Berry. Newquay is pronounced NEW KEY . The shops in Avalon are on the GROUND FLOOR not the FIRST FLOOR. In the UK we have our food waste collected every week and sent to make energy.

[@sp4rtavus244]

Nope its pronounced exactly as its written. Pound bury. not "Bree"

[@PiousMoltar]

It literally just depends on your accent, both are correct.

[@SolarVibeEnergy]

Stay safe JJ & where was the safe place you go? under the stairs, in the bath, basement? (side note, know someone in LA called Jay!)

[@JJLAReacts]

LOL I usually run/briskly walk outside to the middle of the street. Thanks 🙏

[@DE-xt7jv]

That mixed function theory is old. Germany has never stopped working in this way. Keeping living, commerce and entertainment in balance. This means that evenings are still vibrant.

[@JulietVorster]

It’s not a town. It’s a suburb of the Dorset County town of Dorchester. My mum lives there. Oh, and the King didn’t build it! He had inherited the land just because he’s a royal. The buildings haven’t aged well and many of them now look really tatty. Lots of property developers made bundles of money (the corporate entities that built the properties) and there continues to be more and more properties built on farming land as urban sprawl. The idea of a separate town was never sustainable just from a local authority point of view. This film is like a fairytale version of Poundbury.

[@mickkidston7344]

Is that a natural straight line ?, I'll just drop a man here, isn't the scenery lovely .. It's where the bouncing bomb was tested !!

[@sarahkelly473]

Crazy that you were filming during the earthquake. We’ve barely ever had them in the UK. Well not ones that are easily felt anyway. They seem very scary to me, but I guess you get used to them to some extent out there

[@mikeeccles5264]

You might, if you get the chance, have a look at a very influential book (in urban planning terms anyway) called The Death and Life of American Cities by Jane Jacobs. Its message might have had a role in thinking about Poundbury and elsewhere.

[@lynette.]

Hope you ok Lincolnshire🇬🇧 and experienced 1 earthquake sounded and felt like a plane 2foot from my head and the ground literally rippled. Hope you are ok.

[@bruceyboy7349]

I like Poundbury. I've stayed in the hotel in the square a couple of times. The town feels a bit like you are living in the Stepford Wives or somethint like that, but I like it a lot.

[@ebbhead20]

It does have that The Prisoner vibe, but I'm sure you get used to it.

[@bruceyboy7349]

@@ebbhead20 Yeah - I don't want to put the place down because it's nice. It's sort of busy but quiet at the same time. The Prisoner is a good way of describing it.

[@abigailjohnson4270]

Ok, wasn’t expecting the earthquake! Tho it is LA. Seemed a decently sized one too by the sound. Hell. The joys of living on an enormous fault system huh? There was another one not so long ago I think offshore. Something’s on the move then! King Charles has always been waaay ahead of his time re being eco friendly, promoting green issues - he used to be routinely laughed at in the 80s but damn it if he wasn’t absolutely spot on. Everyone that laughed had to eat their words. He’s always had a keen sense for this sort of thing. He made the Dutchy of Cornwall into a roaring financial success and it creates many jobs here in Cornwall where there are very restricted options for work. He has his own master craftsmen teaching system running for people to learn proper hand crafts like stone masonry, wood carving etc and they have gone on to be involved in huge restoration jobs. He’s always been ahead of the curve on these issues. He was bang on.

[@juliajoyce4535]

We regularly have earth tremors in The British Isles, latest records from the last 50 days ranging from 0.3 to 3.3, we had a 6.1 in 1931 but nothing on the scale of California 😮

[@AndyKing1963]

Ian Nairn was highlighting the same stuff years before

[@DE-xt7jv]

He owned the land already.

[@ElDubz420]

Unreal. You bossed that earthquake man 🤣 out of curiosity... Where were u trying to go?

[@Steve_W27]

Dude - you dealt with that earthquake like it was somebody dropping off an Amazon parcel!🤷🏻‍♂️🤣. Mention it in your video title for more views 👍 Incidentally I watched this not only because you’re my favourite septic tank on KZbin but also because I live on the Dorset coast, not too far from Poundbury! It’s quite a polarising place from what I can gather, although I’ve never even been there myself, but am slightly intrigued to and your video has inspired me to do visit, just to check it out 👍

[@paulfletcher3998]

I live a 2 min walk from Poundbury. While phase one seems well build, the rest lacks good craftsmanship. People aren't allowed upvc doors or windows on Poundbury, only wooden ones are allowed. Problem is to save money after phase one was built the builder's used soft wood and not hard wood for the doors and windows frames. As a result doors and windows swell up when it rains and don't work properly. One of my friends that lives on Poundbury literally can't open her front door after a heavy storm. It seems to becoming a massive problem with lots of the later built houses. What they call Woodland Crescent is a bit of a joke. There's probably no more that 20 trees on the whole crescent but apart from that it's not a bad place. More interesting than other developments in Dorchester were every house is the same. The only thing I really don't like about it is the lack of road signs. This was done as a traffic calming measure but you have to be really careful because it's not unusual to go round a corner to find someone coming towards you on the wrong side of the road.

[@DeeDeeLowryLegs]

I live close and find it very bland and never see anyone else there, I definitely prefer Dorch (Dorchester) Weymouth and Portland.

[@reysgotplans5005]

That's so crazy! 😢 the earth beneath you is moving 😫😫😫 glad you're okay!!!

[@mskatonic7240]

Interesting, I didn't think it looked old at all. Way too clean and shiny. It's pretty but a bit soulless. Where are the shops. Where's the pub. Where is everyone, the streets look empty! Still, I like the walkable aspect. In a few decades when it's all had time to bed in, it'll look great.

[@pogleswife7572]

So amazing, "Oh, earthquake" and off you go. Where did you go to? How long were you gone? I thought you were kidding. I'm 66 and never experienced an earthquake here in England

[@JackMellor498]

I’ve commented enough but I’ll also add this context. It’s mentioned that “1/3 of the housing will be social housing”. Poundbury is located in Dorset, a very rural area that’s pretty far from any city in a UK standpoint , or opportunities for well paid high quality jobs. This means that the majority of people living in the development will be very rich already, thus not really solving the problems you often find in American suburbia for instance, where whole neighbourhoods of single family housing are built, all the houses are at the same price point, thus only people from that economic background will live there. Social housing and mixed used developments help alleviate this.

[@CatGrindle]

No, most of the people there aren't 'very rich'. What an absurd statement. The houses on the private market there are somehwat more expensive than their inferior counterparts on housing estates, but the large number of 'affordable' dwellings mean that many other people can buy or rent at Poundbury.

[@helenwood8482]

That earthquake was worrying.

[@mancuniangamecat8288]

I did say in a previous video that name dropping like that could cause an earthquake.

[@pv-mm2or]

I like the architecture It has that feels like home quality, I would rather that than some modernist architects wet dream, art for art stake is not art, neither is design! it has to have purpose that people want not what the architect thinks they should have!

[@ethelmini]

The blowing smoke up Charlie's arse is too much. We had a post war housing crisis compounded with a boom in the birth rate. We also had real jobs, with thousands working in the same factory and relying on public transport, or walking, to get there. Knocking down the endless back to back slums wasn't an option while people needed to live in them until we built an alternative.

[@PamelaC23]

So freaky watching you react to an earthquake live on line!

[@JJLAReacts]

LOL yeah, freaky for me too! When I was editing I was surprised that the camera didn't really shake.

[@JohnnyZenith]

He's the King of the UK and the Commonwealth.

[@andrewwmacfadyen6958]

Charlie's vanity project where he can exhibit his lack of taste and lack of imagination

[@Cayles764]

Bro went from comparing Poundbury to something out of North Korea to saying he wanted to li e there.

[@denisebrown-f6q]

be safe

[@Cunning.Stunt7]

19:44. ✴️❗️🔴 🌎🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🫶🇺🇸😎 I was born in L.A California. (Pops was RAF) My mum told me, many times she had to scoot my two big sisters who were little tots at the time, and me as an infant, to a door frame! The safest place to stand I'm told! Terrifying! I however remember here in south Wiltshire, in 2001/2 I woke and was confused why my 4 poster bed was a foot from the wall, and my dressing table the same, but obstructing a whole half of my doorway! When I got to the office, I learned that I had slept through a v rare earthquake! I gave it the nonchalant. "meh that'll be because of my murica quakes, norms we had" Nah I sleep like a coma is going out of fashion 😴

[@Jan_61]

Excellent video…..I wish The King would stop the plans to build on the “green belt” surrounding London…… BTW, your reaction to the earthquake was very British. It’ll be interesting to see how the Olympics copes with earthquakes in 2028……