Something is happening to the high streets of country towns, and I don’t like it. The shops are closing down. In Dorchester, where I stayed overnight after the launch of Michael Hill’s splendid volume on Dorset in the Pevsner series of architectural guides, even the King’s Arms is locked and desolate. This old inn in the High Street has a coaching yard at the back and at the front a broad porch with Doric columns supporting two storeys of bow windows. It’s the same tale at Judge Jeffreys’ reputed house, dating from 1600, until recently a Prezzo restaurant.