The bamboo furniture in the conservatory was the part nobody had thought about. Everything else in that bungalow off Butts Mead had been listed out for us weeks in advance — a three-bedroom place on the eastern edge of Shaftesbury, all on one level, cleared on a Friday in June 2025. The relative organising it lived over in Horsham, West Sussex, and drove down for the day. Before we ever agreed a date they had walked the property and written the lot down: "it is, in principle, a three bedroomed property (all on one level), with one of the bedrooms being used as a dining room and one double and one single bedroom respectively."
So we knew what was coming. A large dark wooden display cabinet in the lounge, a cottage-style three-piece suite, a coffee table, two smaller cabinets either side. Then the conservatory off the back of the lounge with its bamboo chairs and table, which look like nothing and eat more van space than a wardrobe. Kitchen at the rear of the house: the freestanding fridge freezer was going, the oven and washing machine were staying for the buyer, the dishwasher was integral so it stayed built in, and the microwave came out with us. There was a garage with a small freestanding freezer in it, also going. And right at the bottom of the plot, "a small garden shed with some plastic 'patio' type stacking chairs which need to be taken away."
Parking at the front, no restrictions, no stairs anywhere in the building. That combination is rarer in this town than you'd think, and it meant the van sat feet from the door all day. What a job like that costs is a separate conversation — ring the office on 0800 046 5555, or send photographs through the form on this page, and you'll get a figure back.
What a properly listed job looks like from our end
We don't need photographs of every drawer. We need to know the rooms, roughly what's in them, and what is staying put. A three-bedroom terrace we cleared one June is the example we use, because the person arranging it answered every question before we asked it twice. This was a son clearing his parents' home, and the whole property came to us on paper first.
Two doubles and a box room, plus a garden shed and a loft. That last pair is what people forget. A loft that has been filled steadily since the house was bought is not a corner of the job, it is often a third of it, and the shed at the end of the garden usually holds the awkward things. Half tins, garden chemicals, a mower nobody has started in years. Which is exactly why we ask about garage and loft clearance as a separate line on the booking form rather than assuming.
The instructions were specific and they were the useful sort. The cooker was to stay. The carpets were not to be cleared. And on the curtains the answer was one of those small distinctions that saves an argument on the day: "Net curtains but main curtains can stay". A family-size upright fridge freezer was going, which meant the degassing route rather than the general load. Nothing hazardous, nothing verminous — the customer had gone through that whole section of the form and answered no to each part of it, which tells our team leader as much as a photograph does.
There was no piano and no stair lift, which we also ask about, because both change what we bring. And the whole clearance was arranged by one relative acting for the family, on site to give access and to say what stayed. That is the commonest shape a house clearance takes for us: someone standing in a house they grew up in, deciding room by room.
Kinds of house clearance in Shaftesbury
Probate house clearance Shaftesbury
Most of the work we do in SP7 is probate work. Probate house clearance means the property is part of an estate, the person instructing us is usually an executor rather than an owner, and there is often a solicitor somewhere in the chain. Two things follow from that. First, nothing goes in the van until the executor has been through the house and taken out what the family wants — we will wait, and we will come back a second day if the sorting isn't finished. Second, paperwork matters more than it does on a domestic job: we photograph before and after, and the transfer station tickets go back to whoever is keeping the estate file.
On probate clearances we invoice the solicitor, the executor or the estate directly — you do not have to put it on a personal card and claim it back later. Payment can come out of the estate, and there is no deposit at any point. The office is used to dealing with executors who live two counties away and have never met us.
Flat clearance in SP7
A flat clearance is a different animal from a house. Shared entrances, a stairwell nobody wants blocked, sometimes a car park with a height barrier over it, and neighbours who would rather the door wasn't propped open all morning. A one-bedroom ground-floor flat we cleared in November 2023 is the example we still bring up. It was a modest job on paper — the only real furniture was one two-seater sofa and one large single bed, with the carpets, curtains, all the fitted white goods, the fridge freezer, the washing machine and the garden furniture staying with the property. But the access note in the customer's own email changed the whole plan: "there is a height restriction to access car park (2.4 metres). Once inside car park it is possible to park next to lounge door entrance to flat so all one level."
Two point four metres rules out a Luton box van completely. Knowing that the day before meant we sent a lower vehicle and worked to a different loading plan, rather than arriving, staring at the barrier, and carrying everything the long way round from the street.
Garage and loft clearance in Shaftesbury
Garage and loft clearance often gets booked on its own, with nobody moving house at all. A garage that has become a store, a loft that was filled by two generations, an outbuilding at the end of a plot that has not been opened since a hedge grew across the door. We bring ladders and lights; lofts here are frequently unboarded, and we are not walking on plasterboard for anyone. Tell us if the loft hatch is small — some of the older cottages in the town centre have hatches you can barely get a shoulder through, and that decides whether the big items come down in pieces.
End of tenancy and hoarder house clearance
Landlords and managing agents book us for end of tenancy clearance where somebody has left in a hurry, and those jobs are usually a single day with a deadline attached to them. Hoarder house clearance is slower and quieter, and we do not comment on the state of the property, then or afterwards. We work from the door inwards, sorting as we go, because things worth keeping turn up in the middle of what looks like waste. Alongside the full clearances we do rubbish removal, furniture removal and single-item collections — one wardrobe, one sofa, one shed's worth of timber.
Access: the thing that decides which van we send
roughly 700 feet above sea level, looking down over the Blackmore Vale, and the town's geography is not designed around three-and-a-half tonne vans. Tout Hill and St John's Hill are steep enough to make you think about a full load. Gold Hill is cobbled and about as useful to us as a staircase. The older streets around the abbey ruins and the high street are narrow, and the newer housing north of the town, out past Wincombe Lane.
Tell us about height barriers, resident permit bays, gravel drives and bin stores in advance and the day runs to plan.
Where the contents actually end up
Anything still usable is offered on before it is ever treated as waste. Around here that means a reuse outlet or a charity that will collect furniture with the fire labels intact. Books, crockery, tools and garden bits move on easily. What can't be used again is taken to a licensed transfer station, weighed in, and comes back to us as a ticket, so there is a written trail behind every load that leaves an SP7 address. Our Environment Agency waste carrier registration is CBDU419679 and you can check it against the public register before we start.
A few things travel separately whatever the job. Sofas, armchairs, dining chairs, stools and other upholstered seating must be kept out of mixed loads — that is legislation, not a preference. Fridges and freezers go for degassing before the metal is recovered, which is why we ask whether the white goods are staying or going. Half-used paint tins, gas cylinders, solvents and anything with asbestos in it need their own dedicated route and cannot ride in with general household waste. Point them out and we'll tell you where they can go.
What we don't do
Rooms stacked to shoulder height don't worry us. We have walked into properties in a much rougher state than the person booking had prepared us for, and passed no comment on it, then or later. If you're wondering whether we'll take something odd — a piano, a workshop full of timber, three decades of paperwork, a shed that's rotted into the hedge — it's usually a yes. We have been doing this since 2007.
Around the town
Iwerne Minster is DT11, on the Blandford road Gillingham sits next door in SP8, Sturminster Newton is down in the vale in DT10, and East Knoyle and Mere are just over the Wiltshire boundary. Blandford Forum is a straight run south on the A350. Most of this is Dorset, run by Dorset Council since the old North Dorset district was folded in. Semley, Ludwell and the Donheads are over the line in Wiltshire., and their household recycling centre on the edge of town takes the sort of small loads a family can manage themselves.
We work across this corner of the county, so if the property you are dealing with is not in the town itself, we probably still cover it. There is a page for house clearance in Salisbury, the county town and the bigger job of the two. house clearance in Warminster a short run west; and house clearance in Bournemouth down on the coast, which is a smaller place and a longer drive. For estate work specifically there is our probate house clearance page, and for the cluttered properties, hoarder house clearance.
The nearest railway station is Gillingham, about three miles north-west on the Waterloo to Exeter line, which matters more than you'd expect. Plenty of the people who instruct us on a Shaftesbury house clearance are executors and family members arriving by train for a single day, with no car and a set of keys from a local solicitor. The jobs described above were arranged by someone living elsewhere, and in each case the person met us on site only briefly.
If that's your situation, send over the rooms, a rough list and a few photographs on your phone through the form on this page, and we'll come back with a figure and a start time. We begin at 9am, clear cupboards, wardrobes and drawers ourselves so there is nothing for you to bag up beforehand, lift carpets and underlay where asked, and sweep through at the end. The team leader photographs the property before and after as a record of the work. Most Shaftesbury properties are done inside a day.
Questions we get asked about house clearance in Shaftesbury
Can you invoice a solicitor or executor for a probate house clearance?
Yes. On probate work we invoice the solicitor, the executor or the estate directly, and payment can come from the estate rather than out of anyone's own pocket. There is no deposit, and the invoice follows the work rather than preceding it. Tell us at booking who the invoice should go to and where it should be sent.
How do I find out what a house clearance in Shaftesbury will cost?
Ring the office on 0800 046 5555 and talk it through, or send photographs of each room through the form on this page. We come back with a figure. The quote is free and it does not commit you to anything.
Do I have to empty the drawers and cupboards first?
No. We clear cupboards, wardrobes, drawers and the loft ourselves. All we ask is that anything you want to keep is taken out first, or clearly marked and set aside in one room. On a probate clearance that is usually the executor's first job, and we will happily leave a room untouched until they have been through it.
Can you do a flat clearance where the van cannot get near the door?
Usually, yes, but tell us before the day. Height barriers over a car park, permit-only bays, a shared stairwell or a long carry from the road all change which vehicle we send and how many of us come. It is the single most useful thing you can put in an email.
Will you take the carpets, curtains and white goods?
Only if you want them gone. Plenty of our jobs leave carpets, curtains, the cooker and the fitted appliances in place for a buyer or an incoming tenant — just list what stays. Fridges and freezers go on a separate route for degassing, so we do need to know in advance whether they are coming out.
Do you clear garages, sheds and lofts on their own?
Yes. Garage and loft clearance without the rest of the house is a normal booking for us, as is a single shed or an outbuilding. Same for a one-off item — a wardrobe, a piano, a sofa. We are licensed waste carriers, registration CBDU419679, whether the load is one van or six.
Which areas around Shaftesbury do you cover?
SP7 and everything within easy reach of it: Gillingham, Sturminster Newton, Motcombe, Compton Abbas, Fontmell Magna, Iwerne Minster, Semley, Ludwell and the Donheads, and south towards Blandford Forum. If you are not sure, ring and ask — a Shaftesbury house clearance and a job ten minutes down the lane are the same day's work to us.
