We started at Evershot and immediately ran into trouble because we thought we'd take a short cut in preference to walking along the road. We headed towards the Sewage Works, but were supposed to turn right just before reaching it, but there was no obvious path. We strode off regardless and fought our way through bramble and nettles before finally accepting there was no path and retracing our steps to the road, past the school and onto the MacMillan Way, heading south.
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| MacMillan Way south of Evershot - ST5703 |
Counting butterflies as we went, we entered the next square and walked past Fortunes Wood Farm. I remembered having walked through the same farmyard the previous year, and having to wade through cow muck. Today it was very different conditions, very dry and pleasant.
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| Fortunes Wood Farm - ST5803 |
Approaching the old Police Training Centre at Chantmarle, The Centre was closed in 1995. Paul reminded me of a ghost story he'd heard about the place, from a policeman who trained there. He can't remember the details, but I've since found out another ghost story relating to the place:
For several years at the beginning of the 18th century a ghost had been reportedly heard in the Great Hall to repeat three times 'Search for Wat Perkins!' This occurred on the same night each year. Then two workmen clearing a ditch found a headless skeleton. Following an investigation a widow living at nearby 'Kit Whistle' cottage confessed to the murder of a Scottish peddler some 22 years before. She had buried his head under the cottages hearth stone and disposed of the body in the ditch. It is said that after her arrest the ghost was never heard from again.
(Source: http://www.thedorsetpage.com/locations/place/C104.htm)
A meadow was brimming with Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers as we walked through. Now undisturbed, it was once used as a football field, presumably for the trainee police officers.
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| Football field, now disused, at Chantmarle Police Trainig Centre - ST5802 |
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| Chantmarle Police Training Centre, closed in 1995 - ST5802 |
There is a lovely old bridge here if you take the road eastwards to Frome St Quintin, but we weren't heading that way today. We were heading south to North Holway Farm, counting butterflies. We stopped and ate our lunch just before North Holway Farm, amidst a cloud of white butterflies.
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| North Holway Farm - ST5803 |
Upon reaching Holway Lane, we took a short diversion in order to enter another square, not to tick off another gridsquare for my blog this time, but to count butterflies. So we entered ST5701 and headed northwards, but only for a bit. After counting a dozen or so Red Admirals, we began to get a bit anxious about the time. We had been invited for a cream tea later that afternoon and that was something we didn't want to miss. So we checked out a couple of barns for potential bat roosting sites and retraced our steps.
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| Barn at West Holway - ST5701 |
We briefly entered ST5800 south of Holway Farm and made our way north through Holway Farmyard before heading east and crossing the railway line. Somewhere in this gridsquare we saw a dazzling Beautiful Demoiselle. We also paused after another little detour (owing to a seldom used stile being overgrown with a thicket) and our detour paid off as we watched the only two Silver-washed Fritillaries of our walk dance along the hedge.
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| Beautiful Demoiselle |
After crossing the railway line (there's simply a sign exhorting you to 'Stop, Look and Listen'), we were heading gradually uphill, along the road a bit and turning eastwards again just before Higher Chalmington Farm.
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| Higher Chalmington Farm - ST5901 |
We were getting hot and anxious now. It was taking us much longer than usual to walk as we kept having to stop and make notes about the butterflies we were seeing. I suggested we didn't count for the next two squares so we could march purposefully on. Of course we ended up seeing more butterflies then, but our resolve was strong and the promise of the cream tea spurred us onwards.
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| Looking towards Old Wood - ST6001 |
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| 'You may use path 50 yards on right (Not so muddy) - Sign at Frome St Quintin - ST5902 |
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| A slightly wonky telephone box in Frome St Quintin - ST5902 |
We walked along the road north out of the village, past Dawes Barton Farm and took note of a handy bench for another time at our crossroads. We turned off onto a grass track and headed north-eastwards towards Evershot.
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| Ash Tree on path north of Frome St Quintin - ST5903 |
I was looking out for Ladymeade Cottage, expecting a cute little thatched cottage, but it is now a ruin and another possible roosting site for bats.
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| Ladymeade Cottage, near Holywell - ST5903 |
We crossed the railway line again at Holywell - this time there was a raised platform to facilitate the crossing.
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| Railway line at Holywell - ST5903 |
We briefly re-visited ST5803, passing Burl Farm, and now I was recording the butterflies on an app on my phone which was much easier and quicker - but meant more work at home.
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| Burl Farm - ST5803 |
We were nearing our destination now, and looked for a different path. We didn't want to take the same path which had led to our getting lost at the beginning of the walk. But there didn't appear to be any other path, so we followed the one we were on and it led successfully back to the Common and to our car - and the Cream Tea was worth waiting for!
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| Field between Holywell and Evershott - ST5804 |
Species of butterfly seen: 11
No of times a footpath on the map didn't exist: 2
No. of ghosts seen: 0
No. of times we crossed a railway line: 2
No. of new gridsquares visited: 10
No. of miles walked: 9
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