Beaminster to Stoke Abbott

I actually gained quite a few gridsquares over the weekend, but am finding it hard to keep up with all this writing so am restricting myself to the one with all the dappledness! One thing that Dorset has over Islay is the dappledness - and I feel sure there's a better word for it.

We parked at Beaminster, walked past the church, as we've done many times before, but this time headed south and then slightly west.

Beautiful and massive oak tree at the path's junction - ST4700

I'd heard a story about Knowle Farm, that James Daniel, a non-conformist in the seventeenth century, hid in the straw in a barn at this farm, and thus avoided capture by the King's troops. He consecrated the ground by the farmhouse and vowed to be buried there. We went to enquire at the farm about the place of burial but sadly  were not invited to look at the burial ground.

Knowle Farm - where James Daniel is buried in a private burial ground - ST4600

Looking slightly north-west the distinctive shape of Gerrard's Hill was prominent and remained so throughout our walk.

Gerrard's Hill

We continued south to Nethbury, where a swarm of honey bees were flying round their hives.

Near Nethbury -  the bees' hives - SY4799

I was quite excited about visiting Netherbury as I'd not been before and we stopped at the church for a cup of tea.

St Mary's Church, Netherbury - SY4799

There is a funeral bier inside the church.

Funeral bier inside St Mary's Church, Nethbury

We headed west form here, towards Stoke Abbott and were delighted to find a naturally carved bench overlooking Lower Woods Coppice. This would make an ideal picnic spot.It always seems that we find benches when we don't need one and don't find them when we do!

Bench overlooking Lower Woods Coppice - SY4699

Lower Woods Coppice - SY4699

By now the clouds over Gerrard's Hill were looking almost threatening - but didn't amount to anything.

Clouds over Gerrard's Hill

The footpath between Netherbury and Stoke Abbot is very narrow and was very overgrown so we got prickled by brambles and stung by nettles and thistles quite a bit! But hey ho, we didn't mind!

Narrow and overgrown footpath near Stoke Abbott - ST4500

Then there was a tree on the path.

Tree across path near Stoke Abbott - ST4500

Beautiful holloway near Stoke Abbott - ST4500

Bracket fungi on footpath near Stoke Abbott

I'd heard that Stoke Abbott is a lovely village, and indeed it is. This was our first visit to the village and we were intrigued to later learn that the church in the village is one of the few remaining in England to maintain the custom of ringing a curfew bell. Once rung at 5.30 am every day throughout the year, the bell is now rung by the same volunteer who rings it 100 times every day at 7 am, despite protests from some sources that it should be at least 45 minutes later. The villagers won the battle and the custom is maintained.

St Mary's Church, Stoke Abbott - ST4500

The weights for the bells in Stoke Abbott church - it must take some doing to ring them 100 times!

Also in this lovely village is a horse's trough, beneath a fresh water spring which, until 1961 was used as the water supply for the village. The lion's head spout and cup replaced a much older one in 1953.

Horse's trough and fresh water supply at Stoke Abbott - ST4500

Lion's head and cup, Stoke Abbott - ST4500

We left the village and headed back eastwards, past Horsehill Farm, through a forest of Himalayan Balsam which has sadly invaded the whole of this area. I've never seen so much of it.

Himalayan Balsam - ST4500

Fighting our way past the Balsam we headed south-east along Long Barrow Lane, down to the River Brit where there are a couple of footbridges to cross - or rather one which we crossed and one which we were grateful we didn't have to cross as there were cows guarding the other side of it.

Cow on the Jubilee Trail by the River Brit - ST4600

We were now at our crossing point of our basic figure of eight shaped walk and walked on the west side of Parnham Park, through dappled sunlight and trees back to Beaminster.

Dappled Jubilee Trail - ST4700

Miles walked: 6.5

No. of naturally carved benches: 1

No. of other benches: at least 2 (Netherbury and Stoke Abbott churches)

No. of horse troughs: 1

No. of churches: 2

No. of unhelpful people we met: 1

No. of new gridsquares: Actually only 4 (didn't realise that until I counted them just then!)