A tale of two valleys - Charminster to Bradford Peverell - 9th February

Faithful followers of my blog will be aware that I had a nightmare walk in November last year from Symondsbury to Broadoak in which I encountered lots of mud and non-existent footpaths. I had drawn out a route for today which consisted of similar paths in the same sort of area and it was niggling me. Maybe I should choose a different route - in a different area?

I'd stuck with the same area, around the A356 for quite a while so chose a different are altogether - Charminster and decided we could combine it with lots of geocaches as the area around Beaminster and the A356 is bereft of caches.

Thus, when Paul returned from work, the sandwiches were made up, the route synced to the phone, the caches downloaded to the GPS, our boots and cameras were at the front door ready to go and I'd even found both his hats in preparation. Naturally, it still took a few minutes to get ready an leave and it took the best part of an hour to drive to Charminster where we sat in the church with our sandwiches and tried not to drop crumbs.

St Mary's Church, Charminster (in spring) - SY6792

From nowhere I was suddenly aware of footsteps padding quietly behind us and of Paul saying hello to someone. I turned as a female figure walked by to the toilet. She reappeared a few minutes later  and walked by us silently again into a shut off room. "Perhaps there's a Bible Study going on," I suggested to Paul. We saw no-one else during our brief stay and we exited into the sunshine eager to start our walk.

Our encounter with the first of our two rivers started immediately as we crossed the Cerne by a bridge where once upon a time we would have had to do so via a ford. I checked for old photos of the ford and there is one by Francis Frith which shows a bridge over the river as early as 1922. This photo is protected by copyright so I cannot include it here - instead here is my own taken on the day.

Ford by St Mary's Church, Charminster - SY6892

The area is well set up for picnickers and walkers with benches everywhere, so it could be a good walk for a group of people if it were not for having to walk along the A352. Some revision would be necessary to the route to do it with a group to avoid that part of the walk.

I'd already photographed the next square into which we stepped ever so briefly. SY6893, but we had already clocked up two caches. Our next one took us slightly off-piste and to another ford - and inTO another gridsquare.

Ford north of Charminster - SY6893

We followed the River northwards past Herrison Cottages and across the minor road leading to Herrison House. Now converted into residential flats, this imposing and massive building used to be the Dorset County Asylum. Prior to its opening in 1863, patients were admitted to a site at Forston House a mile upstream,but when overcrowding became a problem, a new site was proposed and constructed at Herrison House (Charlton Down). At its prime, the hospital was home to 957 people deemed to have mental health problems or learning difficulties.

Anne Brown, the archivist at the Dorset History Centre said that the treatment patients received, "through our modern eyes, was really quite harsh and not very humanitarian." (BBC website). The hospital finally closed in 1997 and the huge complex now forms the village of Charlton Down with a nursing home, a village hall, residential flats, a shop and a fitness centre.

Herrison House, once the Dorset County Asylum - SY6794

We walked on through fields of crops and past the ivy-clad ruined barn near Forston.

Ivy-clad barn near Forston  - SY6695

 A massive oak tree standing alone in the field deserved closer inspection and I took a photograph of its 'foot' planted firmly in the soil and overshadowed by its branches.

Tree 'foot' near Forston - SY6695

Another tree was all spiky, looking as if it had taken fright at something.

Spiky tree near Forston - SY6695

 So we descended into the grounds of Forston House, which  we didn't know at the time was the erstwhile primary site of the Dorset county Asylum. I didn't even take a photograph so will aim to do so next time. I did take a photo of the huge water wheel though.

Forston Water Wheel - SY6695

We had to walk along the busy A352 to Forston Farm which is dangerous as there are no verges. Fortunately we only had to do so for a short stretch before turning left at Watcombe Farm and following a bridleway westwards up Watcombe Bottom. We had walked along here before and remembered finding lots of Fox Moth caterpillars. Once at the top of the first hill, we paused for breath and were glad of a bench, conveniently placed  and overlooking the Cerne Valley and Herrison House.

Towards Herrison House across the Cerne Valley - SY6694

Feeling refreshed we set off once more, looking for a bifurcation in the paths. Strangely enough we were taking the right hand path away from Charminster and towards Stratton. This was new territory for us and my first new gridsquare for the day was approaching!

Bifurcation on Charminster Down - SY6694

It was followed soon after by another new gridsquare, albeit one that we were barely in, and one that sported a flailed hedge looking very sorrry for itself. I hate the way these hedges are brutally attacked these days, sending shards of their bones onto the hard surface of tarmac in some instances where they are likely to puncture tyres. It is a violent attack on a living organism which causes potential damage to many vehicles.

Flailed hedge on Charminster Down - SY6693

The path came out at Stratton Dairy. We had walked further west before but not this far into the village and pong of the farm. Holding ournoses we walked to the railway line, wondering how we were going to get across. Aha, via a tunnel and then another tunnel underneath the A35 - brilliant!

Railway bridge and tunnel under the A35 - SY6593

I'd hoped we'd have time to explore the village of Stratton a bit, but time was marching on and daylight hours were dwindling. I'd just have to leave that for another day as well.

We walked along the cycle track by the A35 until we reached the footpath sign which led now to a footbridge over our second river of the day, the River Frome which began its life at Evershot just a few miles upstream.

Footbridge over River Frome at Stratton - SY6593

We wandered across the waterlogged water meadows, under the pylons to the next footbridge approaching Bradford Peverell.

River Frome at Bradford Peverell - SY6593

As we lingered, looking for a cache I spotted a Grey Heron fly westwards along the river bank. And so we entered the village of Bradford Peverell. I'd like to say it was a sleepy village but any peaceful sounds from the tranquil waters of the Frome were drowned out by the persistent barking of a labrador, its owner's shouting at it to shut up and the owner's radio blaring out some sort of rap music. We hurried by and into the village proper where an unusual bench attracted our attention. The notice was advertising a forthcoming coffee morning.

Bench advertising a village coffee morning, Bradford Peverell - SY6593

We detoured to the spired church of St Mary which  was lit by late afternoon sunshine. At one time this church looked as if it would have been dwarfed by the enormous tree in its grounds. The tree was now pollarded and perhaps dead.

St Mary's Church, Bradford Peverell, - SY6593

After a quick look round the church we left and entered a new gridsquare briefly.

Woodland at Bradford Peverell - SY6592

 Back on a very straight minor road we plodded on to Giles Cross. (Who was Giles? we wondered.) Here we turned left back towards Charminster.

Giles Cross - SY6692

We crossed the River Frome again via another bridge.

River Frome at Bradford Peverell - SY6692

Our final crossing was also over a bridge, although there was also a ford. This was obviously a popular area for fishing as we kept seeing signs about the Wrackleford Beat and there was even parking allocated for this purpose! Shame walkers couldn't use it too; we are always struggling to find car parks for our groups.

By now the sun was setting low in the sky, but all we had to do was wander back by the busy A35 on the cycle path to Charminster and back to the sun-basked church and our little car.

Ford across the River Frome near Bradford Peverell - SY6692

Number of new gridsquares: 4
Number of miles walked: 7.3
Number of times we crossed the River Cerne: 2
Number of times we crossed the River Frome: 4