When I visited the Winterbournes on 25th March, I determined to revist a month later and see what changes had taken place and try to photograph the exact same subjects from the same position. Naturally, I couldn't remember where and what I'd photographed, but I did my best and had Paul's company this time too. I was also going to revise the route somewhat to take in four new gridsquares (I couldn't resist it!)
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| Looking towards Littlewood Farm from Tibbs Hollow - SY6194 |
My first impressions were of a more verdant landscape with trees in leaf, though not by all means, all of them. We descended to the bridleway which leads to Steppes Farm and walked through Hopkin's 'shadow tackle' of sunshine and shadows to the roller I'd photographed before.
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| Bridleway to Steppes Farm - SY6294 |
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| Roller at Steppes Farm - SY6293 |
The path to Church Bottom was drier and greener, though I wanted to convert many of my photographs to black and white to allow the eye to focus more on the subject and not be distracted by colour.
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| Church Bottom - SY6293 |
Hemlock Water Dropwort was getting big and bold, though yet flowerless.
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| Hemlock Water Dropwort - SY6293 |
The cows had disappeared from Church Bottom and the North and South Slip looked more dressed than they had done a month ago.
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| North Slip - SY6193 |
A majestic beech tree had not yet burst into leaf, but still stood guard at the gate.
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| Beech Tree in Church Bottom - SY6193 |
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| South Slip - SY6193 |
Paul spotted a bridleway sign I hadn't noticed on my last visit, screwed to a very old hedge.
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| Bridleway sign on ancient hedge, Church Bottom - SY6193 |
At South Slip I looked for the dancing light which had mesmerised me on my previous visit, but it wasn't coming out to play today.
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| South Slip - SY6193 |
We were now deviating from the route of my previous walk and turning south along Long Bottom. This meant following the western border of South Slip.
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| South Slip from the west - SY6193 |
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| South Slip - SY6193 |
We then approached an unnamed woodland.
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| Long Bottom Woodland - SY6193 |
We sat on a felled or fallen tree at Long Bottom and admired a hedged Oak Tree which was in my next gridsquare.
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| Oak Tree at Long Bottom - SY6192 |
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| Oak Tree at Long Bottom - SY6192 |
The woodland here was sparse and not particularly photogenic, but I took a record shot for the square.
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| Woodland at Long Bottom - SY6192 |
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| Woodland at Long Bottom - SY6192 |
We followed the boundary of a field near Hogleaze Farm to avoid walking through crops and then emerged at a metalled road to Town Hill Farm which is also a bridleway. We were surprised to discover such a well made farm track, and even more surprised and delighted to see our first Painted Lady butterfly of the year, which refused to alight long enough for me to photograph it.
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| Bridleway/farm track to Town Hill Farm - SY6192 |
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| Bridleway to Town Hill Farm - SY6191 |
We joined the Roman Road and walked along it for about half a mile before turning off to ascend Pound Hill and then descend to Winterbourne Abbas. From here we could see Hardy Monument in the distance, a familiar landmark to us now.
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| Hardy Monument from the Roman Road - SY6291 |
We could also hear the constant roar of the A35 and the sound of cars slowing down and turning onto the minor road which we often drove along if we were going to Abbotsbury. I had walked along that road at Hampton on my previous walk, but we were not going that way this time.
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| Hillcrest from the Roman Road - SY6291 |
We were heading south to Winterbourne Abbas across Pound Hill and a new gridsquare for me.
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| Footpath off Roman Road to Winterbourne Abbas - SY6291 |
The field we entered had been sown with wheat right up to the border which made walking difficult and unpleasant. Consolations for this arduous walking were a patchy looking tumulus and the strip lynchets south of Winterbourne Abbas which always look so distinctive when we view them from the car but are unable to stop. I took the opportunity to photograph them today.
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| Pound Hill tumulus - SY6291 |
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| Strip lynchets at Winterbourne Abbas from Pound Hill (with Hardy Monument in the distance) - SY6290 |
We emerged at the eastern end of the village where I had bought batteries on my previous visit. Paul questioned my insistence on walking along the A35, "It's only for a very short bit," I protested "and it's quicker than the B road." Paul's argument was more robust however. "I'm not doing it!" He was adamant so we turned round and walked along the 'flooded' B road through the outskirts of Winterbourne Steepleton. This was our first view of the South Winterbourne which we were to follow for about a mile and a quarter, and which had evidently flooded recently.
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| Entering Winterbourne Steepleton. The South Winterbourne is on the left - SY6290 |
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| Flooded road at Winterbourne Steepleton - SY6290 |
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| South Winterbourne at Winterbourne Steepleton - SY6290 |
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| Walking at Winterbourne Steepleton - SY6290 |
I had to admit this was a much better option than walking along the A35, even if it was for a short distance. We turned off onto the same footpath I'd followed last time and ascended North Hill where we were greeted by a noisy flock of sheep and lambs. I was delighted to see and hear them as I'd missed out on the frolics of my last walk through Compton Bottom where the lambs were running up expectantly to me.
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| Poor little Number 96 was bleating pathetically for its mama who was nowhere in sight! - SY6290 |
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| Sheep and lambs on North Hill, Winterbourne Steepleton - SY6290 |
I was looking forward to revisiting the huge tree at the bottom of the hill and to hopefully discovering which species it is. Ah! A Sycamore and what a beauty it is. Now in leaf, its great boughs swept the ground gracefully. I must return in autumn to see it in its autumnal foliage.
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| Sycamore Tree, North Hill, Winterbourne Steepleton - SY6290 |
My little summer retreat was burgeoning with vernal vegetation too.
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| Brimming with nature, Winterbourne Steepleton - SY6290 |
We paused for lunch in the churchyard at Winterbourne Steepleton, declined one more entry into the church due to fallen plaster. A glimpse through the window confirmed this as everything is covered in dust sheets. The Rooks were still raucously fussing over and protecting their nests, no sign of the young though I guess they must be in there somewhere.
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| St Michael's Church, Winterbourne Steepleton - SY6289 |
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| Rooks' nests, Winterbourne Steepleton - SY6289 |
We rejoined the B3159 for my least favourite part of this walk. It is quite a busy road and there is no avoiding it. I was quite tempted to turn north onto the byway to Rew Farm when we reached our footpath to Martinstown, but didn't want to gratuitously extend the walk. SY6390 is a square I'm going to have to do on its own sometime. There is no right of way at the end of the byway which is at the A35 so I think I'm going to have to park in Winterbourne Steepleton and just walk up the path and back down again.
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| B3159 near Winterbourne Steepleton - SY6389 |
Once we'd turned off we could breathe a sigh of relief and pause to admire Cuckoo Pint, a plant I'd not seen until I moved south.
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| Cuckoo Pint - SY6389 |
The earthworks at Martinstown were covered in nettles, a sign of man's habitation which gave them more form and clarity.
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| Earthworks at Martinstown - SY6389 |
We'd seen lots of tractors coming and going today on their muck-spreading mission.
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| Tractor at Martinstown - SY6489 |
We revisited the sheepwash pool and managed to find the cache this time.
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| Sheepwash Pool, Martinstown - SY6489 |
At the church we went up the 'secret' stile behind the church to join the footpath and then turned back on ourselves, having gratuitously come this way to show Paul the sheepwash pool and church.
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| St Martin's Church, Martinstown - SY6488 |
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| Church path, Martinstown - SY6489 |
We then joined the bridleway which heads north to Purlands Farm. It's a long, straight section of the walk here which I can't help feeling I should enjoy more, but it just feels monotonous. I was rather pleased with myself for picking out the Wayfaring Tree though as this is another species which I had not seen before I moved south. It does not grow north of about Yorkshire.
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| Bridleway from Martinstown north - SY6489 |
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Bridleway from Martinstown north - SY6489
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| Wayfaring Tree, Martinstown - SY6489 |
Once at the A35 I was about to enter new territory. Last time I had turned left and walked along the A35 for a very short time before joining the bridleway which led past Higher Skippet Farm to Hampton. This time we were going straight across the road to another bridleway through Bridport Road Plantation which would take us to Lower Skippet Farm, "where," I reminded a doubting Paul, "we have definitely been before."
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| Bridport Road Plantation - SY6490 |
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Sunlight through Maple, Bridport Road Plantation - SY6490
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SY6590 was one of the four new gridsquares for the day, but we were only in it for a very short timer and I struggled to find anything interesting to take a photograph of and had to settle for a gate in the woodland.
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| Gate in Bridport Road Plantation - SY6590 |
Had I been going for a subject which fell into the 'Close Look' rather than a context photograph, I would have chosen the Early Purple Orchids which were beginning to adorn the verges.
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| Early Purple Orchid, Bridport Road Plantaiton - SY6590 |
At a bifurcation of paths, we rejoined a bridleway we had been on before, but which Paul couldn't remember. I only remembered really because I'd seen the track on Memory Map and wondered why I hadn't photographed one of the squares before.
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| New Plantation - SY6591 |
I was walking with my head turned upwards for a lot of the time, eager to capture some photogenic crown shyness in the tree canopies, but the search is still on for a cracker of an example of this feature. It's where the branches of trees fall short of touching one another in their canopies which can often lead to 'pathways in the sky' formed by the resulting gaps.
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| Crown shyness, New Plantation - SY6591 |
Paul finally remembered walking this way before because we'd got a little confused at Lower Skippet Farm as the path has been diverted. It is still confusing, but less so, partly because we're more experienced walkers now and partly because we were going in the opposite direction this time and perhaps the path was more obvious and partly because we were expecting it.
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| Lower Skippet Farm - SY6491 |
We had sat on one of the tumuli before and admired the view with a cup of tea and decided to do the same again. We were soon put off, however, by the cold wind and sought refuge a little lower down from the summit where a herd of cows came running to see us. Fortunately we were separated from them by an electric fence.
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| Tumulus on Penn Hill - SY6492 |
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| Cattle on Penn Hill - SY6492 |
We tried to work out whether we could see Tibbs Hollow from here and decided we couldn't, but we weren't far from our destination.
We descended to the valley, remembering our previous visit which had been on a walk from Maiden Newton to Dorchester in February 2015. I thought we had taken a diversion to see the Roman Aqueduct here, but, upon checking, it turns out that was further east at Poundbury. I think I shall return to Muckleford to investigate what remains are left here. Although there is not a public right of way through the land here, it is open access land and a local nature reserve.
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| Open Access land at Muckleford - SY6493 |
One Red Campion was already out in flower, a bright and cheery splash of colour to brighten our day.
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| Red Campion at Muckleford - SY6493 |
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| Old tractor at Muckleford - SY493 |
It was my turn to have a lapse of memory now as Paul remembered sitting with a cup of tea somewhere here and I certainly didn't. It's the sort of place we would do that though - a very attractive and quiet hamlet.
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| Thatched Cottage, Muckleford - SY6393 |
The road becomes a bridleway which leads past Littlewood Dairy through open park land, perhaps once a deer park.
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| Frampton Park - SY6394 |
The attractive old stone bridge is on another bridleway we have not yet walked along, mainly because it only leads to the busy A356 and where we would go from there?
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| Old bridge at Frampton - SY6394 |
We decided to take a slightly shorter route from here, which turned out to be a good decision as it was a new footpath for us through the very attractive Metlands Wood, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which is being managed for recreation and conservation with wheelchair access in some parts and a coppicing regime in place.
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| Ruin at Littlewood Farm - SY6294 |
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| Metlands Wood - SY6294 |
Once back at Southover it was a short walk along a footpath back to Tibbs Hollow and the car.A very delightful early spring walk with parts to revisit yet again!
Number of new gridsquares: 3
Number of miles walked: 12.2
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