Charminster once again - 22nd March

Once again I'd persuaded Jane to accompany me on what I'd warned was going to be a very uninspiring field walk. I wanted to reccie some places for the group I lead and so extended the walk so as to make it a decent length - Jane being used to walks of ten miles plus!

We didn't get off to a good start however as our planned meeting place, Charminster Church, had cones outside where we hoped to park. I guessed there was either a wedding or funeral on later in the day (Funeral as it turned out - I followed the hearse at the end of the day.) Charminster is not a very big place, but it is big enough and the streets are windy enough to get lost in. I manoeuvred the car this way and that round bends and up dead ends and back down again until I saw a sign for Wolfeton Manor and thought that was a good place to park. We were heading that way anyway. So I pulle into the kerb and parked behind another car whose occupants were just getting in and setting off, waving goodbye to the resident in the sheltered bungalow I was parked beside.

Feeling a little self-conscious, I played with my phone, wondering how to contact Jane. She'd be driving so I couldn't phone her. I texted her to ask her to phone me when she got to Charminster. Then I sat and waited. But it looked so gloriously warm outside I might as well get my boots on while I waited.

This I did, just as Jane came hurtling along waving furiously and laughing. She hadn't had a signal on her phone, but had just got the text and managed to find the place I'd so eloquently described.

Enough preamble, on with the real stuff . . .

We decided to leave the excitement of Wolfeton House to the end, which meant walking in an anti-clockwise direction eastwards. We crossed the minor road at the crossroads and headed towards Higher Burton Cottages and my first new gridsquare.

Higher Burton Cottages - SY6992

We took a sharp right turn here and headed south to join another minor road at Frome Whitfield. We walked along farm tracks to Coker's From Farm and then turned north-eastwards

Coker's Frome Farm - SY6991

The footpath headed north towards Badgers Copse [sic] and I apologised to Jane for the lack of interest on the walk. Not that we were short of conversation, we never are! In fact we had not walked together for a few weeks so had a lot of catching up to do. And of course our conversation was sprinkled throughout by my exclamation, "Oooh, we're in another gridsquare!" accompanied by the near expert technique I've perfected in getting my camera out ready for that beautiful shot!

Footpath to Badgers Copse [sic] - SY7091

A field of sheep added slightly more interest at Badgers Copse [sic].

Sheep at Badgers [sic] Copse - SY7092

"Oooh!" I zoomed right into my map on my phone, "Don't get too excited, Jane," I pleaded, "but we're entering a gridsquare for all of a few footsteps." In fact I reckon this gridsquare was the one I have been the least in to get a photograph - ever. I hope that makes sense as it's difficult to explain what I mean otherwise. The footpath just gets into the gridsquare by a cat's whisker.

Jane was excited but managed to calm down enough to take a layer off. She invariably warms up quicker than I do on walks.

The resulting photo did not match my excitement levels - by a long way. It's found its way into my top ten most boring photos in fact. The awful colour is not a reflection on my bad photography skills - the field really was yellow!

Field near Pigeon House Barn - SY7093

The scenery did not get much better as we headed north on a bridleway, but we did see something else of interest (other than the yellow field I mean). This was a curious nest box which I did look in as I thought maybe it was a mail box (which I realise does not make me sound any less of a criminal). OK, so I was nosey. What was this box doing all the way out here in the middle of nowhere?

Unusual nest box near Higher Burton Farm - SY6993

The curiosities did not end there, however. Next up was a curious bench. I've seen some benches in odd places and this one certainly topped the bill.

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Bench with a view at crossroads near Wolfedale - SY6993

"Shame it's too early for lunch," I bemoaned. "There's never a bench when you want one." "You'ren not serious?" Jane laughed. "I'm pretty certain that one wouldn't stand our weight." I checked the rotten state of the bench and we moved on laughing.

The bridleway at Lower Covert provided a little bit of interest in that there was a remnant of snow on the path.

Remnant of snow at Lower Covert - SY6994

There was certainly some interest at Roman Road Farm - a menagerie of animals, some of whom came to see us. The number of different species of animals amounted to double figures, perhaps 11: donkey, turkey, goose, hen, duck, horse, two breeds of pig, sheep, goat and llama (I think I've remembered correctly). We spent some time befriending these creatures, if only to chuckle at the wattles and teeth on the pigs. We'd never seen anything like it. They've got to be one of the ugliest creatures I've ever seen. Wow! This walk was turning into a walk of superlatives, for all its mundaneness.

"What fine teeth you've got!" - Roman Road Farm - SY6895

Teeth and wattles - Roman Road Farm - SY6895

Roman Road Farm - SY6895

We were nearing Herrison House now, which we had decided would be a suitable place to eat lunch. It's actually a village called Charlton Down,but used to be the mental institution about which I have written in a previous post. When Paul and I had espied this massive house from afar I had decided I needed a closer look, especially after learning of its history (for which I refer you to my previous post)

Herrison House (Charlton Down) - SY6894

Herrison House (Charlton Down) - SY6794

Charlton Down is quite an unusual village, quite modern and self-contained  with an almost artificial air about it. Herrison House has an imposing grandeur, but I couldn't help shuddering at the thought of its dubious past. We sat at a picnic bench in the grounds of the house, hoping no-one would tell us off for doing so, but we could see no signs to say it was private land. It was well past lunch time so we gobbled our lunch before succumbing to the cold and moving on again. More boring fields to go!

Near Herrison House - SY6795

We looked back to the village of Charlton Down with its sad history as we descended to Forston and familiar territory.

Charlton Down - SY6795

I could relax now as far as taking photographs was concerned. I knew I'd already photographed the remaining squares. I much preferred this part of the walk, however, as the path runs parallel to the River Cerne along the Cerne Valley Trail. Paul and I had done it at least twice before (as already referred to in the previous post).

We still had Wolfeton House to look forward to though, but sadly our efforts were thwarted by Private Signs. It would appear that you can only approach the house from the A37 near Dorchester. We did manage to catch a tantalising glimpse of it through the trees, however.

Wolfeton House - SY6892

 I pointed out the lumps and bumps of the medieval village of Wolfeton as we walked passed - something else to keep for another day. Wolfeton was guarding its secrets carefully!

Medieval village at Wolfeton - SY6892

Number of new gridsquares: 7
Number of miles walked: 10.3
Number of animals seen: 11 (at least)

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