Friday 30th June 2006 Burlescombe (photos Roger Conway) walk stats 4.55 miles 242ft of climb |
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| A gentle walk, with no hills, just a couple of easy slopes and only 7 stiles. Starting from the pub (always a good point, that) we were in touching distance of the mainline to Penzance, but soon turn west onto the rolling farmland and through a farmyard to meander down to the Grand Western Canal. A short towpath section before we again took to the fields and woods before stopping for a break at a pub (a different one). The homeward journey was along a droving track that opens up into some lush pasture. We then enter a patch of 'wilderness' before again pasing through farm buildings and agricultural land to reach the canal once more. Another towpath section took us to a short bit of road walking back to our starting point. 15 members then stayed at the pub for a really good value supper and some hilarious conversation. | ||
Wednesday 28th June 2006 Holford to Kilve |
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It was a warm afternoon with strong sunshine but very little wind as eighteen ramblers gathered under the trees in Holford Bowling Green car park. Old friends were greeted while the walk attendance sheet was circulated and on completion the leader called his flock together and gave his preamble of the coming walk pointing out the items of interest to be seen on the way. The group left Holford Bowling Green at a steady gait passing the nearby church of St Mary the Virgin dating from the 13th century and onto the Dog Pound built by Lord St Albyns of Alfoxton in the 15th century for stray dogs. The story goes that stray dogs excited the hunting hounds in their compound one night and when the huntsman in charge came out the over-excited hounds savaged him to death; as experienced huntsmen were hard to find, the good lord decided to do something about it. The walk crossed the Holford stream on high by wooden footbridge, followed it to the A39 road to Minehead where the party was carefully shepherded across and progressed towards Kilve via Higher Hill and Lower Hill farms until reaching the pond before Kilve church where a well earned break was taken for refreshments. The ramblers walked through Kilve churchyard passing an old dovecot with a large number of white doves perched on its landing platforms and Kilve Chantry in the background. The Chantry was built in 1329 to say mass for the founder Simon de Furneaux and employed five monks; it was used by smugglers to hide contraband (brandy) but was burnt down in 1850 (legend says to ‘prevent arrest by the Excise men’). The group left Kilve and followed the boundary of East wood towards the A39 road; there was some debate as to which direction to take by some of the more ‘independent’ members of the ‘Wednesday Club’ who wanted to follow an attractively wide path along the edge of a field but our leader repressed this show of initiative and insisted that they continue along the official footpath. After admiring the cockatoos in an adjoining garden, the party was carefully marshalled across the Minehead road and mounted the lower slopes of Pardlestone hill before turning off towards the Alfoxton Hotel. In 1797 the poet Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy stayed here and, in the company of Coleridge, walked regularly the Quantocks; the poets’ sympathy was with the French Revolution and because of this the locals suspected them of sending signals to French ships from the Quantocks to such an extent that the Home Office sent a spy to Somerset who eventually decided that they were ‘a set of violent democrats’. Our gallant band, thoroughly tested, returned through the woods to Holford Bowling Green where they retired to Stella’s Tea Rooms and had generous servings of hot scones liberally covered first with a thick layer of jam and then of double cream (in the Somerset way) washed down with multitudinous cups of hot tea. |
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| Sunday 25th June 2006. Cothelstone Hill Terhill & West Bagborough | ||
| It was quite humid at Cothelstone Hill
car park with warm sunshine, intermittent cloud over head
and a light breeze on the hill top as seven walkers
congregated there ready to ‘do their duty’ as
England expected of those other countrymen in a foreign
land that afternoon. Our leader called his charges
together to brief them on the challenge ahead and while
doing so he suddenly realised that today the six most
beautiful girls in the club had joined him this afternoon;
could it get any better than this! The ‘Magnificent Seven’ left the car park at a steady gait and accelerated up Cothelstone hill; our leader was sure he could hear the sound of ‘the Tijuana Brass’ accompanying them as they strode up that hill to meet and conquer their destiny. On the way we passed the ‘Seven Sisters’ and sadly noted that another one was lost with only four of the original seven trees now still standing. The group reached the summit where the Cothelstone Beacon was situated and signal watchers were stationed when England was in danger of invasion particularly in the 16th and 17th centuries when first Spain and then France cast an avaricious eye at our green and pleasant land. In the 19th century a folly tower was built on top of the Beacon cairn but, due to neglect, fell into a ruinous state in the 20th century. The top of Cothelstone hill offered an excellent view of the Bristol Channel in one direction, with Flat Holm and Steep Holm in a hazy foreground, and the Vale of Taunton in the other. Our party began its descent down Cothelstone Hill, admiring the Quantock ponies sheltering under the trees, through Paradise wood with foxgloves giving that contrast in colour to the lush, green, verdant foliage and on to Cothelstone Manor passing St. Agnes Well, one of the holy wells of Somerset; this was named after Agnes Cheyney who wed Edward Stawell, the local squire, in the 18th century. The group went past Cothelstone Manor with its adjacent church, which they stopped to admire. Cothelstone Manor was given to Sir Adam De Coveston by William the Conqueror, hence its present name; the Stawells are descended from him, one of the last of which was John Stawell who fought for the Royalists in the 17th century. The manor was destroyed by Cromwell as punishment with cannon fire but was rebuilt by Edward Jeffries Esdaile in 1856 and his descendants are still in residence. The walkers carried on to Terhill where two horses wanted to join our merry band; but regretfully our leader tried to pacify them by saying that perhaps they could next time but received an old fashioned look in return for his troubles. After Terhill our young ladies attacked the hill leading to West Bagborough with gusto and maintained this steady pace up Lydeard hill until they reached Birches Corner where a well-earned rest with refreshments was taken. The group descended the hill and followed Wilf’s Way (foot path) around the lower slopes of Cothelstone hill until they arrived back at the car park. Our young damsels, happy but hungry, retired to the Pines Tea Rooms where piles of scones covered with thick layers of cream and jam disappeared at an amazing rate washed down with copious cups of tea. |
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Friday 23rd June 2006 Around West Monkton (photos Roger Conway) walk stats 4.15 miles 302ft of climb. |
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Wednesday 21st June 2006 Ash Priors & Pitpear (photos Roger Conway) walk stats 5.45 miles 602ft of climb. |
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| On mid-summers day a large group of ramblers enjoyed a varied afternoon that took in lush pastures, duck ponds (see above left) fallow meadows, ploughed fields, droving tracks, woodland paths and little bit of road walking though the pretty village of Ash Priors with it's quintessentially English thatched cottages and quiet environment, only Miss Marple was missing. There was plenty of summer flora and fauna to keep us occupied, especially during the rests after the hill climbs to gain the very best views of the panorama of Taunton Deane. Is there anything better on such a summer's day? 25 walkers don't think so. | ||
| Sunday 18th June 2006. Around Halse |
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| 13 walkers set out from Halse on a hot, humid, and muggy day. A five and a half mile walk, we set off across the fields in the direction of Hopkin's Farm, through the woods and headed towards Ash Priors Common. A short walk on the road heading North and across the fields again towards Denbury Farm where, in my short brief before the walk I had to remind my walkers not to linger, or stroke the horses as on a recent recce, the farmer aggressively shouted at myself and Pat to 'leave the horses alone'! As if we looked like horse rustlers! We only encountered an Alastian which barked at us. We continued along Denbury wood and then climbed a hill where we did catch a glimpse of a fox and several rabbits. The next section through a gully was a bit overgrown but was tackled valiantly and without any complaints. We all returned safely to Halse. Some members were a little disappointed that I was unable to supply the cream teas. Next time perhaps? | ||
Friday 16th June 2006 Bishops Hull, Netherclay & Longaller |
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| Leaving the car park walkers crossed the village playing field before passing through the village and going down Shutewater Hill to enter farmland near Frethay House. A rather irregular route round the edges of several fields led walkers to Upcott. After a short section along the road more footpaths took walkers to Hele and a path alongside the River Tone. Apart from a rather difficult section on the path alongside the railway the continuation was across fields to the Community Woodland where the plans to extend the planting were drawn to walkers attention. The return was through the existing planting, over the River Tone at the attractive footbridge and up the lane by Netherclay House. A party of 27 walkers subsequently visited The Old Inn at Bishops Hull for refreshment and congratulations to them for efficiently catering with such a large group. | ||
Wednesday 14th June 2006 Blackdowns from Hemyock |
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| On a pleasant dry day the walk set out from Hemyock village heading towards Culm Bridge before entering into farmland and proceeding up Burrow Hill. From here the ridge walk gave extensive views over the valley of the Madford River together with more distant views to Culmstock Beacon and Wellington monument. Although initially the descent towards Burrow Hill Farm was on a surfaced track this quickly changed to a rather wet track through a wooded area. The route continued down to the scenic crossing of the Madford River immediately followed by a dividing barrier between two of the fishponds alongside the river. A short section of road walking was followed by a gentle climb to the attractive woodland on Lemon’s Hill. After crossing Kilbridge Bridge the path was up hill for a while following the route of a stream before emerging into farmland on the lower part of Bolham Hill. A further descent to walk parallel to but some distance from the Madford River allowed walkers to look back to the ridge route followed earlier in the walk before returning along the lane to the village car park. | ||
Sunday 11th June 2006 Holcombe Rogus (photos Roger Conway) walk stats 4.55 miles 242ft of climb. |
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| On such a day there is no finer place to be, than in the English countryside and the 18 walkers who set off from the Royal Oak would certainly concur. A gentle, lazy stroll along lanes, cart tracks, planted fields, grazed pasture, rough meadows and the GW Canal towpath (twice). The half time break was taken at the Burlescombe Inn, where several walkers took advantage of the new Sunday opening hours to refresh themselves. |
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Friday 9th June 2006 Sherford, Cotlake Hill & Poundsford (photos Roger Conway) walk stats 4.6 miles 238ft of climb. |
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Admiring the view ^ < Tropical Somerset |
| Warm sunshine bathed the church car park in Trull as the evening temperature fell to a more comfortable level; a gentle summer zephyr wafted from the south under an azure blue sky. Thirty-four walkers slowly assembled and were enthusiastically greeted by our leader while at the same time ascertaining their meal requirements and requesting their signature on the walk attendance sheet. On completion of these tasks the leader breathed a sigh of relief and proceeded to give the walk preamble to an attentive audience indicating its route and highlighting points of interest along the way. On completion of these preliminaries our merry band left the car park, went past the 13th century church of All Saints with its 15th century stained glass windows and 16th century pulpit, briefly stopped at the Winchester Arms to arrange the most important item of the evening, our repast, with mine host, and continued on to Trull water mill where its water wheel and leat were inspected. The walk then followed Sherford stream, crossing it via a packhorse bridge, on to Cutliff farm and ascended Cotlake hill. At the summit the party stopped to admire the excellent view of Taunton spread out below, identifying the spires of its three main churches, St Mary Magdalene, St James and St George and in the background Burrow Mump could just be distinguished through the thickening haze. Having refreshed themselves, the group made its way down Cotlake hill, through Kibbear and over the M5 road bridge to Poundisford where they admired one of the few ‘Victoria Regina’ post boxes in Somerset. The walk progressed through Poundisford Park that was formed as an estate by Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester, in the 11th century; its Tudor manor house was built in the 16th century but extensively modified in the 18th century. Our walkers turned back towards Trull over the M5 footbridge and followed Sherford stream past Amberd House, a late mediaeval farm house with a 16th century ceiling. Our eager band then started accelerating, over Sherford stream weir with its small waterfall and island below and back to Trull car park. Here our hungry ramblers retired to the Winchester Arms where mine host supplied them with an ample supper and excellent ale to go with the convivial conversation. | ||
Sunday 4th June 2006 Exmoor around Winsford |
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