A visit to Judge Wyndham’s Oak at Silton
Saturday May 14th RW , DL , AC and Scrumpy
Our starting point was once again the White Lion at Bourton. It was very pleasant as we got out of the car to be greeted by two guests of the pub who had stayed overnight. The couple made a great fuss of Scrumpy as they love border terriers and are enjoying a holiday break in the West Country, including a trip to Longleat in which they had lost their wing mirror in the monkey enclosure. Chuckling at the misfortune of others we set off southwards reversing our steps from our last trip to Bourton, heading towards the A303 down a lane past the old mill and crossing the ford over the Stour.
We made a choice to follow the lane inside the hedge rather than turning right across a field which was an attractive route but eventually led to an extra leg of pathway via the Stour Valley Way taking us back to a point we could have reached ten minutes earlier.
The last time we came down this lane the mud made it heavy going but the dry weather has changed all that and we made swift progress roughly parallel with the A303 until we reached Brickyard Lane. This short stretch of attractive old cottages leads to the old centre of Bourton with Church, School and former pub (The Red Lion) on what was the original course of the main London road. We turned sharp left here signposted to West Bourton and a bridge across the double-laned A303 which was preferable to the option favoured by Adrian….dashing across the road between speeding traffic. Adrian revealed his experiences as an adrenaline junky including solo parachute jumping. It was reassuring that he had undergone a day’s training / preparation before bailing out. Deryck preferred his glider-flying experience whereas I have flown Easijet to Scotland!
We turned off the road into an empty field, released Scrumpy from the lead and paused for a sugar rush from Adrian’s sweety supplies. Crossing lush meadows with wild flowers running riot at our feet, we scaled a couple of stiles and turned right to pass Forty Pond with its shading willows and wild water lilies.
Just as we were commenting that there were few cows in the landscape we spotted a wild hare racing across a field and then a large herd of cows in a shed at Westfields Dairy. Once again, we were permitted to pass through the centre of the agricultural buildings and onto Grimsey Lane heading roughly westwards. Deryck was sent forward to recce a stile giving access to a short-cut on the footpath to Silton but he discovered a tricky stile leading to another fence so climbed back down again with only a stinging nettle rash to show for his trouble.
Following Grimsey Lane to Stocking Bridge we joined Church Road into Silton. This forms part of the Stour Valley Way which would eventually take walkers all the way across Dorset to Hengistbury Head on the Channel Coast. We passed a handsome private property called Silton House, complete with tennis court and arrived at the entrance to Silton parish church.
My objective had been to visit Wyndham’s Oak and it was great to see clear signage and a mown path through a grove of trees to a gateway into a field in which stands the grand old tree. The oak is thought to be at least a thousand years old and that means it could have been standing here near Gillingham when William the Conqueror arrived, when Magna Carta was signed, while Shakespeare was writing some plays, Britain gained and lost an empire, Churchill inspired the free world in defeating Nazi Germany and Katrina and the Waves won at Eurovision.
Judge Wyndham is reputed to have enjoyed sitting under the old oak in the seventeenth century and now Deryck and Adrian took his place. Sadly the aged oak is a hollow shell and missing some of its lofty branches but the great thing is that someone has grown a successor oak from one of its acorns and thus continuity is assured for future generations. Will they be calling it Lemon’s Oak in a thousand years’ time? We just don’t know.
Suddenly conscious of the time and a gnawing suspicion that we hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, we retraced our steps past the church to the road, crossed Stocking Bridge and headed back towards Bourton via Stour Common. There is a handsome stone-built church hall on the way with an abandoned GPO red phonebox crying out to contain a defibrillator for the use of walking groups like ours! Joining the main road from Bourton to Gillingham we crossed back under the A303 and arrived back at Adrian’s car.
Breakfast was to be had at the Cale Park café: dog-friendly, welcoming and swift to serve the weary walkers. A delicious way to end our walk which had encompassed a thousand years of history in a Spring morning.
