Saturday 2nd December ’23
DH, RW, PC, PCL, DL, JB, CH, DH, SW, MC, CCL, ML, AB, DH, Sully, Scrumpy & Albus
It was a cold and frosty morning, (but without any dancing around the Mulberry bush) as thirteen of us met outside the church of St Stephens Charlton Musgrove for our annual Christmas walk accompanied by our good ladies. Todays walk was a shorter version of the walk completed in the frosts of January to give us plenty of time to get scrubbed up ready for our festive lunch at the White Lion Bourton later. Despite only being groomed ready for Christmas the day before, Sully was making such a fuss as we prepared to leave home without him, that we decided that the frosty fields and solid ground would not resulting in him getting too dirty this week, so we brought him along to catch up with Scrumpy and Albus again.
Once all the introductions had been completed we set off in a northerly direction over a cattle grid and down a track opposite Charlton House, not the former village rectory I previously assumed it to be, but actually a large Grade II house from the early 19th Century possibly built on the site of an earlier property. It is believed to have been designed by a member of the Bastard family of Blandford Forum and is mainly built from ashlar Doulting stone. The parish of Charlton Musgrove is one of the older ones of Somerset and is mentioned in the domesday book. It was later one of the villages of the Norten Ferris hundred and is unusual in having two churches and two village centres. Walking down by the older church of St Stephens which dates back to the 13th Century, sheep were foraging through the frost covered grass on the left side and the white ice crystals on the trees and plants looked extremely seasonal. At the bottom of the track we veered left and through our first patch of muddy ground, before forming an orderly queue to cross the two stiles into our first open field.
There had been a really hard frost last weekend and then the ground was pretty solid, but today the ground underneath the frosty grass was anything but frozen. Already Denise was concerned about the state Sully was likely to end up in and when he did his usual drop of his shoulders for a roll in the frost I certainly feared the worst. However and thankfully, he came up pretty clean although when he broke the ice to have a splash in a large puddle only a bit further along, any thoughts of keeping him clean soon disappeared.
Our path then took us over a couple of stiles where there was no access hole or dog flap through the sheep wire for our four legged friends. Scrumpy and Albus were quickly scooped up and placed over the fence but getting a muddy Sully over was a bit more of a challenge. Initially keen to put his front legs on top of the fence, he quickly sat back down before any of us could get a hand under him to lift him up. After a bit more coaxing and with four of us doing the lifting we eventually got him over the first stile, although he did end up in a bit of a hep on the far side. The second stile was a bit easier and he had less space to move around than previously and so with two of us lifting from the rear he was soon unceremoniously delivered safely across to the next field. A dead weight lift of 35 kg of Golden Retriever is not the best exercise on a cold morning, but he had to come with us so there was no other option.
A couple more fields with easy opening gates were all that stood between us and the hamlet of Shalford and as we turned right along the road and crossed the small stream we immediately headed right again and through another gate beside a cattle grid which took us to the rear of Shalford Farm. The sun was threatening to break through the mist as we made our way eastwards along the edges of the next few fields, over an electric fence and heading for the buildings at Rectory Farm. John resisted the urge to repeat his gate fault from his first walk with us last January and instead opened the gate which caused so much trouble last time. We continued down the track, being careful not to peer into the kitchen as we passed the Old Dairy house which was modernised at the turn of this century, and out onto the road by the old rectory farmhouse, a large Queen Anne period elegant farmhouse which dates back to the early 1700s.
It had taken us around a hour to reach this point and it was an ideal opportunity and space to stop for a while to regroup, take on board some sugary sweets courtesy of Dereyk and pose for our group selfie. Suitably rested and refreshed we turned right along the road and started our return leg to the church and cars. After around 500m we again turned off the road back into the fields, so the dogs could be let back off the leads again. Another couple of stiles, thankfully with dog access points at the side led us into a larger field which lead downhill to a bridge over another unnamed stream. All these streams in this area eventually meet with the River Cale which started its journey in the woods around Pen Selwood and flows across the northern outskirts of Bayford and Wincanton before turning southwards and out down the vale.
The final leg of todays stroll just entailed the short walk through Lower Rectory farm and past a very well decorated barn which looks like it could well be a seasonal AirBnB. The old building in the background caused a bit of discussion again as it looks initially like an old chapel with the arched stone windows but higher up is a large door typical of those used in old hay barns. A bit more research needed on this one!
We climbed back up the track past the still frozen church and to the cars having completed todays 2 and a quarter miles in just short of the planned ninety minutes.
A quick change of boots and rather than our usual trip to a local cafe for breakfast, it was back home to get turned around in sixty minutes ready for our well earned Christmas lunch at the White Lion at 12.30. And of course time for me to give Sully a wash down first!
Seated along both sides of a good long festively decorated table and now joined by Ann who was unable to walk with us earlier, we continued the festive chatter as we pulled crackers and waited, with our neatly printed itemised choices for our meals. The service throughout the afternoon was first class, extremely attentive and fast and the meals we absolutely lovely. The Turkey was moist and tasty, the lamb looked delicious and the bream and festive parcels were all well supplemented with great vegetables and gravy. When it came to desserts, there was much discussion about the local cheeses, the panacotta was just the right consistency and the Christmas pud was very boozy. But for me the moment of food envy was the orange chocolate cheesecake and sorbet which looked amazing. Rounded off with coffee and mince pies it really was a first class afternoon and a fitting way to start the festive season and the last month of this years walks. Many thanks to Richard for organising it this year and special thanks also to our good ladies for joining us once again. Merry Christmas all
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