Another walk we thoroughly enjoy and have completed on numerous occasions, is the the 5 mile loop from the Beckford Arms, around the Fonthill Estate. The walk finishes with a mile long road section back to the start firstly crossing under the grand gateway, then walking parallel to the great Fonthill lake, passing one of the most idyllic cricket grounds around these parts. That statement could lead to further discussion ; Sexey’s School, Sparkford, Butleigh to name a few.
The walk starts in the south west corner of Wiltshire and is actually part of a series of walks I discovered on a Nadder Valley website a few years ago, although it appears to be offline currently. I will not recreate the same things but if you ever want to look for different walks or cycle rides, these are certainly a few good places to start.
Cranborne Chase HowardsHouse Chalk Valley North Wessex Downs Leaving the cars at the southern end of the Fonthill Road close to the Beckford Arms, the route takes you across open fields, past a lodge cottage and down to the dam end of the one mile long Fonthill Lake. Here is one of the smallest water turbines I have ever come across, which provides power for elements of the estate. Formerly a mill occupying 200 workers stood on the site although nothing remains of that these days apart from the pumping house.
The route takes you across the dam end of the lake, plenty of large fish to be seen, before heading through a short wooded section leading to open farmland. Continuing in a North/North East direction until the current Fonthill House comes into view. A splendid looking property set in beautiful surroundings, not bad if you happen to be Lord Margadale or one of the family, I suppose! The first couple of visits to Fonthill, we left knowing very little more about the area, history and estate apart from the notes attached to the route found on the above mentioned Nadder Valley website. Check out the link above for more info. I’m sure we actually saw the Lord of the manor and his wife on one occasion as we walked down the Easter drive out of the estate.
The walk the continues through the small hamlet of Ridge before heading into the woods at the top of a steep rise. A total different environment for the 2nd third of the walk, with a good track, a long steady climb up the valley side onto a typical Wiltshire chalk down ridge, looking north towards Warminster. The steady decent at the end of the ridge brings you down to the B3089 at Fonthill Bishop. We have stopped once for a swift beer in the local bar/cafe The Bird and Carter, although we tend to push past more often than not.
The final part of the walk could be seen as just a tedious walk along a road, but just walking under the Arch with its two flanking lodges on the road back to Fonthill Gifford tells you there is more to see yet. This entrance to Fonthill Park was probably built in the 1750s on the designs of John Vardy. It has long decorative walls, with urn finials, which were added on both sides in the 1860's. The whole arch and attached buildings was designated as Grade I listed in 1966.
The road takes you along the western side of the lake which is around 1 mile long and approximately 330 ft wide at its maximum width and was created in the mid-18th century. The Fonthill Brook flows out of the southern end of the lake and joins the River Nadder at Tisbury, 1 mile to the southeast. A large number of Mandarin duck live on the Lake (and on surrounding rivers) together with a number of wild swans. The lake was used as the location for the filming of all the river scenes in the film Chocolat, which starred Johnny Depp.
Passing the glorious the cricket ground to the left, home of the Fonthill Park Cricket Club, this has to be one of the most idyllic grounds around. Behind the ground and its the woods beyond lie one of Wiltshire's long lost secret buildings, Fonthill Abbey, or just the ruins of it these days.
Fonthill Abbey—also known as Beckford's Folly—was a large Gothic Revival country house built between 1796 and 1813. The abbey's main tower collapsed several times, lastly in 1825 damaging the western wing. The entire abbey was later almost completely demolished with the stone being used on other buildings on the estate.
The final mile is anything but boring and the 1 mile walk up the road passes in the blink of an eye.
