Bridges and sighs

Saturday 11th March ‘23. North Cadbury. DH, RW, TO, Sully & Scrumpy

Obviously a busy weekend for most folks, so it was left to the three of us without exciting lives to meet up at North Cadbury today and we were all ready to set off by 08.50 which has to be said it most unusually for us. Having parked outside of the village church of St Michael the Archangel, which stands in a large churchyard on the southern edge of the village, our route today was going to be a clockwise 360 degree circuit around the edges of North Cadbury, with plenty of options to extend or cut short depending how we went.

Passing through the lynch gate and along the church path, our attention was drawn almost immediately to a set of figures on the wall of the adjoining Elizabethan North Cadbury Court. Richard with his safeguarding hat on, was immediately very concerned about the inappropriateness of the sculptures, titled ‘Rise, Reception and Fall’, in a church yard setting, and it would appear that they are in the church yard due to others concerns about them being unsuitable for their intended location inside the church, even though they were designed for the church by local sculptor John Robinson. Built by Lady Elizabeth Botreaux in 1420, the church has quite a strange history as it was intended ‘to establish therin a perpetual college of seven chaplains, one to preside and to be called the Rector of the College of St Michael the Archangel’. But the priests seemed never to have arrived. The church is also unusual in that the only stained glass are in the two windows at the East and West ends, all other windows being of clear glass, which does however make the interior exceptionally lighter than most churches. Like Richard, it also has connections back to Cambridge University, which extended right up to 1979, more information for those interested on the Wikipedia page here

Having passed through the churchyard our route took us over the road and across the rear of some of the newer village properties. The village has a plethora of public rights of way, conveniently marked with fluorescent waymarkers and so we easily found the path to the side of a pond and following Sully’s well known ability to sniff out the right route for us, we then took a path through a small orchard and ignoring the barking from a restrained black Labrador, and headed down some steps by the side of a refurbished ‘cottage’. A short debate then followed about how big a cottage can be before it’s more than a cottage, as this one certainly was more than just a cosy ‘two up two down’. Heading across an open field we lost sight of Sully as he headed for today first foray into the local stream, over which we then crossed on the first of todays bridges. Our route took us past a few properties including the villages share of semi detached council houses, before crossing a style which lead alongside the River Cam as it flowed through the grounds of Brookhampton House. Another couple of old but quaint bridges crossed the river, which were well worthy of stopping to take photos of.

There are a number of long distance paths pass through this area, and as we exited a field we arrived at a junction of the Leland Way, the Macmillan Way and the ubiquitous Monarchs way. We opted to follow the latter as we made out way up a rather muddy and slippy track taking us northwards towards Galhampton. Trevor recognised the path as one that had been walked previously when heading out from Yarlington, although this time we opted not to cross a large field with a young crop just staring to get established, instead we turn eastwards and followed the field boundaries until we made it out onto a minor road going by the name of Sandbrooke Lane. A short stretch along it and by the side of a more suitably proportioned cottage, we turned right onto Corkscrew Lane. Opting to stay on the lane rather than head across more filthy fields we took the twists and turns of the aptly named lane until another well marked sign took us through a Bristol gate and southwards towards the small hamlet of Wollston. As we approached another hedge line the sight of a large expanse of water came as a bit of a surprise, and when we saw the shepherds hut alongside the clearly recently made man made lake, thoughts turned to the possibility of it being the Yacht Club, the sign for which had been seen near the original starting point.

However to get across to the next field the pathway took us into a small wooded area through which the small stream passed. With slippy banks on both sides and just a single plank of wood crossing the water, a gentle nudge from Trevor had Richard in a slight panic trying to get his feet onto the ‘bridge’ and up the other side. Trevor was well pleased with his little antic, but not so when I gave him a gentle nudge from behind and he too had to dance like Bambi across the plank. Clearly now worried for my own chances of getting up the far bank safely I waited at the bottom until the coast was clear before scrambling up to join the others. Continuing along the path and with the the nautical theme from before the crossing, there was then a lengthy period of discussion about the crew of the Titanic and specifically Captain Edward Smith and his actions and also of third officer Herbert Pitman, born in Sutton Montis and later resident of Pitcombe.

Crossing the Wollaston Road we headed down a residential road, past the old observatory, then Camelot cottage before passing the road which lead into the yard and shop area of the former site of the Vale of Camelot fruit farm, where many a sunny afternoon have been spent picking, and eating lush freshly picked strawberries. Since it relocated to the old A303 near Sparkford, the site has been redeveloped and behind the substantial gates now stands Camelot House, with its far reaching views southwards towards Cadbury (or Camelot) castle. Further down the track a further reminder was another large property aptly named Strawberry House.

With the church tower back at North Cadbury now clearly visible our pathway lead us in a gentle curve back towards the village, firstly along a stone (on which we stopped for todays selfie) and then into a concrete track, before finally exiting onto the Wollaston road again just short of the village edge. Whilst discussing the contents of the farmyard on the right side we just about missed the track which leads down to the aforementioned Yacht Club. Further research has discovered that it’s not actually a new marina hidden in the Somerset countryside but is in fact a lake side lodge available for rent for weddings or parties, part of the North Cadbury Court estate. If anyone fancies a short stay, details here.

Heading into the village we paused by the rather substantial village post office for Richard to take his weekly photograph of the village postbox, which as he was taking it was joined by the postmaster explaining that he was still waiting for the C3 version to be installed. King Charles III, if you have not worked it out! In the garden was also a village plan showing all the public rights of way, certainly plenty of scope for different walks around the area. A short amble back up the church lane and todays walk of 3.6 miles was completed with a sigh of relief all round, in a few seconds short of one hundred minutes.

A short drive over the A303 and into the Old Parlour cafe at Weston Bampfylde for a well deserved breakfast. With quicker than usual service and a large pot of tea between us, we all enjoyed a tasty fresh meal to round off a good morning. A shame so many others missed it!