Saturday 9th October 2021
DH, RW, PCL, TO, PC, DL, Sully, Scumpy & Bill
A misty autumnal morning and following a Covid booster jab at Haynes Motor Museum to start the day, we gathered at the Cadbury Castle car park at 0900. It was great to see Trevor back with us again after his enforced absence since August and as it’s still summer in his mind, suitably dressed in shorts, unlike the rest of us who have already decided it’s closer to winter than summer.
As we set off towards the Camelot, the mist was clearing quickly and the six middle aged men were all smiles as we passed a group of school girls out on their bronze D of E expedition, with high-viz jackets on and maps in hand, whilst of course laden down with the usual rucksacks containing sleeping bags, tents, food etc needed for their weekend in the countryside. It brought back great memories of those same expeditions undertaken with schools or youth organisations back in our day. Not much has changed in 45-50 years in many respects.
Making our way around the northern side of the castle with views across wide open fields, the sun became stronger as the mist burnt off and it was soon time to start taking off the extra layers as the temperature continued to climb. Reaching the road a left turn and few hundred metres later we entered the outskirts of Sutton Montis, with its range of old cottages and houses whose value must have increased rapidly over the years. Having missed the small track that should have taken us through a small orchard we turned up by the Old Rectory and started a gentle climb. We stopped for this weeks selfie in a sunny corner of the track with views over the village and beyond to Queen Camel and beyond to the A303 as it crests Camel Hill. Good to see Trevor’s usual jovial pose has returned!
Getting everyone moving again, we crossed Stonehill lane and walked around the edge of a field of young beets beneath the shadow of Parrocks Hill, the scene of a memorable earlier walk to its summit back in 2020. Popping out onto the road it was only a short stretch until we turned left towards Whitcombe Farm, and it was on the corner that today’s conundrum was posed. Why do 2 cottages in the middle of nowhere display the consecutive numbers of 742 & 743? Undoubtedly there must have been more properties around at some point, but although there is an ancient village of Whitcombe close by, it’s doubtful there were another 700 dwellings in the vicinity in more recent times. We did notice on our Christmas walk 2020 high numbers on properties at the far side of Corton Denham. Could it simply be a way on numbering all properties on an estate, possibly to make the identification of properties and the collecting of rents easier to manage? Any other possible answers appreciated!
Continuing down the track we couldn’t help noticing the 19th century waterwheel on the side of the farm building, but wonder about the lack of a water source powerful enough to turn such a large wheel, maybe it was only used during seasonal heavy rains. We crossed a very small ford before making a slight climb up the side of a maize field and took a left turn to start the return leg towards Cadbury Castle and the cars. On looking back at Parrock Hill there were cries of childhood delight as the trees and bushes heading up the ridge resembled the sight of The Pony Express. Or was it Santa and his sleight being pulled by Rudolph & co? Sully and Scumpy managed to put up a couple of pheasants but then seemed to run around in circles wondering how they had escaped. Passing through a well worn path through the middle of a maize field we encountered our only two stile of the day as we entered a small field of young Jersey cows (as confirmed later by our agricultural correspondent).
A very enjoyable walk in beautiful autumnal conditions, 3.75 miles in 1hr 45 mins and onto the Parlour Farmshop at Weston Bampfylde for our first visit and our well deserved breakfast.
Sat around the outside table six full English breakfast and 6 teas ordered, we must have looked like a bunch of teenagers as we all sat looking at photos and messages on our mobile phones. Whatever happened to the ‘no phones at the table’ rule? or even no dogs on the table? With clouds starting to form in the south west in the distance we basked in the morning sunshine before being served tea in numerous clear pots (the strength of which caused some debate). A few minutes later the breakfast started arriving ‘in drips and drabs’ and it looked pretty good. The only sight anomaly was the 4 pieces of back pudding that the six of us were informed we had to ’fight over’. First come first served seemed to be a fair resolution to that one! The good quality and tasty bacon and butchers sausages certainly went down well and with a score of 8.4, it’s another one we’ll be back to some time soon.
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