11 September-DH, RW, BFS, PC, DL, Sully, Scrumpy & Alfie
A return to Alford church for today’s RV, 0900hrs and Richard and Scrumpy were ready and raring to go as a full car of four from Wincanton, (with Sully and this weeks guest addition of Alfie the Beagle), arrived.
With Blue skies overhead and the sun making more frequent appearances we headed off north, through the woods and over the River Brue around Alford House. Once into open ground the dogs were left free and thankfully Alfie and Scrumpy hit it off immediately and we’re soon following Sully as he made his own way ahead. The going in places was a bit “good to soft“ but the recent rain and sun had done wonders for the blackberries in the hedgerow. There was an absolute abundance of juicy shiny berries waiting to be picked, if only we had the time!
It was good to see coming out into a large open field that dairy cows are still out and about, as we made our way through to join the Monarchs way, for the first time in a few weeks. Turning left we headed towards the farm and then out onto the small lane by a pair of cottages.
We approached a young couple with toddler out tending their garden on a recently extended property, and passed the usual morning pleasantries. It was then that the young mum said “ I recognise some of you gentlemen“. Stopped in our tracks and wondering who she knew, she quickly identified herself as a former pupil of Sexey’s, one of three Dauncey sisters who attended during the 2005-2014 years. It was the very same family who I had gathered in school in 2005 before we took the Army cadets for their first trip to the World War 1 battlefields. The girls great great uncle had been a pupil at school before the war and sadly he lost his life in the third battle of Ypres, more commonly known as the battle for Paschendale. We took a signed wreath across to Belgium that year and on ever subsequent trip have taken pupils to pay their respects to a former pupil. We will remember them.
Heading off again our eyes were soon drawn to the skies as we saw 2 helicopters approaching side by side. As they got closer it was clear to see that we were about to be overflown by a Sea-King and a Wessex, probably from RNAS Yeovilton heritage flight. Quite a sight!
Heading down the church track, talk soon turned to the mulberry tree we came across last time, would there still be fruit on it? It was a case of good news and bad as the damaged bough had been cleared away leaving a much smaller tree, and although there was some fruit on the remaining branches, most was out of reach. However we did find enough to taste a couple each and so long as ripe enough they were very tasty.
Dereck on his first visit to Hornblotten was quite taken by this little gem of a church tucked away from passing view and having wandered around the churchyard opened the door to take a peek inside. Having tied up the dogs by the ruins of the original church tower, we all followed inside.
Although the outside of the church is pretty remarkable, the inside is simply stunning. Decorating the majority of the walls are beautiful images and patterns that look sculptured into the stone and plaster, but on closer inspection it’s actually a technique known as sgraffito, which is produced by applying layers of plaster tinted in contrasting colours to a moistened surface. The technique is attributed to the Arts and Crafts Movement and, at Hornblotton, have been created by cutting away the upper coat of white cement and leaving exposed the strawberry coloured undercoat of plaster including terracotta patterns of sunflowers and leaves. The repeating patterns on the larger panels is clearly out of the William Morris wallpaper pattern book.
Conscious of the time, and having signed the visitors book, we paused outside for the weekly selfie, collected the dogs and headed out of the churchyard, past the rear of Hornblotten House and over fields towards the main part of the village. Just before joining the road Brian spotted a couple of damson bushes and so a bit more foraging and we headed off with a few small but sweet damsons in our hands.
A short stretch down the road before heading back into the fields at the bottom of the village, then through a field of inquisitive young cattle and keeping a close eye on the time we made good time to be back at the cars just before 11.00. Another successful 3.5 miles completed in under 2 hours.
Parking up in Cary, a short stroll through the alleyways and only a couple of minutes later we were seated in the courtyard of The George ordering our breakfasts. It was great at this point to be joined by Trevor who is recovering well from his “little incident” although opting for a more healthy meal than the rest of us. A very good plateful (I think we all would have liked the option of toast instead of fried bread) and pot of tea, well deserved and well received. A quick tally of the scores revealed an average this week of 8.6 awarded by the renown group of culinary experts. Maybe its time we came up with our own scheme to rival the AA and Michelin awards, how about in recognition of our foraging experience this week that we award Blackberries to our highest scoring establishments?
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