Saturday 18 January ‘ 25 DH, RW, PC, PCL, TO, DL, JB, CH, JS Sully, Albus & Maisie
It has been a dry week generally and so it was worth an in unrecce’d gamble today and take a walk across the low ground of the Blackmore Vale which would also give us the chance to try another new cafe for breakfast. As such it was just before 9.00 that all nine of todays walkers met up at the Todber Manor lakes, just at the same time as a load of anglers also arrived in advance of some match fishing on the top lakes. As such parking was tight, but once we had all got over the sight of JSs bare legs we took the opportunity to get away on our walk whilst the fishermen and women were getting their match briefing and peg allocation in the cafe area.
Leaving the yard past the tackle shop on the right and the refurbished rental cottages to our left we turned right and walked around the road towards the church of St Andrews. Not much is known about the churches which stood on the same spot since late Saxon times for although is has all the characteristics of antiquity, the Todber Church of today was extensively rebuilt in the late 1870’s by the Marchioness of Westminster, who at the time owned most of the land in the Parish of Todber. The restoration retained most of the original tower and much of the original oak chancel screen was reused. However all the remaining building is Victorian from foundation to roof. In 1086 Todber was recorded in the Domesday Book as Todeberie, and was in the hundred of Gillingham. It had one mill, 12 acres of meadow and 2 ploughlands. In the 2011 census it consisted of just 55 properties and a population of only 140 folks. Todber is one of four parishes — the others being East Stour, Stour Provost and West Stour — under the governance of The Stours Parish Council.
We passed the church and turned left into a small close with a millennium green on the right and opposite a rather spacious looking ‘former’ rectory with some equally substantial modern properties clustered around a small pond at the end of the lane. The noise and chanter amongst the group would have been enough to waken anyone enjoying a Saturday morning lie in. Our path took us straight ahead and twisted through a small wooded area before exiting onto one of the southern lake area service tracks. As we made our way south towards the lakes we could already see a large number of vehicles, panel vans mainly, parked up with solo or pairs of anglers unloading all their rods, seats, nets, etc needed to set up their position for the next few hours.
The whole area looks very well set up and professional, with good gravel tracks, proper parking areas and of course apply sized platforms by the waters edge. The first lake we came to was the Big Hayes Specimen Lake and according to the website offers for just £35 for 24 hours the opportunity to catch some BIG fish. It is an 8 acre specimen carp water holding approximately 800 carp including at least 250 different 20lb plus fish and 40 plus 30lb + carp, with the lake record currently being 41lb 2oz. Big Hayes also has catfish upto 50lb+. There are 18 designated spots or pegs around the lake, the majority of which looked taken already this morning. (The photo above is just a stock photo off the website, we didn’t hang around long enough to see anything caught)!
The map showed that our path was off to the right a quarter of the way down the lake and it was more luck than judgment that I spotted a gap in the hedge, which looked pretty overgrown. There was no crossing point over a high wire fence but once we had determined that it wasn’t electrified, we managed to step over it and fight our way through the hedgerow. At the far side the route was diagonally across the field and as it didn’t appear to be planted with anything yet we took the direct path across towards a gateway in the far hedge. The ground was lightly covered in the occasional grassy clumps and appeared to have more dock plants than anything else, but where the soil was exposed it was very ‘claggy’ and we were all soon an inch or so taller, and carrying a few more pounds in weight as it clung to our boots. There then followed a concrete track before more fields, but thankfully with a good covering of grass this time. Unfortunately though as we made our way through from field to field, the stiles and bridges had a very common theme, of being badly maintained to the point of being dangerous in places. Thankfully there were no serious incidents although Maisie did look a bit shocked when she fell through one of the gaps and couldn’t get herself back up. Thankfully Dereyk spotted a small black head poking through the slats and managed to haul her out to safety. Unfortunately it was a grey day today so there was not much of a view around although the hill top of Duncliffe Woods stood out of the mist as we worked our way northwards and back to the road.
Just a short distance down the road we saw the most colourful thing today in what can only be described as a hippie inspired cottage and outbuildings. As Trevor said, it clearly wouldn’t meet the strict criteria of the Castle Cary planning department, so how they have got away with defacing such an old property is somewhat bizarre. (Thanks Phil for the panorama). Taking the track opposite we then worked our way back round towards the top of the lakes, entering the area again by the smaller lake constructed into made up ground (very ‘lakey’ looking according to Rich). There were a good number of anglers on most of the pegs, mostly with extremely long carbon fibre rods sticking a good five to ten metres or more out over the water. These poles are a preferred option for many coarse anglers as they reach further over the water and tend not to be so problematic with snagging or twisted lines. We made our way quietly past them with all the dogs on leads to avoid any disruption and towards the end of the track I decided it was time for this weeks groupie. Pete, concerned that our chatter might disturb the fishermen moved us down a bit further, and then as we quietly gathered he accidentally stood on one of the dogs (not sure who) which quite rightly let out a loud yelp, undoing all the good intentions. With photo finally taken it was just a short walk back to the cars to change out of our muddy boots before heading into the cafe. We had completed the walk as planned in 1 hour fifty minutes, covering around 3.5 miles.
The cafe was a relatively new addition to the facilities at the fishing lakes and our reserved table was down at the far end of what is a very spacious area. The menu was pretty expansive compared to some recent cafes, and all the breakfast options were named after the lakes. The waitresses were very patient as we placed our orders, a mix of options too complicated to list this week. The service was quick and the drinks and food was soon at the table. Overall the quality was good although personally I was disappointed with the Germanic sausage. It is most definitely a cafe we will come back to again sometime when in the area and is a suitable replacement for loosing the Secret Cafe at Thorngrove Garden Centre at Gillingham in recent months. I just need to start looking for some suitable walks now, and wait for the better weather for the fields to become a bit drier, although of course then there will be the adding complication of young calf’s and grazing cattle to contend with.
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