SCUBA Skoda

Saturday 14th February ❤️. DH, RW, PCL, DL, JB, Scrumpy

Yet another week of heavy rains across Somerset and Dorset again (if you hadn’t noticed) so it had to be another walk around country roads rather than splashing through muddy fields again. This week I managed to find a suitable one of about five miles around the village of Marnhull, starting and ending at the Tober Fishing Lakes. The route to the TV was down the Blackmore Vale and then up over Hartmoor Hill and along the ridge to the A30. At this point the longer route on the main roads was left to the East Stour cross-roads and then south along the B3092 and past Stour Provost to Todber. The alternative was straight across the A30 and through Fifehead Magdalen to the fishing lakes by Trill Bridge. The former route kept you high above the river whilst the alternative dropped right down into the river basin.

The three of us in the Wincanton car opted for the longer route and we arrived at the fishing lakes and managed to park right outside of the cafe just before 0830. We donned our boots and as the sun was slowly rising JB and myself took a seat just by the door to sit and wait for the Bruton car to arrive, expecting it to be no more than a couple of minutes. Deryck in the mean time was standing around like a lost sole without his mate Albus, who was having to sit it out this week having had a small operation during the week. He certainly didn’t look happy with his cone of shame on at the doorway this morning, Albus that is not Deryck! Thankfully the sun was already giving off a good bit of heat as we sat and waited and contemplated reducing our clothing layer before we started. After a few minutes my phone rang and it was Phil who explained that there were facing a large expanse of water and were having to reverse back to find another way around, and would therefore be a while before they arrived.

After another ten minutes the blue Skoda carrying our Bruton pair finally arrived at the RV and was directed to a parking space to the rear of the cafe. Scrumpy was sent ahead to greet us as I’m sure they knew they would be in for a bit of stick when they turned the corner. It turns out that Rich, having taken the road through Fifehead and passed the ‘Road liable to flooding’ sign dropped down towards the area of the bridge to find the river running right across the road. With his previous (unsuccessful) experience of driving through floods and seeing another car abandoned on the side, rightly decided that today was not the day to drive through the River Stour and made the correct call to turn around. Of course we were not too judgmental on the day but did promise them a bit of a mention in the blog.

And so, twenty minutes later than planned we set off out of the yard and onto an anti clockwise loop which would take us parallel to the river and then through the village of Marnhull, called Marlot in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles. We walked just a short stretch north along the B3092 before turning left onto Great Down Lane. As we continued along we started to see the flooded fields along the line of the river. Stopping at an open gateway we had a tremendous view or the water and right up the vale to the properties of Wincanton just visible on the far ridge. As we stood there a red kite was flying around just to our left but disappeared before I could get a good photo of it. To the right of our view we could just make out the road along which Rich & Phil had travelled earlier although trying to identify the bridge and point at which they had turned around was more difficult.

We also took the opportunity to pose for the weeks group photo, although getting the right angle to avoid staring directly into the sun was more challenging. Pushing on along the lane to the north of Marnhull and around its twists and turns we spotted buzzards against the blue sky and another kite flew right over our heads. Scrumpy was keeping her eyes more on the ground as a grey squirrel ran along the road in front of us.

The parish of Marnhull is made up of 7 Hamlets – Gannets, Hains, Moorside, Nash, Pilwell, Pleck and Walton Elm, all of which remain clearly identifiable. By area it is recognised as the largest village in Dorset. The first distinct area one we came to today was Nash, one of two adjoining manors in the parish during the Middle Ages. Originally built in the 16th century , the property was reputedly gifted to Catherine Parr by Henry VIII, following the Dissolution and on her death, it passed to Edward VI and then to Elizabeth I. Remodelled in the 19th century and split into three smaller parts (House, Lodge and Court) in the late 1970s, the large house stands in a dominating position and with its central bell tower look every bit a Royal residence. The property has recently been on the market and you can read more about it here as well as view lots of interior photographs.

At a small junction we turned right and into the hamlet of Hains which along with Nash occupies the north west quadrant of the village. We passed a few smaller, but still very desirable properties and made our way to the very northern edge of the village. As we paused for another look up the vale we stood in front of the very substantial Stangways farmhouse and admired the grounds and snowdrops in front of it. Keeping clear of a couple of cars including a learner driving navigating the narrow lanes we then turned left onto Musbury Lane and starting making our way towards the village centre. We passed the Blackmore Vale pub and then walked along the raised pavement past the old bank and the couple of village shops. Taking Burton Street east we then moved back into an area of older properties. Marnhull is well known today for its good stock of buildings and homes dating back over 800 years right up to modern day developments. It is essentially an agricultural environment, though few in the Community now earn their livings from the land, and farming is an important element of the village’s day-to-day life. JB was well impressed with all the old picturesque cottages but was looking for something more on his level.

We entered the area of Pillwell and turned left after the Methodist chapel onto the road heading out of town. For this short section we were walking along the Hardy Way, a long distance walking trail visiting places associated with author and poet Thomas Hardy. It is 216.5 miles long and travels a winding route through Dorset and south Wiltshire starting at Thomas Hardy's birthplace at the National Trusts Hardy's Cottage and ending at Stinsford Church just a mile outside of Dorchester, where his heart is buried.

We were getting close to our breakfast booking time and so it must have seemed a bit odd that after we passed the Royal British Legion clubhouse, we turned right to head further away from our destination at Todber Lakes. The whole area to our right was clearly the next residential development and work has already strayed clearing the earth and protecting the site with a ring of Harras fencing. We crossed the main road again and headed into Moorside, the last of the named areas of the village we would be going through today.

We joined the Manston road and walked north on some pavement before having to use the road, keeping an eye on the oncoming traffic, until we exited the village of Marnhull and re entered the hamlet of Todber by the Old School House. It was then just a short walk back to the cafe and straight in to find our table. By the time I stopped the clock we had walked five and a half miles in two hours ten minutes. Certainly one of our furthest ones for a long while. We didn’t take long to choose our breakfast options and place our orders and the drinks were on the table within seconds. No sooner had we got them poured than our hot meals were delivered. Clearly some items were pre cooked on a hot plate but the eggs were all freshly cooked. The sausages had a nice flavour and the comments around the table were all very favourable. Overall another good road walk and thankfully on the return home, there was no repeat of the incident on the way out. a very wise decision by Richard to turn around, I’m sure he won’t be so keen to tell us of any similar mishaps in future,

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