Saturday 11 February ‘23
DH, RW, BFS, PC, DL, JB, Sully, Scrumpy, Albus & Alfie
It’s spring half term already and with Trevor flying off to Thailand in search of ladyboys, Phil doing family duties up north and Adrian making a last minute call to prioritise a roofing contractor over his mates, there were just six of us who ventured eastwards and across the border into Dorset today. It has been almost 18 months since we last in Shaftesbury and as this particular walk had not been done by half of todays group before it was a good chance to revisit one of our earlier post lockdown walks from 2021.
Richard very kindly dropped in through Wincanton to pick up Dereyk, John & Albus and with our daughter and family taking a weeks holiday in Devon, Alfie the 11 year old beagle joined Sully in the back of the other car. Parking up on the Wincombe business park, the dogs were quickly out of the cars and made their introductions and once we were all booted up we headed off for the corner of the estate and the pathway into the countryside. The track was muddy but relatively firm as we followed it round the edge of the last industrial unit and along the edge of a large hedge. Last time we came this way it was following a very heavy period of rain and the pathway was a tight gap between shoulder high vegetation getting us all pretty soaked before we’d even started. See Soaked in Shaftesbury for details. Thankfully during the intervening time the hedge has been trimmed back severely and was a lot easier to get through today. We exited the pathway and into the solar panel field where it was time to let the dogs loose for their first run around. Brian had very kindly agreed to walk (or got lumbered with) Alfie as as he is not used to the group and has a tendency to do his own thing was kept on at this point.
We crossed what would be today the first of many a broken style and headed to the corner of the next field. Here the cross member had disappeared totally leaving just a stump at either side of the fence. Brian led the way by balancing rather precariously on one stump then climbing onto the further one, whilst John waited and contemplated another gate vault, but discretion being the better part of valour, he decided to head head-first under the bar. This clearly looked the better option so I followed suit, how the others bringing up the rear managed as I turned my attention to a rather large drift of well established snowdrops, of which there were quite a few separate patches under the trees. Passing by the isolated bungalow, and of course passing the time of day with the owner in her driveway who has just had todays delivery of post, we passed through a well maintained style with dog access and into a field surrounded by sheep fencing. This was a safe enough area in which to let Alfie free for his first run and he was delighted to be free to run along with his other two small mates. Scrumpy was not looking too happy this morning as the 3 boys were ignoring her and running around together, and even less so when Albus decided that, now he is nearing 12 months old, it was time to test out his fathering capabilities. He was soon making amorous advances and dancing around, whilst getting on his back legs and thrusting his hips. At this point it soon became obvious that Dereyk has only had daughters and despite being an experienced teacher has never had to give a hormonal male the ‘birds and the bees‘ talk. Richard kept his eyes of Scrumpy but remained calm as anything about Albus’s advances, no surprise really as Albus hadn’t quite realised that he was trying to get his way with an 11 year old neutered beagle and not a 3 year old intact female terrier. Clearly undeterred by Alfie’s refusal to cooperate, he continued to chase after him as we made our way down the edge of the field, much to everyone’s amusement.
As we exited the field a 20 metre road section took us to a gate lodge where with a way marker showing us the way, we sneaked through the closed gate, past the lodge and into a good mature strip of deciduous woodland and on a feint track covered in last years leave litter. A large but deep cry was heard in the top of the trees which stopped us in our tracks as we strained our necks to see it. Right at the top of a leaveless tree was a large black bird, which was quickly identified as being far way from its normal home territory of the Tower of London. Was the kingdom starting to collapse as clearly one of the ravens had escaped? As we progressed, pheasants could be heard b deeper in the woods and as we neared the end of the track, the sound of domestic fowl had the dogs ears pricking up. Thankfully we had them all back on the leads before we turned down the road as a small bantam and two larger brown chickens were happily foraging on the grass verge. A pair of Guinea fowl in their enclosure dashed towards us, as if in defence of their house mates, but the trio played it cool and hurried down the road just a short bit in front of us before finding suitable gaps in the hedgerow to escape through.
The track continued to drop and keeping on the higher portion we were soon skirting across the top of the Wincombe house, an 1820's Georgian villa style property which overlooks the lake, originally one of the Abbess of Shaftesbury's fishponds. It is home to the Fortescues who have lived in it since the early 1960's when they bought it from the historian , Arthur Bryant.
A large patch of purple crocus were just a
waiting for the sun to break through the overcast skies and a bit further on a small patch of primroses were staring to flower. Spring has definitely arrived in this little valley today.
We continued our route through the Wincombe Park estate which covers 375 acres of parkland, grazed farmland and woods, some of which are ancient woodland. It also encompasses an Iron Age fort which is a scheduled Ancient monument and commands views across the Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty within which it lies. Cranborne Chase has recently been granted Dark Sky Status so there are opportunities to stargaze on clear nights if anyone fancies coming back later?
We dropped down by the side of the large garden wall and into view of the house, which is now a member of the quiet garden scheme and a site for fully residential retreats and courses as well as the location of a small English language school. Sully sensed there was water ahead and was soon paddling in the clear waters of the upper course of the River Nadder, which along with the Wylye, Ebble and Bourne all join the River Avon near Salisbury. Being the lowest part of the walk, this was an ideal location for todays selfie and also an attempt to get one of the four dogs. Pete supplied the dogs treats as Dereyk handed round the weekly lollies.
Suitably refreshed and rested it was time to start this weeks climb up through the woods. The track was slippy in places as it turned into a gully between the hillside and a large tree lined man made earth-bank, no doubt created from the soil in the gulley to act as a barrier for herding livestock up and down between the valley and higher pastures. The climb was certainly not as steep as last weeks, but as the daily temperature has increased throughout the week, jackets were certainly being opened to allow the heat to escape today. Brian was first to the top again but the rest were close on his heels. Another short breather and then it was a steady walk along the top of the wood line, which goes by the name of Great Hanging on the OS maps, and back towards Higher Wincombe farm and the outskirts of Shaftesbury. Previously we walked through fields towards the rear of the trading estate but with a large residential development spilling over into the field to our left, a pathway between the fields has been created and fenced, through which we were tightly funnelled. A short section across the back of houses and we found the gap back into the trading estate, alongside the dance studio into which Scrumpy ran on our last trip this way. It was then past the framing company and a few smaller industrial lockups and back to the carpark, ready to get stuck into breakfasts. A distance of 3.6 miles completed in 1hr 40 mins, and perfectly timed as we entered Skevy’s, not to be confused with Bramley Care HQ next door, as a slight misty drizzle was starting to fall.
Although the sight of four dogs entering the cafe didn’t go down too well with one of the current diners, the boss was very welcoming as we took our seats around the table in the window, and by the suitably placed dogs water bowl, of which all dogs got stuck into. We had to wait a bit longer for our refreshments but orders were soon placed and paid for at the counter and it wasn’t too long before plates, large in Pete’s case (handy when you forget your wallet) we’re being served. On seeing 4 such well behaved dogs they were immediately offered their own plate of cold sausages which soon arrived cut into small pieces. She was extremely chatty and happy to see the loyal companions who in turn were delighted with the own portion of meat?
All in all a nice trip back to Wincombe valley and Skevy’s for a very reasonably priced breakfast, maybe next time we’ll visit in the drier weather and not leave behind so much mud on the carpet hopefully.
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