Taking it to the next level

Saturday 17January DH, RW, PCL, DL, JB, JS, Scrumpy & Albus

It had been another mainly wet week, but the forecast for Saturday started damp but was set to steadily improve throughout the morning, so I planned a new walk to the east of Somerton on which we would predominantly be on good surfaces. Ralph had had a busy week so left the men to it today and it was good to welcome JS back from his extended Christmas holiday ready to start his second year in the group. The RV was at 0830 in the long stay area of the main town car park and whilst we waited for the Bruton car to arrive, JB was being his usual inquisitive self trying to understand the cooling instrumentation on a Co-Op refrigerated artic doing a drop off at the local store. It was close to 0840 by the time we set off, through the car park and out onto West Street heading towards the market square. Like many Somerset towns this narrow street was once the main high street in years gone but has become more navigable with the introduction of a one way system and the through traffic being directed away from the old town centre. Read a brief account of the history of Somerton here.

This is the first time any of our walks have taken us through the former County Town, but I must say that the main square in Somerton has to be one of the nicest in this area.

On the far left stands the oldest building in Somerton, the 13th century Grade 1 Parish church of St Michael and All Angels   The huge square lower section gives way to an octagonal top stage via the usual architectural device known as “broaching”. The church is famous for its amazingly decorated wooden roof of 700 carved panels made by the monks of Muchelney Abbey in 1450.

Looking to the right is the War Memorial, carved in Portland stone and erected in 1921 to commemorate the many citizens of Somerton who died in both World Wars.

On the near side of the square is the octagonal shaped market cross. Known as the Buttercross it was built by the Stawell family in 1673 and given to the parish council in 1916. Behind that stands the market hall also called the old town hall. At the end of the 16th century, Sir Edward Hext, a local magnate, built a market house as a gift to the town. The building was a dry place where it was easier to sell goods such as flour, corn, vegetables and fruit.The need for such a market house was eventually reduced, as the market in Somerton became less and less popular, and the use of the building changed to that of an assembly room. It remained an assembly room for Somerton clubs and residents up until 1982, when a private developer internally reconstructed it for use as offices. This building, although known locally as the Old Town Hall was never actually used as a a town hall in the strictest sense. (All info from www.somerton.co.uk).

We passed across the front of the Globe and White Hart pubs, both which seem to be quite old, (due to the late 18th century facade), but in fact they are much older than they appear from the outside. We then headed out of town along Kirkham Street, passed the site of the former primary school which has now moved to the western edge of town, (we passed it in March ‘25) and into one of the residential area passing old coach house and Alms houses on both sides of the street. Unfortunately the age decreased and the quality slowly deteriorated as we headed further east. From the map it looked like our pathway into a field was through a main gate, but we had to go around the other side of a row of council flats to find the small kissing gate. Although there was plenty of standing water, the field wasn’t too muddy and we crossed a stile then headed down a slope towards Lower Somerton and the area known as the Millands. Ahead of us Somerton Court Country Hotel stood on the far hillside, Built in 1662 on the site of a Roman Villa, the property has substantial grounds and trees including an umbrella shaped yew near the house. Regular overnight visitors over the years have included Anne Boleyn and Dick Turpin.

Just before the end of the road we paused by the gates to the Dower House, with its own lovely courtyard and garden. A dower house is a home, usually on a large estate, set aside for the widow (dowager) of the owner, allowing her to live comfortably after her husband's death while the heir takes over the main residence. These houses are typically smaller but still substantial, providing a dignified residence for the dowager when the heir (often the son) brings his new wife to the principal mansion. Nowadays I suppose it would just be called a granny annex!

Treading carefully we crossed the B3151 and headed up Huish Road and alongside the main wall of another large estate, this one contains much of the agricultural land by the River Cary. More information and pictures of the house at Somerton Randle can be read in a Countrylife article here . (First of two in article).

As we walked along, looking at the fallen bits of wall and discussing our Christmas and New Year events, JB slowly revealed that he has started a new hobby this year. There was much speculation about what he was doing, how he was doing and and where, as well as trying to establish what he was trying to achieve by following the instruction from a free App in the art of Tai Chi. Originating from ancient martial arts and traditional Chinese medicine and using gentle, low-impact Chinese mind-body exercise, often called "meditation in motion", that combines slow, graceful movements, controlled breathing, and mental focus, the aim is to improve balance, strength, flexibility, reduce stress, and enhance overall physical and mental well-being. Well that’s what John told us anyway! As you can probably imaging there was a great deal of shock and disbelief as well as many questions and comments bouncing around as we made our way along the lane. At a small gateway we turned off the road and up to the woods, where a small path lead around the side of a well fenced and gated area. It didn’t appear there was anything much hidden behind the fence but it was certainly pretty significant. Our path slowly climbed and at times it was like walking in a stream bed as the water poured down at our feet, but in general it was a steady and not too slippy climb up until we exited the woods with a great view to our west and north and clear blue skies overhead.

We could see our route ahead of us would be across a short section of grass before we had about 100 meters of ploughed mud to cross. So before we head of we thought the beautiful hillside would make an ideal spot for a bit of that “meditation in motion” we had heard so much about. With the students arranged in a curve above him, JB adopted the potion of teacher and started to explain the first exercise. It looks from the photo I captured that Deryck can’t quite believe what he’s let himself in for! John started the first exercise of slowly bending then lifting onto one leg (with additional help for me from my wooden stick) and then whilst I took the video he commenced the second exercise which he named ‘plucking the turkey’. I don’t know if we benefitted anything from it all, but it was one hell of a laugh. Goodness knows what anyone else looking on would have thought? But they might have been on the phone to the nearest nursing home to report the missing residents had been found!

Once we had all recovered, we set off into the mud for yet more exercise, as every step we took attracted more claggy mud onto our boots and after just a dozen steps it felt like we were walking in lead diving boots. Thankfully it was just a. Short stretch and once over a narrow slippery plank serving as a bridge, the next field was full of long wet grass on which we managed to get off most of the mud. With feet feeling much lighter again we made our way up onto the ridge and then across the main road, through a couple more fields and then out onto a minor road heading back towards Somerton. With breakfast calling, we then took a left then right route along paths and tracks which brough us to a anarrow path longside the main railway line. We followed this up and exited back onto West Street alongside a lovely block of Alms houses, which were built in 1626 by the same gentleman who built the town hall we passed two hours earlier. It was then just a short walk along the road to get to the Courtyard Cafe where our table was booked for 1045.

By the time we settled at our table, we had completed close to four miles in two hours, and according to my app had used 600 calories, and that’s not including all the calories burnt whilst carrying out our slow, graceful movements, controlled breathing, and mental focus mid walk. A good range of breakfast again, served on super hot plates and all washed down with a good volume of tea and coffee. One of our funniest walks for a long time, proving again that laughter is certainly the best medicine. Who knows what next week will bring!