27th July RW, TO, DL, PC, CH Scrumpy and Maisie
We started walking from my house in Old Station Lane , onto Sunny Hill following Cole Road towards Bruton which we then crossed and went up the track opposite Lisbury to New Barn Farm where we walked through a typical Somerset dairy farm. The footpath took us through the middle of the dairy buildings with no sign of life other than a mixed collection of cows resigned to their existence. We turned right onto the metalled track and followed this to the top end of Godminster lane and then branching off to the footpath which goes past the ancient Morris 1000 still stored in an old shed (see previous posts on this walk).
Passing onto land owned by Godminster Farms (winner of Organic farm of the year) where we struggled to get through some newly installed creosoted fencing which we had to scramble through then up to the track with the old Godminster Manor building to our left. This was a very old manor house substantially restored and remodelled in the 20th Century by architect AJ Pictor . Interestingly Pictor was also responsible for the design of the Ward Library building in Bruton and the oldest parts of Sunny Hill School. The Parish Council has recently tried to get listing of the Sunny Hill buildings he designed but this request was dismissed : "Arthur Pictor, the architect who produced the designs for much of the school, until his death in 1938, is not of significant standing in a national context." There's a lot of snobbery in this system.
We turned onto a stockfenced lane which was the signed route for the footpath. Ahead of us was a very large black bull which did not want to give way. It was a very large animal as might be drawn by a cartoonist for a Disney movie.
Noone wanted to take this magnificent beast head-on (where was John Biddle when we needed him). We got into a field to go round the bull but this alternative footpath was wired off as it crossed through a hedge and the field the other side full of cows. We retraced our steps and RW bravely checked out the whereabouts of the bull. It had wandered along our path and gone into another field and we got safely past whilst it focused on some tender grass.
We strode downhill to find the next field planted with a crop of barley so we sensibly went round the edge to reach the gate out onto the A349. Tricky to get across this speedy route out of Bruton but we crossed over and went almost vertically downhill to reach Mill Lane in Pitcombe, crossing the old track bed of the Somerset and Dorset as we did so. We came out into Church Lane and then passed the charming Church of St Leonards and so along Church Path into Pitcombe itself. Crossed the River Pit via the ancient bridge and turning left made our way through the village and so back to OSL for breakfast in the garden….croissants, toast and jam with coffee or tea! The weather had been find to us all morning and it was delightful to sit on the patio and relax. Did we discuss lots of interesting and important topics en route? Probably.....
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