What a difference!

Sat 5 Apr ‘25. DH, PC, TO, PCL, DL, JS, Amy, Ralph & Maisie

It was the first weekend of the Easter school holidays so I opted to stay fairly local and avoid too much traffic this week by going just across the Wiltshire border into Mere. Almost every time we have been to Mere in recent times it has been wet and muddy, so with the ground very dry hopes we’re very high that it would be a mud free walk for a change. In addition we were long overdue a return visit to the Angel Cafe so we could see for ourselves how the January refurbishment has turned out. There were just six of us declared in and so I decided to go out to the East around a route which just Deryck and myself of todays six, completed last time in February’24. Here

As it was the first day of the school holidays I also invited along two of my grandchildren, Amy & Ralph to walk with us today.

There were a couple of pairs of bare legs out this week, but with a cool wind there were also a range of coats and hands, as we headed out past our eventual breakfast location and down Angel Lane towards the cemetry and the dead centre of town - sorry that was a Grandad joke which Amy didn’t appreciate on the day either. We turned left and down a long narrow path, past a group of Greyface Dartmoor sheep in a field and onto Lordsmead Mill, where we stopped to look at Shreen Water as it drop down a sluice. The mill was founded in the 1830s to process flax and silk initially with a large iron waterwheel and associated machinery, later a pump house and overshot wheel was added to supply water to Mere Down Farm. By the Second World War it had been shut down, but in 2013 a Kaplan turbine was installed in the old pump house to harness the water's energy and convert it into electricity, where the output ranges from 2 to 6 kWh.

We continued along the path and came out near the Walnut Tree pub and the new housing estate high has been built on the site of the original Mere Brush factory. We worked our way through the small estate before reaching the edge of the housing where we turned right, through a gate, and headed off into the countryside. As we headed eastward the chalk ridge of White Sheet Hill stood out against the blue skies to the north, whilst to right were a series of large allotments, some even big enough to house a chicken house. The last time we walked this path, many of the allotments were underwater and our way across was muddy and slippery, this time it was bone dry as we kicked up the dust as we pushed along.

We cut diagonally across the next field before a short stretch up a road and then we headed to a path on the right side a small wooded area, in which the first bluebells of the year were starting to appear. It was a steady little climb up to the road on the hamlet of Charnage where we turned left and headed along the road towards the A303. There were more bluebells in the large roadside verges and Pete managed to spot a white one in the midst of them, which confused Amy and Ralph for a while. Was it still a bluebell or was it a white bell?

A couple of hundred metres short of the busy trunk road we turned left into a large open field and paused for this weeks lollie issue, kindly handed around by Ralph. With surgery delights eventually unwrapped and with small white sticks hanging out of mouths, we walked around the edge of a small wooded area before dropping down into a ploughed area with more views over the eastern end on the WhiteSheet ridgeline. The small bits of early cloud had been burned off and the sky was a clear bright blue against the grassy and chalk hillside. Previously we took a track down the left side of a hedge which eventually pettered out and we had to crawl through a gap in the hedge, so this time we made no mistake and kept to the right side. We passed a large pile of manure slowly rotting away and soon to be spread no doubt, and then drop down into a small sunken pathway . A couple of small trees had fallen and were across the path, but with a bit of limboing we made our way through ok, and onto the end of the path where it passed through the back garden of one of the cottages in the small hamlet of Burton.

In front of us a large mill pond reflected the morning sunlight and it was cameras out all around to record this very picturesque scene, before we managed to gather everyone together by the stone wall for this weeks groupie. The water was beautiful and clear as it comes off of the nearby chalk hills and beyond the mill pond a large black undershot waterwheel would have once been turned by the flow of the water released from the pond. The mill and cottages behind provide a very desirable residential property just off the main road although I didn’t fancy the job of keeping the large windows clean on the side of the old mill buildings, as someone was doing atop a ladder this morning.

Our onward route took us over Ashfield Water at a small bridge, and we walked along the riverside path as it continued its flow towards Mere. At a wide point of the stream with a small wooden bridge crossing it, Amy & Ralph took the opportunity to pop across to the far bank for a quick and well earned paddle whilst the others continued towards town and the pending breakfast. The track headed away from the river and the group was back together again by the time we reached the school playing fields and town recreational ground on the other side of the track.

We had made good time around the route today and had about 20 minutes still before our table was booked, so it was just a slow steady walk along the main road and into the market square, although markets have not been held in the town for many years now. The tall clock tower, with its chiming clock (although I’ve e never heard it) provides a beautiful foreground for both the black and white George In. And also the war memorial and flag o top of Castle Hill in the background.

We arrived at the Angel Cafe at around 10.50 having completed three and a half miles in one hour fifty minutes and were curious to see what improvements had been made since our last visit and the closure during January for refurbishment. On entering the cafe, the owner, not known for his joviality, promptly informed us that we were ten minutes early and they weren’t quite ready for us as their Saturday helper was not due in until 11.00. We took our seats anyway and without waiting for his young assistance told us we would have to wait for our hot meals, but proceeded to take our orders anyway. The charming young assistance was soon taking over the drink production and quickly and with a smile had them delivered to our tables. Whilst most opted for the usual cooked breakfasts, myself and Amy just went for eggs on toast and Ralph chose a sausage sandwich. The food was served pretty promptly and was about the usual standard, although there was much discussion about the taste of the sausages, which were certainly worse than we have had before and to some, including Ralph who clearly didn’t enjoy them, were just about inedible. The refurbishment also left a lot to desire, yes it had a clean coat of paint on the walls but apart from that no real change. A missed opportunity for sure, and a disappointing end to an otherwise very pleasant walk. Not sure we’ll be so keen to go back again any time soon.

Cyclemeter route