White Horse in the wind

Sat 22 Nov ‘25. DH, RW, TO, BFS, PCL, DL, Albus & Maisie

This week had seen the first couple of frosty days of this winter, with low temperatures but great visibility under clear blue skies so it was looking hopeful that it might last through to Saturday morning, but unfortunately for us the high pressure shifted allowing the southerly air flow to pull in warmer air with plenty of wind and rain forecast for Saturday morning. When I found out who was available for selection this week, I decided to rerun a walk that just four of us completed a few weeks ago, as it would be just Deryck and myself who would be re-walking familiar ground.

We left Wincanton with a light misty rain falling, but as we made our way up the A303 via Mere to the A350 there were a few heavier patches. By the time we rounded the top end of Salisbury Plain above Warminster it was a lot brighter and considerably drier than back home.

In looking for a suitable parking space to start from today, I contacted the new re-opened Pickleberry Cafe in Bratton where we would be having breakfast to gain permission to park and walk from there, but I also contacted an old military friend to enquire if he would like to join us on on stroll and allow us to park on his driveway, some 500 meters or so closer to our intended route. Thankfully Dave was more than keen and happy to oblige (despite it being his fourty five wedding anniversary) and so having initially met up at the White Horse viewing point car park just outside of Westbury, the car of three from Bruton tucked in behind the three of us from Wincanton to drive the last mile up to Dave’s house on the edge of Bratton. As we parked up on the drive, Dave was already putting his waterproofs and boots on and once we were also suitably dressed and the introductions had been completed, we set off for a anti-clockwise loop up a path running parallel to a narrow lane.

The path ran south across the side of some private gardens and at the end we turned right past a few large properties and onto a narrow path for a steady start to the climb. Dave, as a member of the local history group was telling those around him about the village which used to exist in the valley bottom, but which appears to have ‘collapsed’ during the great plague. On our last visit to The White Horse, we came down this path and Chris enjoyed an apple off of a tree, but this time as we climbed, all than remains were a heap of fallers on the ground. As we gained height, the view into the Coombe and back down to the village church opened up and then the end of the path as we joined the Portway road, the gradient inevitably increased and the pace slowed accordingly.

We had a couple of short breaks but with the wind picking up it was best to keep moving so we entered the area of Bratton Camp which sits on the very edge of the escarpment. The Bo all ate (two ramparts) Iron Age hill fort comprises two circuits of ditch and bank which together enclose an area of some 23 acres. The hillfort was one of many such sites that was excavated prior to 1775 and is thought to have been one of the earliest archaeological excavations to have taken place in Wiltshire. The whole dog was poorly documented but it is believed that Roman and Saxon coins were found in the vicinity of the fort.

We continued along the outmost bank until the hillside dropped away in front of us and turned slightly left to follow the ridge around to the top of the White Horse. For the majority this was the first time standing at the head of the landmark we have seen many times in the distance on previous walks, and the sheer size and angle of it on the hillside raised a few questions. There was also much comment about how white it was, but Dave explained that it had been repainted within the last couple of years, as the earlier method of dropping large bags of virgin chalk onto the structure by helicopter did not last as long or produce such a visible area as the current method does.

It was only right that we had our groupie by the horse this week so whilst we battled the wind to keep our hats on and stay upright, Dave walked further round to get a good angle for our most distant group photo to date. Once we had received the signal that he had completed the task we made our way round to join him at the information board for a full groupie, before moving to the toposcope mounted on a small stone structure, which identifies the towns and cities that can be seen from the hillside. From here we exited the fenced enclosure and crossed the road to take a closer look at the Standing with Giants installation.

The twenty nine tall metal silhouettes, which were erected in 2024 as an art piece promoting the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Respect the Range safety campaign, are now a permanent feature as they have been granted full planning permission to remain indefinitely.

Each year across the UK, thousands of incidents are recorded involving members of the public accessing MOD land where and when they shouldn’t, posing serious safety risks and often disrupting training exercises.

The statues by the White Horse serve as a striking and permanent reminder that the public should only access military training areas when and where it is safe to do so, and should exercise caution at all times. We couldn’t of course resist the temptation to strike a few poses by them.

From here with just over half an hour before our breakfast time, we headed eastwards and into the top of the coombe and then alongside a fence line before we started the descent down the gray pathway we had seen earlier from the other side. As we reached the bottom, Trevor and myself took the easy route across to the road whilst Dave took the others into the churchyard and then down a row of steps to a small stream and back up another flight of steps, to rejoin us at the top of the narrow path we had all walked up ninety minutes earlier.

After we had walked back down the path and back round to Dave’s house, we had clocked up three miles with 425 feet of climb, in one hour and three quarters. We all thanked Dave for the company and local knowledge and as we packed up to leave for the cafe, he headed back inside toto his wife of fourty five years, ready to whisk her away for a romantic wedding anniversary weekend on the Dorset coast. We drove to the far side of the village and into a farm which has diversified into a Plant Centre and a small business hub with a boutique and the Pickleberry Cafe. Our table was ready in the downstairs seating area and once we had ordered at the counter didn’t have long to wait for our meals. The staff were very helpful and attentive and the quality of the breakfast was certainly above par. Another one to add to the list and return to in the not too distant future.

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