Wynmelvin » Dorset

September 26th, 2009

Russell — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:39:44 +0000

ITCHEN ABBAS — I left the Royal Yeoman in Grimstone mid-morning in glorious sunshine and headed north for Yeovil and Sherborne. I intended to visit Sherborne’s two castles and so, because it seemed logical, I chose to go Sherborne Old Castle first. Another picturesque ruin, it was originally built by one of the Bishops of Salisbury, and at one stage was owned by Sir Walter Raleigh. After taking a look around the castle grounds I drove over to the neighbouring new Sherborne Castle—which is a bit of a misnomer as it was orginally a hunting lodge—only to find that it was closed for a special event. As it was Saturday there could very well have been a wedding booked.

From Sherborne it was on to Shaftesbury and thence to Salisbury. Before reaching Salisbury I took a detour to visit Old Wardour Castle. The English Heritage handbook said it was two miles southwest of Tisbury off the A30—and it probably would have been if I were a crow (which reminds me that I saw one of those twin-rotor military helicopters on the way to the castle). It was probably more like eight miles once I’d turned off the main road.

Old Wardour Castle was an impressive ruin set in a very picturesque and romantic setting. I arrived about 12:30 pm. and a lot of people were there enjoying a picnic lunch. There were lots of rooms and chambers to explore on several floors in the ruin. Both of the castles I visited today, as well as Corfe Castle yesterday, were slighted during the civil war.

After Salisbury I headed for Stockbridge and, missing the turnoff for the more direct route to Winchester, I carried on towards Romsey. About halfway there, as I still had some time available before my expected arrival at Hatch End, I visited the house and gardens of Mottisfont Abbey. The house was originally an abbey priory that was converted into a Tudor house which itself was subsequently converted into a Georgian house. Some of the rooms had holes cut into the walls to show the underlying detail of the original priory architecture that had been hidden by the alterations. All in all a very interesting house in a beautiful setting. The weather was certainly playing its part to show it off at its best.

After Mottisfont I passed through Romsey (filling up with petrol) and on to Winchester which I tried to skirt around in an effort to get to Itchen Abbas. I managed to get myself in the wrong lane (but luckily managing to avoid the motorways) and found myself going in the wrong direction. Getting myself heading back in the right direction meant I approached Itchen Abbas from the wrong direction as far as the sign for Hatch End was concerned and it took a few nervous moments to locate my bed for the night.

September 25th, 2009

Russell — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:28:52 +0000

GRIMSTONE — It was a slower start to the day today as breakfast was served from 8:30 am. The first destination for the day was the village of Cerne Abbas and the giant figure of a man carved into the hillside above the village. The look-out provided gives a good view of the Giant, and a nearby walk through woodland leads into the village. Other walks take you closer to the Giant but they looked like they would involve a lot of climbing far too early in the morning—so I had a quick look at the village instead.

Then it was back the way I came, through Dorchester and on towards Wareham. Halfway between Wareham and Swanage I stopped at Corfe Castle. The castle ruins were very picturesque and I spent a good hour and a half wandering among the ruins and admiring the views. A steam train very kindly puffed its way passed the castle one way and then a short while later puffed its way back again.

By now it was mid-afternoon and time to investigate Tyneham Village. Unfortunately the access road to the village was closed so I instead went back to have a closer look at Wareham. Apart from wandering up down its main street I had a look at St Martin on the Walls, a small Saxon church that I guess was originally sited near the periphery of this historic Saxon walled town. The interior walls still had the faded remains of really really old paintings visible, as well as a memorial to Lawrence of Arabia in the form of an effigy in crusader repose.

September 24th, 2009

Russell — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:19:35 +0000

GRIMSTONE — Another glorious day, though a bit chilly first thing. I left Exeter the only way I knew how—via the M5. I exited at the next junction though and headed towards Sidmouth. Due to a warning that the route I intended to take was closed I decided to visit Bicton Park, a botanical garden, in order to give the accident or breakdown or whatever time to be cleared.

I walked around the gardens for a hour or so. Probably not the best time of the year to see the gardens at their best but the trees (they have a great collection of conifers) were impressive.

My next stop was at Lyme Regis for some lunch. I parked at the top of the hill and walked down to the beach to discover that the town centre was still quite some walk away. Thankfully there were some take-away vendors plying their wares along the beach front so I walked off a polystyrene container of chips climbing the hill back to the car.

I continued along the coast ’til just before Weymouth where I headed inland towards Dorchester and Maiden Castle. Maiden Castle is a large Iron Age hill fort and I was quite surprised by its size—the aerial photographs I’ve seen don’t do it justice. From the road it doesn’t look all that big until you start to climb to the top and are standing on the inside rampart looking out over Dorchester. I think it took me the best part of an hour to walk the whole way around the castle.