Berwick St. John, Ferne House and Doomed Love
- Elaine Perkins
- 4 hours ago
- 6 min read
Between dreary wet days, flooding and tyres mangled by potholes, the life of this Wiltshire country walker has been somewhat difficult recently. As a consequence, I haven’t been out for a new walk for weeks. So, rather than feel frustrated and down about the situation, I thought I would cast my mind back to a lovely early autumn’s day in September 2023 when we went on a route checking walk around Win Green and Berwick St John. This isn’t the first time Hidden Wiltshire has visited this area but I hope you enjoy reading about a different route, one that I walked for Chase and Chalke.
The walk starts at the Win Green car park. We arrived early in the morning and were immediately struck by the views towards the north and west towards Shaftesbury. The cattle grazing in the field with the blue sky and early morning haziness delivering a vista that felt like the epitome of the rural English idyll. It gave us a sense of promise for the walk ahead.
Tearing ourselves away from the view we commenced our walk by heading up to the recognisable clump of trees that guard the 277m summit of Win Green. As we did, we passed the trig point and a plaque which allowed us to marvel at all of the locations towards which you can see from this point. These include the Isle of Wight, Purbeck Hills, Salisbury Plain and the Quantocks.
Moving on, we continued down from the summit with views all around us including part of the Ashcombe Estate, now owned by Guy Ritchie it was also once rented by Cecil Beaton, who held parties for the "fine young things" there, before he moved to the Red House in Broad Chalke.
We continued on eastwards heading towards Wrinkelbury. Its ramparts are still etched in the ground. It is a scheduled monument of bank and ditch dating back thousands of years, it has borne witness to both Bronze Age and Romano-British presence. As we walked the carefully arranged trees of Ferne House came into view. A somewhat unique area within the countryside. There is no doubt that this has a stunning if not quite sympathetic impact on the landscape.
Soon we reached the Ox Drove (Cranborne Droves Road) and again I felt the connection with generations of previous walkers along this route. Although, for us we were walking for pleasure and I realised that this might not have been the case for the many walkers of prior ages, yet I hoped that the glorious views will have lifted their spirits just as they raised mine. Now, we could fully see Ferne House.
Paul has discussed this house in a previous blog, but something that had caught my attention about the place, was the love story involving Percy Bysshe Shelley and his cousin Harriet Grove. Grove had lived with her family in Ferne House. Sadly, this love was not approved of by the young woman’s parents and so the affair fizzled. Shelley was to later marry another Harriet, perhaps he was on the rebound? The marriage failed with sad consequences for the Harriet he married as at the age of 21 she was found floating in the Serpentine, seemingly she had ended her own life. In contrast, I believe Harriet Grove married and led a more conventional life to her one time ardent lover.
Soon, we met the road and footpath that would take us away from the Ox Drove and lead us through a wooded area towards the village of Berwick St John. It is amazing how the varied areas can make a walk feel so different. Here the shade of the trees allowed me to imagine this to be a secret area, free from the sight of eyes on the hilltop, perhaps in the past it had been used by escapees of some sort. Who knows, perhaps even Harriet Grove and Percy Bysshe Shelley would excitedly run up this path hand in hand hoping to escape the watchful eye of her parents and convention.
Finally, with the hills behind us, we reached some open flat fields, used both for crops and as pasture. A single white horse, an impressive animal was grazing and gracefully walking its territory. It paid us no heed as we walked past, but I was minded of the white horses on the Wiltshire hillsides and felt that surely these carvings came about because the presence of such a magnificent beast seems almost mythical and deserving of commemoration.
Walking past the horse and associated farm buildings we came to a road and turned right to a road that led to a T junction where we turned left and walked through the village admiring the pretty houses.
Before long we were in the centre of the village and outside the Talbot Inn. It looked welcoming but as it was a Monday we already knew that it would be closed and we were glad that we had packed our sandwiches and coffee.
Continuing through the village we should have taken the road immediately left but we decided tocontinue on and visit the church. On the way we noticed a building with two inscriptions. One commemorating those of the world wars the other seemingly relating to Freemasons. The building was at one time the village school, so perhaps the plaque relates to the school's benefactors. However, I haven’t been able to find out anything more about this plaque.
Berwick St John itself has been established as a settlement since the 13th century and it is thought that its name derives from the Old English for barley farm the St John relating to the the saint associated with the church. Within the church there are two tombs of the knights John Hussey and Robert Lucy. Both tombs predate the 14th Century church by around one hundred years. Hussey owned a farm to the east of the village and Lucy to the south at Upton. The church is a lovely building, with Victorian updates. It is somewhat simple inside with stained glass windows behind the altar. A cross shaped window with blood red glass particularly caught my attention.
From the church we headed back onto our predefined route. We walked through the village past wonderful stone cottages some seemingly preparing for Halloween already with a carefully arranged display of small pumpkins.
However, we soon left the village and were back again in open fields. Now the familiar clump of the Win Green trees were acting as a beacon for our route as we zigzagged our way towards the hills. As we did, we stopped to admire the views and the strangely dotted clumps of trees as well as a memorial to Cherry Walby 1936-1988.
I have not found any information about this memorial, but I suspect the arrangement of trees are part of the garden design made for the current owner of Ferne House. I again thought briefly of the star crossed lovers and of another owner of the house who had turned the land into an animal sanctuary. The sanctuary which has now moved to Chard in Somerset, still carries the name Ferne.
Finally, we came to a road and walked along it for a short while before taking a footpath to the right that led us back up hill towards Win Green Hill. Again the far reaching views opened up all around us.
Ahead of us was Shaftesbury and Melbury Hill. Behind us the views to the Vale of Wardour and the curiously designed gardens of Ferne House. Usually, at this stage in a walk I find myself concentrating on getting back to the car, but here the views were so stunning that I lingered to take in all that I could see. However, we finally made our way back to the Ox Drove and allowing ourselves just a few more lingering moments looking at these wonderful vistas rich with earthworks, stories of the past and doomed love, we reluctantly returned to the car and our journey home.
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