If you have been following the Hidden Wiltshire blogs you will know that the team here is passionate about Wiltshire with its immense and varied history alongside its most beautiful and diverse countryside, flora and fauna. And why wouldn’t we be passionate with not one but three National Landscapes all possible to be visited within its borders? From springs that belch fossils, impressive chalk escarpments, droveways, herepaths, hillforts and tumuli to lakes, poppies and Bright Young Things, there is so, so much to see and find out about beyond the usual tourist areas of Stonehenge, Avebury and Salisbury Cathedral.
And yet it is true that, when heading off to the lesser known spots and embarking on our walks we do not know if the designated footpaths and Rights of Way will be passable or even deliberately blocked, and indeed there are times when we do encounter these difficulties. Paul has written about some of these, and it seems that this is occurring more frequently. All this, despite it becoming more and more accepted that spending time within the natural environment nourishes both the mind and body and acknowledged that we need to be reconnecting with nature to heal both ourselves and the planet. This is why initiatives such as the Chase and Chalke Landscape Partnership are so important for now and the future. The area covered by Chase and Chalke is a subset of the Cranborne National Landscape and is one of my most favourite areas to walk, and well, just be in. Indeed, quite a number of Hidden Wiltshire’s blogs fall within this National Landscape, so it is great to be able to find a way to volunteer to help Chase and Chalke and help in a very small way to maintain this landscape for all.
Chase and Chalke offer a number of opportunities for volunteers, but the one that falls naturally for me is that of route checker. This requires me to walk some of the routes that are already on the Cranborne Chase Website and check that the directions are correct and everything along the way in good order. I have also proposed possible walks and checked ones that are yet to be published. One such walk, so far unpublished on the Cranborne Chase website, is around Ludwell and the Coombes, an area totally unknown to me with, as I found, a beauty all of its own. We have visited the area three times now and completed the walk twice. Once in the winter and again recently as a summer walk.
The walk starts in the Ludwell Hill area just to the east of Shaftesbury and the Dorset border. From there a saunter along a quiet country lane takes you to a bridleway at Spring Farm. This name gives you a clue to the nature of the way ahead as each time we have visited there has been water along this route. We even had to abort our first attempt in winter and return with wellington boots to negotiate the way. I don’t enjoy walking in Wellingtons and after surmounting around fourteen or so stiles the relatively short walk did seem a little tiring, but the stunning views were well worth the aching legs and we were definitely looking forward to the walk in the summertime.
On from Spring Farm you are greeted by incredible views of Charlton Down and Zig-Zag Hill. Just as beautiful in the fogginess of a winter’s morning as in the dappled storm threatened summer’s sunshine. On both visits I have found it difficult to tear myself away from this vista, but as part of the route check is to determine how long the walk takes I have had to reluctantly move on taking a footpath to the right and climbing a hill leaving Charlton Down behind me. The route then takes you right again and along the edge of fields to Charlton Fields Farm. In the winter we saw many fieldfare here, but it was surprisingly quiet when we visited recently in the summer.
From the farm, the route takes you to a road where you turn left and head over the A30 and down into The Coombes. The Coombes are a group of charming villages nestled along the valley that forms the source of the River Nadder it is also a Site of Scientific Interest as rare grassland species grow here. Close to the bottom of the hill you turn right and then left to walk down to into Higher Coombe passing beautiful stone built houses along the way. The morning mist on the winter morning walk giving them a certain austere appeal. In the centre of the village, you take a footpath to the right and join what is known as the Hardy Way. The long distance almost circular footpath that leads from Hardy’s birthplace to the location where his heart is buried. This path takes in many locations that the author wrote about but only skirts Wiltshire.
The path takes you along pastureland, where sheep lazily watched us from their misty vantage points in the winter, but it had become a hay field in the summer with butterflies flying all around us but not landing long enough to study them. From the pastureland you head up into a pretty wooded area known as Morgan’s Hanging. The term Hanging has always been a bit of a curiosity for me. I think it is more of a west country term than one I am familiar with, but contrary to the idea that it could be an area used in the past for execution, I believe it simply means an area of woodland growing on a hillside and Morgan’s Hanging fits this description perfectly.
The path actually skirts the edge of the woodland and allows you to look down into the Coombe valley and the lovely houses and lakes below, a genuinely wonderful place to live. At one point we could hear the sound of leather against willow and felt that we were beyond question in an English idyll.
As you exit Morgan’s Hanging you find yourself on another bridleway. Turning right you would continue on the Hardy Way down to Middle Coombe but our walk takes you left towards the wonderfully named Windwhistle Corner. However, you never quite reach this romantic corner as after a short way along the bridleway you need to take the footpath to the right and head once again over stiles and through pastureland. Here the contrast between the winter and summer walk was at its most extreme. The atmospheric foggy winter’s day barely hinting at the verdant summer growth and the views beyond. With the summer views clear I stopped to take a photo of the rural scene of cattle grazing in the field, the village of Ludwell and it’s church with two towers and the hills beyond where the Ox Drove runs across the top.
When the path reaches a crossroads, you take the footpath to the right and begin to head down towards Lower Coombe, taking in views of Win Green Hill and then ahead the houses nestled along the bottom of the Coombe. Both times there have been cattle in these fields but although in the summer they had calves they seemed relaxed and uninterested in us.
At the bottom of the footpath you find yourself walking through the garden of a beautiful thatched cottage passing over a small stream that must surely be part of the head waters of the Nadder. Beyond the cottage you turn right and head along the road a little way before turning left onto a footpath taking you up and out of the Coombe and on back to Ludwell. Taking in more hillside views including that of New Wardour Castle.
On from the footpath you turn right and walk back in to Ludwell past the church.
A lovely walk and a pleasure to route check whatever the season.
I will not publish the route map here but, when it is published, it will be found as Walk 31 on the Cranborne Chase Website.
Do visit the Chase and Chalke website (link above) to learn more about what they offer. As well as wonderful walks there are many other things they do from dark skies to archeology. There is something for everyone.
Update 12 August 2024 the route can now be found via the link below. https://cranbornechase.org.uk/explore/ludwell/
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