Win Green to Ox Drove and Tollard Royal and return

We had visited both Win Green and Tollard Royal before, at the delightful end to a day on the Wessex Ridgeway in October 2013, and we were looking forward to revisiting the area where we first "discovered" Cranborne Chase. Our write up of that day includes the following: "The guidebook describes the landscape here as 'the sort of countryside any walker would be happy to roll up and take away for future use’ and I wouldn’t argue with that; it was glorious." Nine years later, I still wouldn't argue, though the actual route of the Wessex Ridgeway is perhaps slightly less attractive than it was, for reasons that I'll explain. There are three obvious walking routes between Win Green and Tollard Royal: the Wessex Ridgeway heads downhill from Win Green into Ashcombe Bottom; the Hardy Way follows the ridge to the west of the Combe and the final route, which follows byways, initially Ox Drove (thus the Cranborne Droves Way) to the east of the Combe. Since we had used the Wessex Ridgeway route previously, today we decided to follow the more easterly route from Win Green to Tollard Royal and to return on the Hardy Way.

When we were last here, we'd muttered about people who "cheat" by using the Win Green car park (ST923205). Today we joined them! We drove to the car park by way of Shaftesbury and then up "Zig-Zag Hill" (ST893208) which appears to have become known as the bendiest road in Britain, because of its quick succession of three hairpin bends, plus another slightly less severe one. Richard, who was driving, didn't find it difficult and, despite being a rather nervous passenger, I actually quite enjoyed the experience. The final approach to the car park required an awkward turn off the B3081 and then several hundred metres along a stony track, but neither of these were real issues either. It's a large - and free - car park and although there were a few cars parked and groups of walkers setting off, there was still plenty of space.

Win Green is actually the name of the nearby summit, crowned with a clump of trees (and apparently also a Bronze Age bowl barrow, though we couldn't see that from where we were standing). It's the highest point on Cranborne Chase and I can vouch for the fact that, as the National Trust website says, the characteristic trees are visible for miles around. There are paths leading from the car park to the top of the hill, but we decided to follow close to Ox Drove from the start. It's a typical rutted chalk byway here, so we actually walked on the grass by the edge of the track when we could. There were superb views in all directions, including down to Ferne Park to the north, a stately home where Viscount Rothermere (who owns the media empire that includes the Daily Mail) lives. I was surprised to learn when researching for this page that the current house at Ferne Park was only built in 2001 with even more recent additions, albeit in Palladian style. It looks as it has been there for centuries.

To our south was the wooded valley through which the Wessex Way passes, with Ashcombe House down there somewhere. Unfortunately, a lot of the trees are now dead or in a sorry state, presumably because of Ash dieback. The estate is also surrounded by a rather intrusive deer fence, though whether that is to keep deer out or in, I am not entirely sure. As the byway looped around, we realised that we were looking down to Bishop St John to the north-east, and we were soon within a few metres of the road we'd followed yesterday; I walked over to be sure! Today's onward route took us south. We were still walking along the deer fence to our right, with Ashcombe beyond. As we walked across Berwick Down, descending gradually, the land began to fall away steeply to our left too; we were walking along the ridge that is approximately equidistant between Ashcombe Bottom and Malacombe Bottom. It was easy and enjoyable walking and eventually the deer fence headed off to the west.

We continued the descent to Tollard Royal, being joined by the route of the Wessex Ridgeway and the Hardy Way (already combined) just before we emerged by the village pond. Last time we were here I had thought the pond was disappointing; today I rather liked it. We sat on one of the benches by the pond, watching a thatcher at work on one of the nearby cottages. Also nearby is a little car park and another couple had just parked there and were inspecting their map when a vintage car pulled up. A similar car came along the road behind, and the occupants of the leading one flagged them down to ask if they knew directions...so the second car just stopped in the middle of the road! It transpired that they were trying to get to Compton Abbas Airfield. We were planning to visit there later today, and knew enough to be reasonably confident that the cars were heading the wrong way, and we could have used the OS map to find a route for them, but many of the roads round here are steep and narrow, so we couldn't claim to know the best way - so we stayed out of the discussion (not something I find easy!). We weren't left with the best of impressions of the cars' drivers and passengers, but they were very attractive vehicles.

Before leaving Tollard Royal, we climbed up to the attractive church. Next to this is "King John's House", a former manor house whose name reflects the fact that King John is thought to have had a "hunting box" on the site. King John's influence is also thought to explain the addition of the "Royal" suffix to the earlier name of the village, "Tollard", in the 16th Century. King John's House is now an upmarket holiday let, still in the ownership of the Rushmore Estate, more recently owned by the ethnologist and archaeologist Augustus Lane Fox Pitt Rivers and his descendants. I have failed to work out who owns the Rushmore Estate now, but in a few hours of time-wasting while writing up this walk, did discover - among other things - that the Lane Fox Family (including the Open University's Chancellor, Martha) and the Pitt Rivers Family are closely related.

We departed from Tollard Royal by way of the same byway on which we had arrived, but the Wessex Ridgeway and Hardy Way soon left the byway and followed along the bottom of the valley. It was all very pretty. We reached and passed through the deer fence, presumably here marking the southern entrance to the Ashcombe Estate, and the Wessex Ridgeway headed off right towards Ashcombe Bottom. Meanwhile we turned left as if making for Ashgrove Bottom, before turning right and climbing up the ridge to the west of Ashcombe Bottom. Partway along, we found some logs on which to sit for lunch, enjoying the views down to the valley, where there has clearly been recent tree planting. I do hope that the new trees are immune to Ash dieback.

At about ST928197, the route of the Hardy Way is shown as branching off the track we were on and heading further to the west, but there was no sign of a path on the ground so we kept walking along the track we were on. This brought us to a surfaced lane, but the deer fence, and a gate through it, were on the other side of the lane so we used the opportunity to get to the side of the fence we wanted to be on. From here a path led back to the carpark, passing the summit of Win Green to our right. The route we took was a good one and I would not advise you to try to do anything else. And, once again, I despair of Ordnance Survey mapping. [To be fair, when I complained about a route recently, they did respond courteously and speedily, and said they would put it right - eventually! But I can't be bothered spending my life policing OS mapping.]

This had been a very pleasant walk, but there had been no obvious way to make it slightly longer, so we had most of the afternoon left. We drove on to Compton Abbas Airfield, where there is an outdoor cafe right by the airfield, so for the price of a cup of tea you can sit and watch the action for as long as you like. Then we continued to Shaftesbury. We had previously visited the famous Gold Hill and its Museum; today we followed the "tree walk", stopping off at Shaftesbury Abbey. I'd recommend all of these. Before coming here, both Richard and I had assumed that Shaftesbury was at the bottom of a hill, with the steep Gold Hill climbing up out of it, but most of the town is actually on the top of the hill, so there are excellent views in many directions.