Circuit from Cheselbourne to Wessex Ridgeway and Jubilee Trail

We'd had a very enjoyable holiday in Dorset and made good progress on the Jubilee Trail. However, where possible, we always like to link from the cottage where we're staying to the long-distance path we're following. We hadn't done this yet on this holiday, though we'd walked around the village with our grandson,  and done a delightful  short (if hilly - as shown) circuit from the cottage on a sunnier day earlier in the week. We'd realised that we were only about 3.5 miles as the crow flies from the point at which we'd passed through Milton Abbas on the Jubilee Trail, and only about 2.5 from the Wessex Ridgeway, in a section we'd walked almost 10 years ago. It was crying out for a circular walk, and that was what Richard did. I had some work that needed to be done, so I decided to accompany Richard up to the Wessex Ridgeway and then return to the cottage.

From The Lodge (ST757003), we passed the owners' Thatched House, climbed up the drive and turned right onto Drake's Lane. We climbed out of Cheselbourne , passing the track we'd taken on our previous circular walk, and shortly after this (about a mile from the cottage), we turned right onto the drive leading to Nettlecombe Farm and Highdon House. Nettlecombe Farm is named on the map, but Highdon House isn't, despite being built in 2004. I think it's probably quite grand, though we couldn't see the house itself from our route. We passed the entrance that I presume the owners use (complete with  rather grand gateposts - is that a pig on top?) and, slightly further on, the entrance for deliveries. This was all to our right while the more ordinary if quite substantial Nettlecombe Farm was on our left, with some rather noisy dogs in the garden.

The walk so far had been pleasant enough, but nothing special; the section from Nettlecombe Farm up to the Wessex Ridgeway was more interesting. The tarmacked drive had led to a green track with an undulating landscape to both left and right. To our left (the west) was Hog Hill and then a slope down to Lyscombe Bottom while to our right (the east) was a lovely little bluebell wood and beyond that we could make out the steep descent down to Higher Melcombe. Eventually we reached a little building, and on the side of it was a Wessex Ridgeway sign; we were back to the point we'd passed in 2014. I turned right with Richard (N.B. heading in the opposite direction to the way we were heading in 2015) and continued with him for a while, across a rather boggy section;  it had been a very wet spring! I then left Richard to it and retraced my steps. Some distance  before I reached Nettlecombe Farm, I passed two very pleasant woman out walking dogs, and I thought I recognised the dogs. Sure enough,  when I passed Nettlecombe Farm, the dogs had gone. Perhaps they were just yappy earlier because they were waiting for their walk. 

Richard meanwhile continued on to the Dorsetshire Gap. Last time we were here, we commented on potential route finding difficulties, but found the right way more by good luck than good judgement. Today, Richard had intended to continue on the Wessex Ridgeway a bit further, but instead found himself heading down to Higher Melcombe and so continued this way. There are so many paths in this area that it didn't really matter. He continued on past Melcombe Bingham and on to Bingham's Melcombe (yes, there really are both, about half a mile apart). Bingham's Melcombe is essentially one country house with associated buildings (including a Mill House) and 112 acres.  I know this because,  at the time of writing (summer 2024), it's for sale! According to an article in Country Life, the agent believes that the estate offers opportunity, but isn't too daunting in size, and "the next custodians could come from a wide range of buyers". Not us matey; the size might not be daunting (and it does look like a very pretty house) but the the price tag  of £8 million is! And that excludes the Mill House, which is, or was, for sale for a mere £850,000. The Church  and the landscape are attractive too, as the photograph shows.

Richard's onward route then climbed before descending to the next valley and the village of Hilton, and so on to Milton Abbas by way of Milton Abbey, now home to MIlton Abbey School. The School, including the original Abbey Church, is an impressive place, sitting in its attractive valley,  and it has an interesting history. It was Joseph Damar, who had bought the Estate in 1752, who both built the Gothic Mansion and moved the residents of the former village of Middleton, which stood in the way of his plans for the Estate, to the current model village of Milton Abbas.

Richard approached the village from the north, guessing correctly that a track past a farm shop would lead up to the St Catherine's Well area, where he briefly joined the Jubilee Trail for the section down to "The Street", as we'd walked on Saturday.  He stopped for lunch at the picnic area where I had changed my socks earlier in the week. What we hadn't seen then was the "model village"  part, where the residents of Middleton were moved, so as to be out of the way of the big house; Richard put that right today. He walked along The Street, with its thatched houses on both sides, then on past the lake.

After linking up with the Jubilee Trail and the Wessex Ridgeway and exploring Milton Abbas, all that remained to be done was to return to the cottage in Cheselbourne. Richard continued by way of minor roads and tracks to Gallows Corner, which is where the final photograph on this page was taken, showing the wild garlic that had been much in evidence on today's walk. He continued across the undulating landscape, initially on bridleways that weren't always as clear as they appeared on the map but then on little "Streetway Lane", which brought him back to Cheselbourne from the east.