Culpepper's Dish car park to West Knighton

We were hoping to visit Thomas Hardy's cottage after today's walk, and the latest tour of the cottage (which is how you gain access) was at 3pm, so we booked onto that and set off for our walk quite early, in the hope that we'd be done in time. We'd spotted that there are various parking places around a grassy area with a playground, at SY733875 just to the south of the route of the Jubilee Trail through the village of West Knighton, so we left one car there and drove in the other back to the Culpepper's Dish car park at SY815925. There were no difficulties in parking there today, and the views to the south (the way we'd be walking) from the car park were glorious.

We took a track east from the car park to the point where a sign we'd noticed yesterday indicated that the Jubilee Trail crossed straight across the road, and we dutifully headed south. However, the route finding was a bit confusing and we weren't quite sure whether we were actually on the correct path; with the benefit of hindsight we'd conclude that the official Jubilee Trail route on the ground to the south of Culpepper's Dish car park doesn't quite correspond with any of the routes shown on OS mapping or on Open Street Map. The forested heathland we were walking across and the views were lovely though; and after about half a mile the route was both clearer and more in line with what's on the map. We followed a clear track through the trees for a while, but later it became rather muddy and on the approach to a road, we became aware that trees were actually standing in water.

South of the road, we'd expected to be heading straight ahead, but instead the path took a loop round to the east into the Moreton Plantation. We were quite frequently on a boardwalk, but just before we left the wood, a section of boardwalk was missing and we very quickly realised just how sodden the ground was! Better tracks led across more open land to, in order, the Frome Valley Trail, the River Frome and the spectacular footbridge across the river at Moreton Ford. We talked to a cyclist who was about to cross the bridge and he later provided useful colour in my photograph.

From the river we walked up to the hamlet of Moreton and we took a detour to the Church, aware of its association with T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"). It's an interesting little place, but we should have gone inside; it turns out that the church is perhaps more famous for its engraved glass windows, created by Sir Laurence Whistler after the original stained glass was destroyed in bombing during the Second World War. It also turns out that Lawrence of Arabia is buried in a separate cemetery, the entrance to which we walked past as we continued along the road to the south.  Moreton House, next to the Church, now appears to be available as a holiday rental, but it is the ancestral home of the Frampton family, the most famous of whom was James Frampton (1769-1855) who was responsible for the prosecution of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. Times were different then of course, but it is difficult to see what the Martyrs did (banding together to fight for wages for agricultural labourers that were high enough to prevent starvation) as worthy of the treatment they received (deportation to Australia).

As we continued along the road, our eyes were drawn to an obelisk amongst trees on a hill slightly to the west of the road, and it turns out that this was erected in memory of another James Frampton, the father of the one who prosecuted the Tolpuddle Martyrs. At a left-hand bend in the road, we turned right onto a track, keeping Fir Hill and the obelisk to our right. The track headed west  through scrubby woodland (more so than shown on the map) and was initially bluebell lined. We eventually emerged onto a road at Redbridge and crossed the red (i.e. brick) bridge over the railway line before turning left onto a rather ordinary but quiet road, past bungalows on the right-hand side.

The previous little section had achieved a dog-leg to the south and we now took another track heading west. We passed horses and sheep with lambs and after a kilometre or so found ourselves skirting the grounds of a large and apparently modern house. This is Moigne Combe House and we assumed at the time that it is a hotel, conference centre or wedding venue, However, other than discovering that the estate was sold in 2018 and that a member of the Bond family, who used to own the estate, may have inspired Ian Fleming to create the fictional James Bond, it is remarkably difficult to find out much. We turned left onto a minor road and realised that the log on which a Jubilee Trail sign is attached to indicate the point at which to leave the road again would make an excellent place to stop for lunch. We were making good progress, so it looked as if we'd get to Thomas Hardy's cottage in time.

More meanderings in a generally westwards direction led us to another road which we followed for a short distance, being joined by the Hardy Way. A path then took us across fields and scrubland to a crossing of paths where the Hardy Way turns right while the Jubilee Trail continues straight ahead. With the benefit of hindsight we should perhaps have turned right here, with the Hardy Way, and approached West Knighton from the north. However, we continued straight ahead then turned right at SY743869; not a good idea! (at least, not until you've checked carefully in advance). As of April 2024, a news report from Dorset Ramblers explains that an unsafe footbridge over the Tadnoll Brook was removed "last December" (we're not actually sure which December because we don't know when the news article was written). The first we knew of a potential problem was a sign just after the turning, but being sure we'd manage to find a way through, we continued down and across one footbridge - and then disccovered we could go no further...

It wasn't sensible to attempt to do anything clever, so we retraced our steps to the turning then continued straight ahead to the main road through Broadmayne. At least the path was easy walking, and Broadmayne seemed a pleasant place. We turned right onto Knighton Lane and climbed, amazingly getting back to the car in time not only to visit Hardy's Cottage, but to have a cup of tea in the visitor centre by the Thorncombe Wood car park before doing so. I'm pleased that we managed to get to Hardy's Cottage; I enjoyed it. I'm also pleased that we are still able to walk fast when we need to! Our drive between West Knighton and Thorncombe Wood took us close to Kingston Maurward and the following day we had an enjoyable visit to the Kingston Maurward Animal Park and Gardens with our grandson and his family. All that remained to be done today was to collect the other car from the Culpepper's Dish car park and drive back to the cottage.

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