Martin Down to Cranborne and return

We had had a superb week, staying at Cow Drove Cottage, with plenty of walking already on Cranborne Chase (see the descriptions under Cranborne Circles) and several outings with our grandson Bertie with his parents and his other grandmother in various combinations. Today we were heading to stay in Bertie's house overnight, so as to be with them all tomorrow for Downton's Cuckoo Fair, which fell this year on Helen's birthday. First of all there was time for our last walk of the holiday, on Cranborne Chase though now on the route of the Jubilee Trail, which we'd walked another leg of with Helen and Tom in their pre-Bertie days two years ago.

After packing up and leaving the cottage we drove to the Sillen Lane car park at SU057192 to the east of Martin Down National Nature Reserve. The access is from even further east, via the village of Martin itself then down the narrow Sillen Lane, so we would almost certainly have been better advised to park at the other Martin Down car park, by the A354 at SU036202, but once we got to the Sillen Lane car park it was fine, and it is marginally better placed for where we wanted to be. There is a voluntary parking charge of £3 for the day, which we'd have willingly paid but, not for the first time, we couldn't get the Ringo App to work. Having driven through Wiltshire and Dorset (and heading back towards Wiltshire this evening, though driving in a different direction from which we had come) we found ourselves in Hampshire. We walked across Martin Down to Bokerley Ditch, which the Hampshire/Dorset county boundary follows. We hadn't followed quite the right line as we'd walked across Martin Down, but a short walk along the side of the ditch brought us to a Martin Down sign on the Hampshire side of the border and to the start of the Jubilee Trail on the Dorset side.

The path, continued along the side of a strip of woodland with Bokerley Down to our right and higher land to the left, then we turned left and climbed. The route meandered around a bit, continuing to climb, with lovely views over the rolling countryside to the east, including Blagden Plantation. Soon we reached the ridge at the top of Pentridge Down, with the little village of Pentridge in the distance down to our right. Although there was some sunshine there was also a bit of cloud about; I waited for a little while in the hope of getting a photo of the sun shining on Pentridge, but failed. The photos I did manage were OK though.

We climbed to the attractive tree-topped Pembury Knoll, joining with the route of the Hardy Way and from here we followed a green track between hedges through the glorious undulating landscape. We reached "Jack's Hedge Corner" almost exactly on midday - time for lunch! Richard spotted logs lying across a field entrance (actually a horse jump I think) and these provided a useful place on which to sit. Then we headed down to Cranborne Farm, away from the direct line towards Cranborne. It was a harder surface, especially when we'd turned left in front of the farm, and I didn't enjoy this section as much as I had enjoyed the earlier walking today. It was pleasant enough, just not quite as nice as previously.

Cranborne Farm is close to the River Crane, and from here to Cranborne we were walking close to the river. It's a little chalk stream, though a bit clogged up with weed. As we passed Manor Farm we noticed two vans which alerted us to the fact that this is the home of the Book & Bucket Cheese Company, an interesting name for a manufacturer of what look like an interesting range of cheeses. There are various permissive paths around the farm, including across orchards down to the river. We continued along the track towards the village. We passed the back entrance to Cranborne Manor, an attractive manor house which originated in the 13th Century and which is the home of Viscount Cranborne (son and heir to the Marquess of Salisbury, whose residence is the much grander Hatfield House). Cranborne Manor Gardens are open every Wednesday, and occasional other days, and we'd thoroughly enjoyed a visit with Helen and Bertie two days ago. One photograph from that visit is shown at the top of this page; the rest are here.

We continued across the river, past the church and into the village. It's a pretty place and we were delighted to discover that it has a little car park by the primary school where - with luck - we'll be able to park when we return for the next leg. We'd also be able to park on the street nearby, or back at Cranborne Garden Centre which is the access route to the Manor Gardens; parking here for other purposes appears to be sanctioned. For now we went back to the cafe in the garden centre, where we'd had tea and cake with Helen while Bertie had his lunch; today we just had ice cream. By the time we'd finished it was about 1.15pm. so time to return to Martin Down if we were going to get to Downton soon after 4pm as planned.

We took the Hardy Way out of Cranborne, heading almost due north, and climbing as we left the village. Soon the road became a track and after a mile or so we were back at Jack's Hedge Corner, where another couple of walkers were admiring the view. We retraced our steps along the green track, with the sound of a cuckoo becoming more and more insistent. As we crossed Blackbush Down the cuckoo flew across our path, all the while making its characteristic call. We didn't return to Penbury Knoll, but instead took a path which descended steeply, with good views back to the Knoll, with bright yellow oil seed rape in the foreground

We turned right and passed Pentridge's Manor Farm, stopping to say hello to two men. Pentridge is more hamlet than village, but we realised we weren't going to pass the church, so we took a side street to enable us to see it. I'd thought that the route from here back to the car park might be on rather hard chalk byways, but they were mostly little more than grassy paths, and we made good progress back to the car. The journey to Downton was rather slow, with a traffic jam in Fordingbridge and another in Downton, caused by preparations for tomorrow's Cuckoo Fair.

Following leg