Winterborne Stickland to A354 near Milborne St Andrew

Our spring holidays somewhere about an hour's drive from our daughter's house in Downton (which is in Wiltshire, but quite close to both Hampshire and Dorset) is becoming a tradition; well, this year was the third time we'd done it. This arrangement gives us the opportunity to spend time with our grandson and the rest of the family, but also to explore the area for ourselves; on this occasion the plan was to advance along the Jubilee Trail. We were travelling to a cottage in the village of Cheselbourne today, but decided to maximise our holiday by having a walk before checking in at the cottage. We were in separate cars, but had met up at the Rownhams services on the M27 for a cup of coffee. From there, Apple Maps sent me a rather unexpected but pleasant cross-country route, but I got to the layby where we'd agreed to meet again,  on the A354 to the east of Milborne St Andrew at SY816984, just slightly ahead of Richard. We left one car there and drove together to Winterbourne Stickland. The road was slightly flooded between Winterbourne Whitchurch and Winterbourne Stickland  (it really has been a very wet spring) but it wasn't a problem.  There wasn't a lot of parking space, but we managed to find a space at ST835046, near the Church.

Our first priority was eating our lunch, and fortunately there was a conveniently placed bench just inside the churchyard, which we used for this purpose (as we'd done when we were last here, nearly a year ago). Then we walked along the road leading west from the centre of the village, passing several picturesque thatched cottages, typical of many of the villages around here. Towards the end of the village, we took a path up on the left which led up to attractive rolling countryside. It was very enjoyable walking, and when we reached Whatcombe Wood, we were rewarded with a good display of bluebells. 

One named wood led to another, and by the time we reached Milton Park Wood, a carpet of wild garlic had replaced the bluebells. We followed a good track round a left hand bend, and I'd have merrily just kept walking along it, had Richard not spotted that our route led along a more minor path up to the right. Eventually we left the wood behind us and descended slightly to emerge onto Catherine's Well, a road with fairly ordinary houses up above the model village of Milton Abbas. We walked along here until a signpost directed us on a delightful wooded descent to Milton Abbas's main street. In addition to the Jubilee Trail signs, there were now also attractive "Milton Abbas Heritage Trail" signs, which at least appear to have been based on a child's drawing.

We followed "The Street" for a very short distance to the right (a more thorough exploration of Milton Abbas would have to wait for Richard's circular walk from our cottage later in the week), stopping at a picnic area for me to change my socks. Then we climbed out of the village again, up the other side of the wooded valley in which Milton Abbas is located. We were still on the route of the Milton Abbas Heritage Trail and the ground was still carpeted with wild garlic. We emerged onto the more open slopes of Luccombe Hill to the south of the village and joined a track, which we followed through an undulating agricultural landscape.

I normally like to write up each walk we do within a couple of weeks of returning home, but I got so engrossed in work and my family history research, and then we went away again, that I didn't write up this walk until June. This had some advantages, in particular I was able to enjoy the walk all over again. However, it also meant that I sometimes struggled to remember the detail, and my initial thought was that the track we were on from Luccombe Hill provided a clear route all the way to the A354. Oh no it didn't! Towards the end we needed to cross a field over Deverel Down and the route was really not clear. More by good luck than good judgement, we found the gate out onto the main road. 

We could have just turned right onto the road at this point and walked the half-mile or so to our car.  However, it's a busy road, so we'd decided it was better to continue on the route of the Jubilee Trail for another few hundred yards to Longmead, and then take a path that leads to the A354 opposite Deverel Farm, closer to the lay-by in which we'd parked. From the map, it looked as if we'd still had to walk a short distance along the road in order to continue on the Jubilee Trail, but in fact we crossed straight over the A354 and then followed a path behind the hedge that led us to the approach road to Longmead Community Farm.  Just before the main farm building, we left the Jubilee Trail and turned right, saying hello to people who were caring for the animals. Everyone was very friendly, as you'd expect from an organisation with the aim of working alongside families in crisis.

Our route back to the A354 was a good path across rolling countryside, and it wasn't too far from the point at which we emerged to the layby. After collecting Richard's car from Winterbourne Stickland, we drove on in convoy to Cheselbourne. That was a trip down memory lane!; we found ourselves driving straight through the village of Ansty, right past the Fox Inn, where we stayed overnight when walking on the Wessex Ridgeway. Today we were heading for "The Lodge" at "The Thatched House" in Cheselbourne, and lovely it all was, complete with alpacas and a hot tub !