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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2882 |
12th September 2019 Hiking - Walking: Maiden Castle and National Trust, Stourhead house Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: cloudy start and then sunny periods. Max Speed: Distance Covered: Thursday 12th September – walks ***** Maiden Castle and National Trust, Stourhead house and gardens – cloudy start and then sunny periods. There were five campers spending the night at the English Heritage site of Maiden Castle just outside Dorchester but we still had a good night apart from being woken in the middle of the night by an annoying drip from my windsurfing boards caused by rain in the night! Woke to a breezy, drizzly overcast day with low cloud, probably enough wind for another windsurf at Portland but after two session covering 293 km. and still not managing to break 30 knots I had had enough of that venue for this year and besides I couldn’t face putting on a cold wet wetsuit! So we were pleased to be away from the coast and after breakfast it was time to explore the finest Iron Age Fort in Britain and were not disappointed:) Maiden Castle was first laid out in 600 BC over the remains of a Neolithic settlement and during the following centuries the hill fort was extended and additional defences thrown up around it. In AD 43 it was taken by the Roman Army and its inhabitants moved to Durnovaria, now Dorchester. We left the van and climbed up to the western entrance passing the three huge earth mounds that formed the defences and the scale actually took your breath away considering this was dug by hand many centuries ago and despite the poor weather the fort wall and views were amazing. The settlement at the top covered 47 hectares and it must have been an impressive site when covered in round houses, you could close your eyes and imagine it still a hive of activity, just fantastic! We climbed up onto the highest mound and walked the complete way around only detouring to read the information boards at the Eastern Gate and the ruin of the Roman Temple. Even on a miserable day like today there was a steady stream of visitors all being watched over by the large flock of grazing sheep and a kestrel hunting for voles between the mounds! Surprisingly we had been out 1 hr.15 mins and covered over two miles before starting our journey north making a quick stop to see the chalk Giant in the hill just past Cerne Abbas, it was a little disappointing as you couldn’t see it perfectly as the viewing point was not high enough, you needed to be in the air for the best view! Then it was onto Sherbourne with its impressive Abbey and as we were making such good time, we decided to go to the National Trusts site at Stourhead apparently one of the world’s great landscape gardens, a sublime creation of reflective water, woods, temples and grottoes. The classical house has magnificent paintings and furniture which too be honest doesn’t sound like our thing but the grounds sounded good – it’s a ‘living work of art’. As usual the car park was pretty full but we found plenty of room in the overspill section where for £15 a night you could stay in your camper! So, it was £4 for the car park and £35 to enter the site it was another huge chunk off our year’s membership. We decided to walk up to the house and get the boring bit out of the way first, in fact the mansion was quite small compared to some we have visited but cramped full of paintings and fancy furniture which are of little interest to us, the music room was OK and members of the public were encouraged to play the piano, sadly there were no musicians about today, the library was also good but there was little personal items that made it a home so more like living in a museum! The best bit by far was the group of beautiful red cows laying outside the house to entertain the passing visitors:) With the culture out of the way it was time for the best bit as we wound our way down through the pretty woods to the large lake with its Palladian Bridge, Temple of Flora, Boat House, Grotto. Gothic Cottage, Pantheon and water wheel. The walk around the lake was lovely especially when the sun came out giving the greens a more vibrant colour, it was to breezy for good reflections on the water and too early in the year for-Autumn colours when it must be amazing here and well worth another visit! Still I did manage to get some nice pics and we even sent a bit in the shop on presents! Now desperate for a cuppa we drove just up the road to NT Alfred’s Tower but didn’t like the car park there but soon found a better spot at the Six Wells car park and soon had the kettle on! So, another good day and tomorrow we head towards Bath in search of a canal, we feel better tonight as we are all alone in the middle of nowhere with only a hooting owl for company:) Photo Gallery Here |
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