Athelhampton

Date:
Location:
Walk Leader:
Participants:
Distance:
Parking:
Lunch:  

2nd April 2014
Athelhapmton
Ray
Ray, Clive, Peter.  Rob away captaining a narrow boat.
6 miles
Athelhampton House
TableTable Holes Bay  ★

Starting at Athelhampton House we walked for a short distance along the road towards Tollpuddle before turning up a track beside the church.  Turning left just past the church then took us along by and through the gardens of some houses.  The next stretch is a gentle climb along well used farm tracks to Little Copse and then on to Broomhill, Mansel's  and Southover Plantations.  Just by Mansel's Plantation is a notice headed Bladen Woodlands that says responsible pedestrian access is welcome throughout the woodlands but it is not clear which area this covers.  A little research shows that it is what is called a Welcome Woodland and it is owned by a company called UPM (indicated on the notice) which claims to be the UK’s leading forestry and timber harvesting company.  http://www.upm-tilhill.com/about-us/.  This might be an interesting wood to walk through at another time.  This main track through the wood was quite wet and muddy and not particularly interesting at this time of year.  We were surprised to see a large vehicle in the wood but in view of its commercial nature this is not so surprising after all!  It may be a lot better through this area when it has dried out and the bluebells are in flower.

The walk becomes much more interesting after crossing onto Pallington Heath.  The path is then pretty good until just past Tincleton Hang where there is a Clay shoot and other activities which seem to attract off roaders who have torn the track up into another muddy mess.  Other socially minded people seem to have found this a good area to dump their rubbish.

We arrived back at the car quite early and drove to TableTable at Holes Bay for lunch.

Muddy Track

Unexpected

A handy log

Bladen Woodlands