Date: Location: Distance: Parking: Lunch: | 11 January 2018 Tarrant Hinton 6.6 miles Northfield Lambs Green Inn ★★★★☆ |
The small car park by St Mary’s Church was packed and Ray had to reverse all the way back to the road as there was nowhere to turn round. Luckily we found a good spot in Northfield which suited us very well. Turning left out of the cul-de-sac it was only a few yards to the turn for the Jubilee Trail leading to Chettle Long Barrow.
The last time we were in this area, in May 2014, we walked many of the same paths and I was surprised at how much further we had walked but Ray reminded me that when we were half way to the Long Barrow I discovered I had left my GPS on the top of the car and had to go back and fetch it.
It was a very dull and misty morning when we set out but patches of blue sky appeared at regular intervals. We even enjoyed some decent spells of sunshine. It was a very changeable day.
It was nice to see that all the scaffold has been removed from Chettle House and with all the work going on in the grounds it is going to look magnificent when it has been finished. A couple of the cows in the park looked quite puzzled as to why anybody would be out walking today. |
Five weeks ago when walking at Tarrant Monkton we noticed a bush that had digested an iron fence. Today we saw a more splendid example where a beech tree beside the path in Little Wood had completely absorbed a much bigger version. Perhaps this is a speciality of the Tarrants? |
We were quite a way round the walk before we stopped for mince pies and satsumas, kindly supplied by Ray, and drinks sitting on a stump that must have been specially designed for walkers. The view over Eastbury House and Park was great.
The Historic England web site provides some further information on the history of the house and park. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000549
In May 2014 the fields were full of blooming rape flowers. They looked very different today with bare trees and the new grass just coming through.
St Mary's Church at Tarrant Hinton, not to be confused with one of the same name at Chettle, has a pair of interesting windows designed by Tom Denny and commissioned by the villagers to celebrate the Millennium. There is a notice explaining how their design is based on Joel Ch 2 v 21-27. On the left look for a flinty path through the cornfields and on the right some trees and beasts of the field. Clicking on the thumb nail provides a larger that normal image to help your search!
This was a fairly easy route to follow and is well signed in most places. There were no styles which suited us very well!
We had a very pleasant lunch at the Lambs Green Inn which, by using our 33% off voucher, was very good value for money. We had the steak and mushroom pie, a steal at £7.70.