WALKING WITH ANDREW SWIFT

Looking down on Wellow

On the trail of the Ruralists

Andrew Swift wanders in Wellow, enjoys a view of the Cam Valley and Wellow Church, encounters the Roman Fosse Way and discovers a steam mill, richly decorated tombs and a medieval wall painting.

Wellow is one of Somerset’s hidden gems. Less than seven miles from Bath, it lies in a deep valley, approached by winding lanes, and yet it contains a wealth of ancient buildings, as well as one of the county’s most historic churches, a medieval packhorse bridge and a splendid country pub. You could once catch a train to Wellow from Green Park, and, although the rails have long been lifted, the station survives, having been converted to a house by the artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth, who used the signal box as a studio. They came to the village as part of a group of artists called the Brotherhood of Ruralists, who sought to re-engage with the English pastoral tradition, and this seven-mile walk explores some of the landscapes that inspired them.

It starts, however, in another glorious but much smaller village, Combe Hay, which is signposted from the Odd Down Park & Ride roundabout. After following a narrow lane south for 1.5 miles, turn left into the village and after a third of a mile, as the lane starts to drop downhill, you should be able to park – considerately – beside the high wall on the right (BA2 7EG; ST734599).

Walk on down the lane, which bears left and then right before starting to climb. After 300m, turn right down a stony bridleway signposted to Hen & Chicken Court. Just before a bridge over the Cam Brook there is a muddy section. Once across it, however, the going improves as the bridleway starts to climb.

Carry on through a gate and after another 225m, when you come to two gates, go through the metal one on the left. As you continue to climb, the way grows steeper and rockier, with water coursing down, but this soon gives way to something gentler, and the views start to open up.

Go through a wooden handgate, continue along the edge of a field and, when you come to the corner, bear left to carry on alongside the hedgerow. After 450m go through a handgate and carry straight on through another handgate with a footpath waymark (ST748597). Up to your right is Upper Twinhoe, while to your left is a view over the Cam valley.

At the end of the field, carry on through two more handgates and bear left. Go through a five-bar gate by a barn at the end of the field, turn right along a lane for 20m and then left along a drive to Middle Twinhoe Barns. After 50m, go through a KG on the right and bear right alongside the hedgerow. In the corner of the field, go through a KG and turn left alongside the hedgerow. After 150m, when the hedge swings left, carry on along a track heading straight up the field.

When you come to a metal handgate, go through it, turn left along a lane and almost immediately go through a metal handgate on the left (ST748591). Carry on with the hedge on your left, but after 250m, when the hedge curves left, follow a signpost straight on towards a KG with a view down to Wellow Church.

Head steeply downhill, continue down a track through the undergrowth and, after going through a KG, follow a track winding between gates marked private (ST742585). Carry on through a KG and, when you come to two KGs together, go through the one on the left and after 65m turn right into the churchyard.

Wellow Church has an unusual dedication – to St Julian the Hospitaller, whose statue is above the porch door. For a village church it is also unusually large and contains some real treasures, including richly decorated tombs in the Hungerford chapel, a medieval wall painting of Christ and the Apostles and a 15th-century rood screen.

Head west out of the churchyard and carry on along the pavement past a succession of ancient houses, chief among which is the manor house, dating from 1634 and once the home of the Hungerfords. A little further on you come to the heart of the village, with the Fox & Badger pub looking out over the square where Wellow Fair was once held every October. There was once another pub opposite – the George, which closed in 1925 and became George House.

The alleyway beside the pub leads past cottages, a former Fullers Earth Works and a steam mill to the old signal box. A little further down is the packhorse bridge over the Wellow Brook. To continue with the walk, however, head west from the Fox & Badger along the main street. Another diversion down Station Road leads to the converted station, still with its platform canopy.

Heading west along the main street, you eventually reach the end of the village. Carry on past a bridleway sign on the right (opposite the turning to Stony Littleton Long Barrow), but 100m further on, just past the 20mph signs, turn right at the next bridleway sign and head uphill with a hedgerow on your right (ST733579).

Follow the hedgerow along the north side of field, but in the northwest corner go through a metal handgate. Carrying on in the same direction, go through another handgate 50m further on and follow a footpath waymark diagonally across a large field where they may be cattle.

On the far side, go through a KG and turn left along a rough lane (ST724582). After 300m, when it forks, bear right. Carry on through the hamlet of White Ox Mead, turn left at a T junction, and after a few metres turn right past Springhill House.

Carry on for 700m and at the main road, cross and head up the lane opposite. After 75m, when the tarmac ends, bear right to follow a red waymark past a six-bar gate and bear right along the edge of a field (ST714589). This, although it may not look like it, is the course of the Roman Fosse Way, abandoned around 250 years ago when the turnpike trust opened a more gently graded road up Dunkerton Hill.

Carry on down through the remnants of a high-banked lane, and, after going through three gates, turn left along the pavement. Home Farm, on the left, was once a beerhouse called the Wellow Inn, as it lay in the parish of Wellow. It closed in 1907.

Immediately after crossing a bridge over the Cam Brook, cross the road and go down a steep and narrow flight of steps to follow a footpath along the edge of the field, with the brook out of sight behind a bank of vegetation on your right.

After 800m, when the hedge bears left, carry straight on across a gated footbridge, which unfortunately leads to a muddy corner frequented by cows (ST723592). Carry on along the edge of the field, cross another gated footbridge and after another 700m, go through a KG onto a lane.

Go through the KG opposite and continue alongside the brook, but after 250m follow the track as it heads straight on uphill. After entering woods, you come to a handgate leading onto a lane, a right turn along which leads back to the starting point. n

Fact file

n Distance: 7 miles

n Level of challenge: A few very muddy sections and one steep flight of steps; cattle may also be encountered; otherwise well waymarked with no stiles

n Refreshment stops: Fox & Badger, Wellow (thefoxandbadger.com: 01225 832293). Lunches served 12–2pm Thursday to Saturday; 12–3pm Sunday (closed lunchtimes Monday to Wednesday)

n Map: OS Explorer 142

More on the details of this and many more walks can be found in Andrew Swift’s Country Walks from Bath, published by Akeman Press; akemanpress.com.

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