7 minute read
Walking Sue Gearing
From castle to combe in the Quantocks
AUTUMN with its vibrant colours is an ideal time to visit the Quantock Hills. This circle leads from Nether Stowey village taking in the site of the old castle and then goes through Over Stowey and into Great Wood and down a beautiful combe. Pass a café on the edge of the wood and walk through the grounds of a Gothic mansion before heading back to the start. There are a couple of stiles and some ups and downs but nothing too strenuous.
PARK: In Nether Stowey village which lies off the A39 Bridgwater-Minehead road. Find the free car park above the public library on the main street. There are also toilets. Or park nearby.
Stowey comes from the old English stan weg or paved road after the military road that used to run through here across the Quantocks. Nether Stowey grew up relying on textiles and pottery and it had both a weekly market and a yearly fair after 1304. During the “Bloody Assizes” in the autumn of 1685, in the aftermath of the Duke of Monmouth's Rebellion, men from Nether Stowey who were caught up in the rebellion are said to have been hanged, drawn and quartered in the village after they were sentenced to death by Judge Jeffries. Their body parts were then displayed around the village to discourage others from rebellion against the King. This happened in many villages across Somerset. START: This is the main hill of the walk. Turn right up the street. Cross side roads and keep on climbing. At the top by the Nether Stowey sign is a signpost directing you right through a gate and up onto the castle.
1. CASTLE
Stop and read the information board about this Noman motte and bailey castle. Up on top you can easily understand why this site was chosen for a castle.
Return to the road and turn right, dropping downhill. Soon pass a wrought iron workshop on the right with two dramatic iron sculptures outside. Turn left on Hockpitt Lane. Carry on to the end, passing Hockpitt Farm and then go through a gate and along a footpath. This looks like being an old thoroughfare to Over Stowey – it is sunken and has a good hard base.
Go up steps into a field and along the right edge. In the corner is a stile and gate. Maintain direction and reach a walled garden to Cross Farm. Go to the right of the wall where a path leads you on to a lane.
2. OVER STOWEY
Go straight ahead on a lane, dropping down to the hamlet of Over Stowey. Pass a pottery on your left and then arrive at the village church.
It has several very special windows designed by Burne-Jones and made by Morris & Co which were installed during the Victorian restoration of the building. The churchyard is a beautiful spot for wild cyclamen in season.
It’s worth going round the corner to the interesting noticeboard on the hall giving information about the village. To continue, back at the corner, go right on a track to a kissing gate at the end. Once through, go down the right edge of the field, round the first corner, through a gate and then left along the hedge, through a gate and along the left side as before. Go round a clump of trees and carry on along the left edge, climbing gently. In the corner turn right and then through the gate in the next corner and over a stone stile onto a lane.
3. LANE
Turn left and go uphill, ignoring a footpath right. The lane levels out. Continue to a stony track on the right by Friarn Cottage. This leads up to a gate into woodland.
4. WOOD
Take the left track going alongside an amazing double bank and ditch on the left showing that this was an ancient boundary. Stay on the track through the wood, climbing gently. Come up to a junction of tracks and go left through a large wooden gate. Now it’s downhill through the wood.
5. ASHLEY COMBE
At the next junction, bend down left going down Ashley Combe, a mixed woodland with some amazing giant cypresses. At a junction at the edge of the wood, keep straight on by a barrier and
down to a junction. Go left through a gate by the cattle grid and continue down.
6. CAFÉ
Soon reach a hidden away café, Foxy Bean, at Adscombe Farm, an idyllic spot by a shallow stream with a range of drinks and snacks. There are tables in an old wagon barn for inclement weather. Continue down the lane in the valley of Adscombe. After a few minutes reach a bridleway/drive on the right taking you uphill under an avenue of poplars.
7. QUANTOCK LODGE
This is one of the drives that lead to Quantock Lodge, a 19th century Gothic revival mansion built by the 1st Baron Taunton, Henry Labouchere. Used variously as an estate, a sanatorium and a school, it was built as a summer residence. The hamlet of Aley Green had to be demolished to make room for the new residence. It eventually passed into the Stanley family in 1872. Edward Stanley became an MP for West Somerset at a byelection in 1882. His eldest son, Henry the heir to the estate, was a keen cricketer playing for Somerset. He had joined the West Somerset Yeomanry as an officer, but died in 1900 during the Second Boer War. As a memorial, Edward Stanley planted trees in the house grounds in the formation of a cricketing eleven.
Go through a gate and continue straight on along the track/drive. Start to see the turreted signs of the original mansion of Quantock Lodge. Go past a more modern block and then bend left. Over left is an amazing dovecot folly which was all part of the lodge. Bend left down the drive past what is now a leisure complex. Continue to
5.2 miles, about 2.5-3 hours walking. OS Explorer 140 Quantock Hills & Bridgwater, grid ref: 190 396, postcode TA5 1LN
the end of the drive and then straight on between houses, until you come out onto a road.
8. ROAD
Keep straight on along the road to a junction. Bear right and then go straight over onto a road.
9. FIELDS
After about 200 metres, just before Park House, look for a gate into a field on the left hidden in the hedge. Follow the footpath along the wall on the right.
There are great views across the Severn Estuary as you go.
Take a gate on the right and turn left on the path alongside a young wood. Go through a big gate and past a barn. Go under a barrier, straight on down the left side of the field and through a kissing gate. Continue down the field, over a stile by a gate and up the field across to another gate by Stowey Wood. Go ahead through a kissing gate and shortly take a gate on the right into a field. Follow the left side downhill, through another gate. Turn right on the track which then bends left. Pass a large barn and just before the road, turn left through a small gate to the right of farm buildings.
10. PATH
The narrow path is along the end of gardens and by a stream. It leads to a road in Nether Stowey. Turn right and continue to a T-junction. Go right and back to the car park.
l Since publishing our July walk – Levels best – a walk for summer – new restrictions on dogs have been imposed on Westhay and Catcott reserves.
NEW QUANTOCK WALKING BOOK
THISwalk is a variation of one in a new book I have written with Les Davies – the third in our series for families. It is entitled the Seriously Not Boring Quantock Country Walks Book. This was at the request of the Quantock Hills AONB and features 12 short circular walks in and around the Quantock Hills. It is ring-bound and includes a range of activities for children, full colour pictures, maps and clear walking instructions.
