On Foot

On Foot HOOKE AND TOLLER WHELME

Emma Tabor and Paul Newman

Distance: 5 miles Time: Approx. 3 hours Park: On the road outside St Giles church, Hooke Walk Features: A fairly gentle walk from Hooke to Toller Whelme which then climbs Toller Down before returning via Westcombe Coppice and Burnt Bottom. The route takes in Hooke Court and the Manor House at Toller Whelme, passing various ponds and lakes. The return section from Toller Down has good views across the former transmitting station site at Rampisham Down and beyond. Refreshments: There are plenty of eateries and pubs to choose from in Beaminster.

Each month we devise a walk for you to try with your family and friends (including four-legged members) pointing out a few interesting things along the way, be it flora, fauna, architecture, history, the unusual and sometimes the unfamiliar. For April, we follow the River Hooke to its source at Toller Whelme (Whelme is Anglo-Saxon for spring), in a beautifully secluded valley, before heading out onto Toller Down. For two of the smallest settlements in the area, there is a wealth of fine architecture to admire including Hooke Court, built around the time of the English Civil War, and the Manor House and church at Toller Whelme. >

Directions Start: SY 535 001 St Giles church, Hooke 1 With the entrance to St Giles church on your right, walk along Higher Street Lane towards

Hooke Court. After a few minutes, the road bends sharp left; pass a lake on your right and in 250 yards, you will see Hooke Court on your left.

After 150 yards, look for a signpost on your right for Toller Whelme 1¼. Go through the gate here, following a fence on your left across a field. You soon pass through another small gate; follow the right-hand edge of a field next to a copse. Once the wood thins out, look for a large metal gate in the right-hand corner and side of the field. Go through this into the next field then aim for a gate in the left-hand corner across the field. There are reed beds and a marshy area to the right. 2 Through the gate, emerge onto a road, turn right and, after a short uphill stretch, turn right onto a tarmac track; look for a cul-de-sac sign. After 600 yards you will see a Dorset Wildlife Trust reserve,

Michael’s Peace, on the left and a pond, which is worth visiting. This is a lovely section of quiet road, lined with hazel hedge and small outcrops of chalk in the surrounding fields. Pass a small lake, looking out for heron and cormorant and, after Lake Farm/

East Farm, the surface of the road turns into an unsurfaced track. Here, look for a bridleway sign on the left, signed right for the B3153 - you’ll come back to this in a short while. Continue downhill along the track, through a wooded section - listen out for wrens, chiff-chaffs and green woodpeckers along here. You soon reach Toller Whelme; take time to look at the Manor House then follow the track up and round to the right to visit the church. 3 Turn around and retrace your steps to the bridleway sign for the B3153 by West Farm Cottages.

Now turn left to go up a drive. After a few yards, continue straight on through a large metal gate, up into a field. Keep a ditch and hedge on your right, leaving Toller Whelme behind you. In the top right-hand corner of the field, go through a small metal gate into a larger field. Follow the hedge on your left, aiming for a large metal gate in the lefthand corner of the field. Great views across Hooke

Park now open up behind you and you can also see

Westcombe Coppice on your right, which you will pass though shortly. Keep the hedge on your left

through the next field and aim for a small metal gate in the left-hand corner. Go through this gate and turn immediately right. 4 Follow the hedge on your right to soon pass through a small wooden gate and then turn immediately right again, to follow the outer edge of the previous field. Note the old quarry in the valley ahead and the remains of Rampisham

Transmitting Station, which was one of the main transmitters of the BBC World Service until closure in 2011. Rampisham Down is notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for its large area of lowland acid grassland. Keep walking along the right-hand side of this field and pass through two large metal gates, towards Westcombe

Coppice just to your left. New hedges have been planted across the field which may differ from some of the boundaries indicated on Ordnance

Survey maps. Follow the hedge on your right to meet Westcombe Coppice, with the edge of the wood and a bank now on your right-hand side. In a few yards, at a small dip in the field, turn right into the wood. Westcombe Coppice has a special feel to it; oak and ash glow with green mossy coats

in a space singing with light. Follow a rough track to soon emerge on the other side of the coppice. 5 Leave the coppice through a gate and cross a track, to go through a small wooden gate into Burnt

Bottom. Walk down a shallow valley and pass through another small wooden gate, then through another two small gates either side of a track. Go through these, continuing with woodland on your right and ahead. Follow the edge of the wood, keeping it on your right. As the path follows the contours of the hill, and continues round to the left, start to head away and slightly uphill from the field edge. You will soon see a large metal gate, just up from the corner of the field. Go through this into a small field and aim for a large metal gate on your left, now keeping level. Through this gate, head downhill to a small wooden gate, past a large red-brick house. Pass through another small wooden gate, into a boggy dell. The bottom part of this path turns into a stream and soon meets a bridge; cross this and turn left onto the road to take you back to the start.