Cut the carbon, visit āthe localā and get out exploring. Ten curios to visit within a ten minute drive of town.
Apologies for the hurried map. The blue numbers and arrowed walks are from AroundSherborne.
Chatting at the bar of the original Rose and Crown, Trent with Amelia. She asked me where to visit locally, for some guests. Amber and I came up with a few ideas, Maumbury rings, Poundbury fort, Tyneham and West Bay.
After some proper thought I came up with ten attractions from the super local. As ever not too many instructions, buy a local map and get lost ā¦ youāll find all sorts.
1. Cadbury castle and King Arthurs well.
Best approached from the pub on bicycle by cycling over Penmore Road and skirting Corton Denham. Parking on the west side. The climb is a short sharp one stopping at the well, on the left where the geology changes. A walk around the top ensures a sheltered picnic spot can be sought.
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2. The Beacon, Corton Denham, climb the hill or cheat by parking near the top.
Fantastic views of Avalon and a great steep loop from the village, trickier to find the top parking spot, a narrow muddy layby, consider extending a walk along the Corton Ridge. A great venue in twilight when the light is on and helicopters returning from the naval bases.
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3. The potato cave at Stallen
A fantastic curio, excavated from the oolitic limestone to keep seed potatoes cool during the summer. In one of the local holloways, an extension could take you to Compton House. Try reading āRougue Maleā before you go and imagine being pursued by your assailant.
This can be a moderate walk from the tRose and CrownT.
4. Braddy Hollow – holloway, one of the deepest in the UK, walk from the top or cycle from the pub. The Hermits cave half way down [or up] on the north side.
Park for the top at ///august.take.upset
An absolute must of a visit and home to the Harts Tongue fern. Parking at the top is easier but it it steep and slippery, especially if you want to climb to the Hermits cave.
If you are less sure on your feet, or the kids will run amock, then try the approach from the roundabout at Yeovil Bridge. Cut up between Starbucks and Pets at Home parking near the mini roundabout. The rough track goes up the hill, marked Little Covert on the map above. ///share.topped.sounds
5. find the anonymous Victorian postbox in Sherborne (no cipher), labyrinth and double gold postbox in Sherborne. Tea in Olivers.
Arrive by bus at the Green or park in Upper Cheap Street. Search out the anonymous Victoria box – so named as they omitted the cipher for 7 years! Wander along to Paddock gardens spying the labyrinth. Cut through Waitrose to emerge by Olivers Coffee House – best cafe in town. Down Cheap Street there are still ironmongers, book shops and stationers. The frontage of the butchers, bakery and silversmith are all worth a snap.
6. Visit the Sherborne Old Castle Walter Raleigh, sometimes there is a steam fayre opposite.
An outlier on the east side of town, the original castle is English Heritage. About Ā£8 to enter you can clamber the walls and run around the moat. Open ten til five.
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7. Walk the Haydon triangle; best views of isolated trees in Dorset [photo opportunity] and some fabulous black and white fingerposts.
Simply the best trees, greatest variety and recently restored fingerposts.
8. Seven Wells down, the source of the River Yeo and pillow mounds.
Park on the roadside lay-by and then walk either loop, or patch them together to cross the indistinct bridge where the mighty Yeo emerges from the ground.
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9. The medieval village of Thorney and the manor house and moat in Marston Magna.
Alicemark 