steeply downhill. At the bottom of the field, head to the right-hand corner and a kissing gate. This leads onto a walkway over a brook, through a beautifully sheltered spot with ferns and wild garlic. Make your way steeply uphill, then towards the left of a barn, heading for a kissing gate. Go through this to walk along a short path past farm cottages, to meet a bend in the road coming from Stoke Abbott. Turn left and follow the road for approximately 1/3 mile towards 4 Ashes junction. 2 Upon reaching 4 Ashes, cross the main road. After a few yards, turn right through a metal gate with a footpath sign into a field. Head towards the beeches at the bottom of Lewesdon. Pass through a second gate and walk up the right-hand side of a field to follow a hedge round until you meet another gate. Here, go slightly left across a concrete drive then turn right to go through another gate into the woods. Head up between two banks and after a few yards there are numerous paths on the left which will take you up the southern flank of the hill. After a short while, there is a National Trust sign for Lewesdon Hill - go past this to start the steep final climb to the top, a grassy plateau surrounded by trees. The route continues to the right although you can venture left to explore the remains of Iron Age defences on the western flank of the hill. 3 From the summit, head down the northern side to meet the Wessex Ridgeway which runs east-west. Turn right and after a short while find yourself entering a holloway. Follow a sign for Stoke Knapp; eventually the holloway meets the BroadwindsorBridport road again. 4 Cross the road and follow the footpath sign opposite to go past old farm buildings on your right. After a few yards, look for a bridleway and footpath sign - keep straight on, following the sign for Chart Knoll. With the fence on your left, the track meanders uphill to reach two metal gates. Keep on this track to reach another metal gate into the next field. Go through this and continue, to reach three footpath signs and views of Gerrard’s Hill and Beaminster, then follow a hedge to a five-bar wooden gate. Pass through this then onto a track with Chart Knoll ahead of you. The hill drops away steeply to the left and the trail becomes more enclosed. Where the track splits, bear left, past a sign for Beaminster. Go through a small wooden gate to pass the buildings on your right 42 | Sherborne Times | October 2020
and make for a stile in the hedge ahead. Go over this to another stile then across a field keeping the boundary on your left, towards the beech grove on Gerrard’s Hill. From the grove and triangulation point there are fine views all around. 5 Head off the hill, dropping down towards Beaminster, to the corner of a field. Go over a stile, cross a farm track, over another stile then across the middle of a field towards a single hollow tree by another stile. Keep aiming down, towards a stile at the bottom of the hill and through pony paddocks, to cross a wooden footbridge and enter Puckett’s Wood. Go straight ahead and after a few yards turn right at a signpost for ‘Stoke Road ¼ mile’. Initially the track is not well defined but soon broadens. Reach a five-bar gate and then a short footpath which meets the road at Knoll Farm. 6 Turn right onto the road and follow this for just under half a mile. After a short, steep meandering climb through trees, the road flattens. On a righthand bend, look out for a field entrance on your left, with remains of a footpath sign in the hedge! Go into the field then turn right and head for a stile in the far hedge, by a telegraph pole. Go over the stile, turn right onto a grassy lane then left, through a small wooden gate. Cross a track, then head between a pony paddock and a farm building. Enter another paddock through a kissing gate and walk towards a small metal gate in the far-left corner. Go through this and descend into a fern-carpeted wooded dell. After a few yards, cross a footbridge. Follow the Jubilee Trail signs and cross the bottom corner of a field to emerge onto a track. Go left and then immediately right up some steps, to follow the Jubilee Trail through the woods above the stream. Look out for the moss-covered outline of an old leet. This is a particularly lovely hidden stretch, with alder, snowdrops, bluebells and wild garlic. The trail meanders down to meet the stream again. Cross another footbridge, with a metal gate, into a field. Keep to the right-hand edge of this field, skirting the bottom of a steep hill. Go through a metal gate onto a footbridge, then start to climb towards some houses. After another metal gate, follow a concrete footpath between houses. At the end of this, turn left onto the road and head back towards where you’ve parked. paulnewmanartist.co.uk