Christopher Somerville

First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window

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Hallaton is a beautiful village, all thatched roofs and golden walls, set in the rolling wolds of East Leicestershire. But there’s more to Hallaton than meets the uninformed eye. Setting off from the Bewicke’s Arms past the Buttercross on a windy spring morning, I glanced up the road to St Michael’s Church. In a couple of weeks’ time Hallaton’s great Easter Monday procession would gather at the church gates for the ceremonial cutting of a giant Hare Pie, the gentler half of the village’s annual ritual Hare Pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking.

If you don’t like rough play, beer drinking and large muddy men, stay away from Hallaton’s Hare Pie Bank on Easter Monday afternoon. It’s there that the dismembered pie is sent flying into the crowd. After that, the Master of the Stowe launches a painted wooden cylinder or Bottle into the air. Hundreds of men and one or two women hurl themselves on top of it and each other, and battle commences

The rough aim (and rough’s the word) is for Hallaton to score by getting the 12lb Bottle – actually a wooden keg filled with beer – across to their bank of the Medbourne brook through fair means or foul, while the neighbouring and rival villagers of Medbourne do their damndest to force it across to their side. Best of three Bottles wins. And that’s it. Unlimited numbers can take part, with no time limit and no rules. Everyone ends up plastered with mud, covered with bruises, full of ale and hilarity. Bragging rights and glory are all the victors gain.

Picturing the mayhem and the fun, I walked fast over fields of fresh spring wheat where the farmers had refrained from ploughing in the old ponds. Frogs croaked there, enmeshed in mats of spawn. From Keythorpe Hall the Midshires Way long-distance path led me south, an easy, undulating track between pastures where the ewes brought their new-born lambs to stare at the stranger. Hunting fences separated the fields, their upper rails smoothed by the friction of passing horse legs – a reminder that I was tramping the ‘Galloping Shires’.

Down among the immaculate gardens of Medbourne, daffodils were out along the brook. Another Bottle stood on a rail above the bar of the Nevill Arms. Which village had gained the victory last Bottle-Kicking? ‘They did,’ mumbled a tough guy in a teeshirt, ‘but not next time, mate!’

A giant spring hailstorm marched across the wolds as I walked back to Hallaton by way of Blaston Chapel. Hailstones pattered on my coat and heaped up among the primrose clumps in the hedge roots. Blackbirds sang. Nature seemed bursting with life; and people, too, were preparing in their own rough-and-tumble way to celebrate health, strength and proper vigour.

Start & finish: Bewicke Arms, Hallaton LE16 8UB (OS ref SP 788965)

Getting there: A47 Leicester towards Uppingham; minor road East Norton-Hallaton. Park near Bewicke Arms.

Walk (11½ miles, easy grade, OS Explorer 233): Bewicke Arms – bridleway for 2 miles by Hallaton Spinneys to Keythorpe Hall Farm (766994) – south for 3 miles by Midshires Way, through Cranoe to Churchfield House (760945) – bridleway for 2 and three quarter miles across Welham Road and Green Lane to Medbourne and Nevill Arms (798929). Along Uppingham Road for half mile – left (802938 – ‘Blaston, Field Road’) for 1 mile to Blaston – left at foot of Horninghold Lane (803956) across fields to Medbourne Road (794961) – right to Hallaton.

NB – Online map, more walks: www.christophersomerville.co.uk

Lunch: Nevill Arms, Medbourne (01858-565288; www.thenevillarms.net)

Accommodation: Bewicke Arms, Hallaton (01858-555217; www.bewickearms.co.uk)

More info: Leicester TIC (0844-888-5181; www.goleicestershire.com)

Hare Pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking 2009: 13 April 2009

First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window

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The hedge roots around Hexton were spangled sherbet-yellow with primroses, and the catkin-laden hazels were loud with explosive bursts of chaffinch song, as I set out along Mill Lane from the Raven Inn. Across the north Hertfordshire fields on the southern skyline, sinuous chalk hills looked out towards the great clay plains of Bedfordshire, misty and cool in this fresh March morning.

Hexton’s neighbouring hamlet of Pegsdon lies in a southward-bulging salient of Bedfordshire. The signboard of the Live and Let Live pub showed a dove and a peregrine falcon sitting amicably together by an unloaded shotgun. So there are miracles still in the borderlands, just as the Bedfordshire tinker, fiddler and outlawed nonconformist preacher John Bunyan saw in visions when he roamed these hills in Restoration times – visions that drove him to compose The Pilgrim’s Progress in the prison cells he was so often confined in.

On the southern skyline rose the Pegsdon Hills, the ‘Delectable Mountains’ of John Bunyan’s fable. A winding path and hollow field lanes brought me to where the ancient Icknield Way, deeply sunken in a tunnel of beech and hornbeams studded with green buds, rose along the nape of the hills. The 6,000-year-old highway ran rutted, grassy and sun-splashed past Telegraph Hill where a gaunt semaphore mast was once sited by the Admiralty, one of a chain that passed signals between London and far-off Great Yarmouth. A little further along rose Galley or Gallows Hill, a place of ill-omen in Bunyan’s time, where witches were buried and the tar-soaked bodies of executed criminals hung to terrify passers-by who fervently believed that Gallows Hill was haunted by a dread Black Dog.

I turned off the old track, heading north over the rounded sprawl of Barton Hills. A nature reserve with dry chalk valleys too steep to plough, the hills remain a beautiful stretch of unspoiled chalk grassland. Trees disguised the ramparts of Ravensburgh Castle, the largest hillfort in south-east England. In 54 BC Julius Caesar attacked and stormed a hillfort in this region that was defended by the British warrior leader, Cassivellaunus – it was most likely Ravensburgh.

Beyond lay Bonfirehill Knoll, in former days the scene of the Hocktide Revels shortly after Easter. It doesn’t take much post-Freudian analysis – especially in rampant spring – to work out the symbolism of ‘Pulling the Pole’, a game in which the men of Hexton tried to keep an ash pole erect on the hill, while the women strove to collapse it and drag it down into the village. Strange to relate, the women were always triumphant. I made my way down the hill and over the fields to Hexton, with plenty to ponder.

Start & finish: Raven Inn, Hexton, Hitchin, Herts SG5 3JB (OS ref TL 106307)

Getting there: Train (www.thetrainline.com) to Harlington (5 miles)

Road: M1, Junction 12; A5120, then minor road to Harlington and Barton-le-Clay; B655 to Hexton.

Walk (10 miles, easy grade, OS Explorer 193): Leaving Raven Inn, turn left; on your left; walk up road past ‘No Through Road’ sign and continue for ½ mile (0.8 km), along Mill Lane, past Hexton Mill (blue bridleway waymarks), to pass between Green End and Bury Farm, and on to meet road (120306). Right for 300 yards, then left to pass Live & Let Live Inn (121303). In 100 yards, just before B655, left up Pegsdon Common Farm drive (fingerpost, ‘Private Road’). Rounding a left bend, go right (125305 – fingerpost) up grass path and up steps, then on up right side of conifer plantation. At end of trees, continue along rim of dry valley to waymark post (129304 – Chiltern Way/CW waymark). Left along edge of escarpment for 300 yards; right along sunken lane (CW). Pass entrance to Knocking Hoe NNR and go over stile by gate (133305). Left (CW) for 150 yards, then right along field edge path (blue arrow, ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ waymark) for 500 yards to B655. Right for 250 m along grass verge, then through car park and through gates and stiles to join the Icknield Way (132300).

Icknield Way climbs for nearly 3/4 mile, then levels off. In another 400 m, look on your right for kissing-gate with brown ‘Access Land man’ logo (121291). Continue along Icknield Way; at a fork in 150 m, keep ahead for 3/4 mile to meet a road (109282). Forward along verge for 500 yards; where road bends left under power lines, forward along Icknield Way for 2/3 mile to cross John Bunyan Trail (unmarked on ground) on edge of Maulden Firs (096275). Ahead for another 300 yards, then fork left (093273) to ascend Galley Hill.

From Galley Hill return to Icknield Way; retrace steps for 300 m to edge of Maulden Firs wood; left along John Bunyan Trail, under power lines for 2/3 mile to road (093284). Right for 150 m; left (fingerpost) through trees on path past Barton Hill Farm for 2/3 mile (1 km) to pass gate of Barton Hills National Nature Reserve on your left (092296). Continue along track, noticing on your right the thickly wooded rampart of Ravensburgh Castle, and beyond it the tree-smothered Bonfirehill Knoll.

Follow track down slope for 2/3 mile to T-junction with lane (085303). Right past church to B655 in Barton-le-Clay (085305). Right for 50 yards, left along Manor Road. 100 yards past gates of Ramsey Manor School, right (086310 – fingerpost) down path, over footbridge and follow field edge. In 100 yards, ignore arrow pointing left; keep ahead for 1 mile along field edges, to cross footbridge (104311) and the final field into Hexton. Turn right to Raven Inn.

Lunch: Raven Inn, Hexton (01582-881209; www.theraven.co.uk) or Live & Let Live, Pegsdon (01582-881739; www.theliveandletlive.com)

More info: Letchworth TIC (01462-487868); www.hertfordshire.com

First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window

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A male blackbird, yellow bill a-tremble, was making tentative inquiries of a drab brown female on a bough in the New Inn's garden as I started down the hill towards Blagdon Lake. The celandines were still curled tight and green along the high-banked lane, but there was a breath of warmth in the low sun, more than Somerset had felt for the past three months.

For well over a century Blagdon Lake water has been piped to Bristol's taps, ten miles over the hills to the north. Crossing the broad dam of the lake, I heard the subdued roar of the flood-engorged weir where snowmelt and swollen streams were sending their waters surging down the spillway. I followed the fishermen's path through the trees along the north bank of the lake, then struck out across fields thick with the winter's mud to reach the lane by Bellevue Farm – well named for its prospect of water and hills.

A little way up the lane I was pulled up short by the sight of a large badger squatting on its haunches in a cottage garden. It shouldn't have been out of its sett this early in the year, and it certainly should have fled at sight of me, instead of fixing me with a sleepy stare. It was I who walked away, leaving the badger master of the place.

The southward views grew better and better as the lane rose, until at the top of Awkward Hill I looked down over fields patchworked with green grass and red ploughland, out across the whole expanse of Blagdon Lake to the steep wall of the Mendip Hills beyond in early afternoon shadow.

The late winter light, already beginning to diminish, lay softly on the lake with a blurred sheen more like watered silk than the hard mirrored effect of a summer day's sunshine.

Down by the lake once more, I squelched towards Blagdon over boggy meadows where wild geese went lumbering into the air at my approach, trumpeting reprovingly. It was almost time for them to be off to their mating and brood-rearing, 2,000 miles north of these green Somerset fields.

Back at the New Inn, sitting on the terrace with a cheddar ploughman's and a kingly view over the lake, I heard the love-struck blackbird – or possibly another like him – still singing for spring.

Start & finish New Inn, Blagdon BS40 7SB (OS ref ST 505589)

Getting there M5 Jct 21; A 371, A368; left in Blagdon opposite Live & Let Live PH to New Inn.

Walk (5 miles, easy grade, OS Explorers 141, 154): from New Inn, walk down Park Lane, along the reservoir dam wall. On the far side, go right (504603) beside reservoir for half a mile, then forward (511608) to Bellevue Farm at West Town (517604). Left for 10 yards to road, right for three quarters of a mile; 300 yards past the top of Awkward Hill (nameplate), right over stile (527600), following path over stiles, down across fields to road (529593). Left for 250 yards; just before industrial chimney, right (531591 – footpath sign) into damp fields. Follow the footpath close to the reservoir for 1 miles; 500 yards past Holt Farm, bear left (510591) on an uphill path back to Blagdon.

Lunch New Inn (01761-462475), superb lake views from garden; NB no children indoors.

More info Wells TIC (01749-672552); www.visitsomerset.co.uk

First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window

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A glorious blue sky and a damn cold wind greeted us as we set off from the King William IV through a crisp and crunchy winter landscape. Here in South Oxfordshire, between the western skirts of the Chiltern Hills and the broad valley of the River Thames, the long pale fields had a subtle dip and roll to them, with flint-built farms in the hollows and woods on the skyline – beautiful country to walk in. A pair of red kites rode overhead, their russet wings crooked at the elbows as they adjusted their stance in the buffeting wind. What a success story the Chiltern kites have been since their reintroduction in the early 1990s; nowadays some 300 pairs thrive and breed along the hill range a few miles north and west of London.

Strong and sweet whiffs of silage came from a clamp where the farmer was busy with his forklift, digging out the sugar-rich food for the cattle wintering in his sheds. Three horses in shaggy winter pelts put their noses over the fence at Woodhouse Farm and watched us go by. Half a mile more, and we were turning along the ancient Ridgeway track in the deep holloway of Grim’s Ditch.

Grim meant ‘mysterious’ in Anglo-Saxon; to the Norsemen who settled here, Grimr was the Devil. It was Iron Age Britons who built Grim’s Ditch in pre-Roman times, a defensive structure against … who or what? We’ll never know. What remains is a great groove in the Oxfordshire earth, ten feet deep or more. Old twisted thorn trees line its banks, blackbirds and wrens rustle the fallen leaves. On this cold morning it gave shelter, firm walking and endless food for the imagination.

At Nuffield we turned aside briefly to pay our respects to car designer and philanthropist William Morris, Lord Nuffield, who lies under a modest grave slab by Holy Trinity Church. I gave him silent thanks for those wonderful round-nosed cars, bulging with character, more like family members than vehicles.

Back in the fields once more the way led over stubble and ploughland to Homer Farm, its farmhouse of red brick and flint, its barn up on staddle stones. Then it was homeward along a classic country lane, potholed and puddled between coppiced hedges and mossy banks, looking forward to wrapping our frozen fingers round a piping hot bowl of soup in the King William IV.

Start & finish: King William IV PH, Hailey, Ipsden, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 6AD (OS ref SU 642858)

Getting there: Train (www.thetrainline.com) to Goring & Streatley (4½ miles). Road: M4 (Jct 12), A340 to Pangbourne; B471 to Woodcote and A4074; minor roads to Ipsden and Hailey

Walk (6½ miles, easy grade, OS Explorer 171): From pub, right down lane; in 100 yards, right (‘Chiltern Way’/CW signs) past Poors Farm and through Wicks Wood (642870 – CW). Left along lane at Woodhouse Farm; right at Forest Row (636872); right along Ridgeway (636876) for 2 miles. At paths T-junction (666871), left to Nuffield church. Return to T-junction; ahead (footpath fingerpost); dogleg round Ridgeway Farmhouse (664865); on to Homer Farm. Keep ahead past farmhouse (663858 – footpath sign on tree) to lane. Right along lane by Bixmoor Wood for 1½ miles to Hailey.

Lunch: King William IV (excellent food, beer from barrel): 01491-681845

More info: Wallingford TIC (01491-826972); www.visitsouthoxfordshire.co.uk

www.christophersomerville.co.uk

Clouds were scudding briskly over the wide-rolling South Cotswold fields as I tramped the old hedge track to Chavenage Green. There was a sea-like look to the long waves of dark upland earth, with the surf of last year’s crab apples scattered in the ditches.
First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window

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The ice cold wind nipped fingers and stung cheeks grown pallid with too much computer-watching. It felt good to be striding out through crackling ice in the tractor ruts, following a medieval holloway across fields frozen iron hard by weeks of sub-zero temperatures.

Just beyond Chavenage Green stood the handsome Elizabethan house of Chavenage Manor. I stared in through the gates, thinking of the terrible fate of Nathaniel Stephens, lord of the manor and staunch Parliamentarian during the Civil War. After signing the death warrant of King Charles I, Stephens was cursed by his own daughter for his treachery. Legend says that when Stephens died, the hearse that came to take him to the graveyard was driven by a headless coachman. The traitor’s corpse bowed to the phantom driver and took a seat. As the equipage reached the manor gates, it burst into flames and vanished – but not before the coachman was identified by the horrified onlookers as the beheaded King himself.

I followed a sunken roadway north through the old overshot coppice of Longtree Bottom. Moss lay thick on logs, boulders and toppled stone walls. A pair of buzzards circled mewing overhead. In a tumbledown pump house at the edge of the wood an ancient diesel engine lay in the shadows, redolent of cold dead metal, the air in the shed still faintly spiced with oil. Out in the open fields the silage clamps steamed in the cold air, and clouds of jackdaws rode the wind like acrobats.

From Brandhouse Farm came a barking of dogs and the whinnying of an excited horse. On the ridge above the farm a group of bouncy little girls came bumping along the bridleway on pony-back. ‘I’m going to canter, Jessica!’ the leader called, booting her round-bellied steed to make the mud fly. I went on, huddled against the wind, listening to the conversational cawing of rooks in the leafless ash trees along Shipton’s Grave Lane. This was winter writ hard and bare, the very taste and savour of a walk through the February countryside that would end with tingling hands and reddened cheeks by the fire in Tipputs pub.

Start & finish: Tipputs PH, Bath Road, Nailsworth, Glos GL6 0QE (OS ref ST 845972)

Getting there: 2 miles south of Nailsworth on A46 (M4, Jct 18)

Walk (6½ miles, easy grade, OS Explorer 168): From Tipputs PH, cross A46 (take care!). Follow ‘Restricted Byway’ for 1½ miles to Chavenage Green. Left up Longtree Bottom for ¾ mile. Leave wood by ruined pumphouse; in 350 yards, keep ahead and descend to cross stile (868971). Right along valley bottom to Avening Park (873977). Follow tarmac lane past Vale Farm. In 500 yards (870980), turn right uphill, then left (871983) along bridleway. In ½ mile, opposite barn (863985), left over stile; follow wood edge to Shipton’s Grave Lane (857984). Left for 300 yards to crossroads; ahead over fields to lane (852980) into Upper Barton End. 200 yards past stables, left (848977; fingerpost) across 2 fields to Enoch’s Barn; right to Tipputs PH.

Lunch: Tipputs PH (upmarket, stylish): 01453-832466; www.food-club.com

More info: Nailsworth TIC (01453-839222);www.cotswoldswebsite.com