#TheWoodlanders a Thomas Hardy walk

Thomas Hardy is my favourite author. I will not get all literary here save to say I find it easy to be absorbed by his narratives, his descriptions and his observations of both people and nature. It also makes me smile that we share the same birth date - albeit 175 years apart.

Many years ago I joined The Thomas Hardy Society. One of the things I came across as a result was the Society had identified and published what they call "Hardy's walks". Hardy's Wessex is of course semi fictional - place names in the novels are not actual names - Wessex does not actually exist - but it is clearly drawn from real places and the experiences Hardy had enjoyed from them. Consequently it is possible to tie in place names with the names Hardy uses and in this way The Thomas Hardy Society have been able to identify, describe and map some walks that form settings for Hardy novels.
There are 6 walks all together I think - all based in and around where Hardy was born and brought up - Dorchester (his Casterbridge). It has been on my to do list to do these walks for years. Finally I have done one! I shall describe it below.

We did the "Woodlanders walk" - which is central to his well known novel (and atmospheric film) The Woodlanders. Before I describe the walk - a bit of housekeeping!

Mid October - but the weather was ok - some rain not really cold. We are hardy campers (pun not intended!). We like it simple. We find a small farm camp site adjacent to Thorncombe Wood - (which surrounds Hardy's cottage - his birth place - at Higher Bockhampton). We set up our little tent - there is no one else on the site. Amazing - we sit looking out on the wood Hardy was brought up in. We are close to the lane he must have walked thousands of times. Camping is great - we are out in the elements - we cook our dinner on the meths fuelled Trangia. A chilli!) Camping food always tastes good.

Next morning is the 7 mile Woodlanders walk. It is in north west Dorset - not far by car. We drive to the start in the picturesque village of Evershot. Already it evokes a Hardy setting. The walk starts at The Common - marked by a big Holm Oak. Instructions are to proceed up the lane - north until you get to the massive Scots Pine where you bear right. It is very quiet - it is peaceful - it is lovely. We are walking where Hardy walked - we are walking where Grace Melbury and Giles Winterbourne walked too - ha!

Thereafter we follow the written instructions - sometimes a bit of a puzzle - there are a myriad of paths and bridleways. The OS map we have is very useful - actually essential I would say.

It was some time ago that I read The Woodlanders. It is the setting - the rural setting - the woodland setting in and around Hardy's Little Hintock and the people working there that has stayed with me more than the specifics of the narrative. Much of this walk takes you back to that time. Much I am sure has not changed. There is still the smell of wood smoke on this bright autumn day. There has been little building development - the magnificent trees still dominate - it is agricultural - it is unspoilt. However there is one blight - the A37 - and we noticed it around Upper Bockhampton too - the A35. Despite being well off road - despite no sight of a road - there is the distant irritant of traffic noise. It is not loud but too often it is there. In Hardy's time there was no traffic - just horses and carriages. It does detract from the purity a little.

But the walk is great. I will admit to getting jumbled in my mind between actual place names and the ones Hardy uses - are they real or not - it forms a gentle smiling puzzle. It is lovely - I am very happy to be here in this semi fictional land.

As we look back there is a distant view of Hintock House ( actually Melbury House). Hintock House is where the femme fatale Felice Charmond was lady of the manor !? We walk Bubb Down Hill - to the trig point. There are great views of Blackmore Vale (Vale of the White Hart) beyond. We make the lovely walk down to the little village of  Melbury Bubb and visit the little church - such a perfect little place. We sit on the grass outside the gate - eat our sandwiches (thank you Jo) and admire what the THS walk identifies as the house of the cad - Dr Fitzpiers. The lovely Grace Melbury lived in this village of course - and the heroic and tragic Giles Winterbourne had his cottage in the forest. Suke Damson and her husband Timothy Tang lived here too - walked on these lanes - it is fantasy - it is amusing - it is amusing to be here!

Dr Fitzpiers disappears ‘into the gorgeous autumn landscape’ in pursuit of Felice Charmond, to be

replaced by Giles Winterbourne who:

looked and smelt like Autumn's very brother, his face being sunburnt to wheat‐colour, his
eyes blue as corn‐flowers, his boots and leggings dyed with fruit‐stains, his hands clammy
with the sweet juice of apples, his hat sprinkled with pips, and everywhere about him that
atmosphere of cider which at its first return each season has such an indescribable
fascination for those who have been born and bred among the orchards. ... Nature was
bountiful, she thought. No sooner had she been starved off by Edred Fitzpiers than another
being, impersonating bare and undiluted manliness, had arisen out of the earth, ready to
hand.
We make our way back to the trig point field.

the extensive wood which encloses this pasture is the site of the revels on ‘old Midsummer
eve’ when the girls ‘attempt some spell or enchantment which would afford them a glimpse of their future partners for life’.

It is then down the hill - through Stockwood - no one around whatsoever - just us in the timeless woods and fields - early stage autumnal and all the better for that. We find our way to St Edwold's church.

This is another idyllic spot with the house and tiny St Edwold’s church, tucked in below the wooded slopes

of Bubb Down. Stockwood (originally Stoke‐St‐Edwold) is championed by some as Little Hintock –whilst the

house and yard could be Mr Melbury’, there is nothing else there apart from the smallest church in

Dorset, which is almost attached to the house. In the search for Little Hintock, the church is actually a disadvantage

for in the novel only Great Hintock is so endowed.

We walk on across the fields - skies are getting ominous - we make a pub called the Rest and Welcome on the former Roman Road - now the A37. It is only us and the landlord. We are 30 minutes early for "happy hour". I ask does it get busy at happy hour - he says resignedly - not really - the only ones who come in are the ones that would be here anyway! In the course of a beer/cider the heavens open. We could stay - but we still have 2 or 3 miles to go and better not to try it in the dark! We have our wet weather gear in our rucksacks. We set out chuckling to ourselves. It is an atmospheric walk through the fields to the village of Melbury Sampford and then on through to the estate of Melbury Park with Melbury Park House (of Hintock House and Mrs Charmond) up the very long drive. Eventually we exit through the Lion Gate and down the hill to the massive Scots Pine and shortly to our car at Evershot. What a great walk - worth doing certainly without the Thomas Hardy Woodlanders connection - but all the better for it - it added a lot!

So then a gentle drive back to the tent. Some lovely food - and some wine and beer - very atmospheric being in a field at Higher Bockhampton as a massive full moon emerged from behind Thorncombe Wood. Wow. I must read The Woodlanders again! 

 

Here are a few mob photos :

  

Hardy's birth place and where he grew up.

Stinsford Church



Hardy is buried at Poets corner in Westminster Abbey. His heart is buried at Stinsford

A bigger tent as we are not wild camping - we came by car!

 

We look out over Thorncombe Wood

On the farm as in Hardy times



The walk start - The Common Evershot

The large Scots Pine

 

Coming down Bubb Down Hill

 

Down to the trig point

Melbury's home at Melbury Bubb?

Melbury Bubb church

Is this Dr Fitzpiers house?

We head for Stockwood

To the smallest church in Dorset

Is this where Grace Melbury was brought up?

through Melbury Sampford in the rain

Through the estate of Melbury (Hintock) House. no sign of Felice!

A bright full moon comes up over Thorncombe Wood

 

#Brexit hard or soft etc

Exasperation with those "remainers" trying to derail the referendum leave decision would be an understatement!

The UK voted to leave the EU in an in or out referendum.

It was clearly understood by the wider electorate who were massively engaged with the referendum debate that the following were true :

• Terms of being part of the single market requires free movement of labour and being subject to EU laws.
• Leaving the single market carries significant economic dangers.
• No one argued or expected that the UK economy would immediately grow as a result of leaving the EU.
• The only way to control our borders and for our own laws to be paramount is to leave the single market.

It is very clear the electorate voted to put controlling our borders and making our own laws as more important than the economic risk in the full expectation that we would have to leave the single market. The electorate voted for what is termed HARD BREXIT.

The governments mandate is to get the best economic deal they can providing they deliver on control of our borders and laws. We must trust them to do it. They have our prerogative to do so.

There is a  ludicrous and cynical call that the terms for leaving should be voted on by parliament before negotiation. How can that work? Are people saying unless we get a particular economic deal we have to stay in the EU?

There is an equally ludicrous and deeply cynical and manipulative call for parliament to vote on the terms on which we ultimately leave the EU. This is clearly part of agenda to stall or undermine the democratic decision of the people to leave the EU. Some MP "remainers" believe they know better and do not have the good grace to accept the decision and move on. If they get their way why would the EU offer us anything other than dreadful terms. It is so illogical.

We are leaving to control our own laws, borders and money. We will try and do a trade deal with the EU from this red line. If we do not get a deal we will have to revert to WTO rules and there will be some economic pain - that is understood and a price we have clearly indicated we are prepared to pay.

Personally I am far more optimistic. I fully believe the benefits of engaging with global trade will quickly offset loss of EU markets. I fully believe our nation will be stronger by standing on our own two feet.

Fortunately the Theresa May government have got the electorates message. Some "remainers" have to show good grace and accept the fully democratic referendum result and engage with process rather than trying to undermine it. The Liberal Democrats/Clegg and people like Miliband, Nicky Morgan and Anna Soubry are so out of tune with the electorate and are not listening.

PS - increasingly opposition MP's are caricaturing BREXIT as a Tory project and that the referendum was only called to satisfy a Tory rump. This is both ridiculous and totally disingenuous. The PEOPLE wanted a vote - it was long overdue. As many "Tory" MP's campaigned to stay as leave. It was the PEOPLE who voted for Brexit. Both remainers and leavers stated unequivocally that voting to leave the EU was a vote to leave the single market (and therefore with inherent economic risk). Those that are now arguing while they respect the referendum decision the form of Brexit was never discussed are LYING. It was stated clearly. The PEOPLE understood a desire to control our laws, money and borders could only be achieved outside the single market. That is what we voted for! It was NOT an economic decision. They voted to demonstrate they valued their freedom and nationhood as more important than money.


 

#RattleBrook Dartmoor "wild camping".

My early morning bike ride. A big change - autumnal indeed. Cycled back in to the face of a brisk north easterly - but a low bright sun - fully awake by the time I got back - ha! Warming and substantial porridge feels right for breakfast.

I have been down in Exeter for over a week - in the main with my daughter and husband and two beautiful little grand daughters. Incredibly Annabelle is now off to Primary School. Time is flashing by. A lovely privilege to be able to play a part in the gradual introduction to full days at first school. Really special. Fantastic to see Annabelle - cycling to school on her little bike - togged in her new school uniform and can't get there quick enough!

I have to mention the quiz night at the Stowy Arms (at Exminster). A typical pub quiz I guess - but the quiz master was Roger and our team the "Bricknell's Boys" (the name of our old headmaster). Together as a group of school mates we went to the Glastonbury Festival in the summer and Roger sold us the idea of joining in his big quiz night and that we must come down at some point. Anyway we did. What a good night - really well supported and Rog is a bit of a local celeb. (Modestly) Bricknell's Boys were the winners - (to some howls of fix). We did have an advantage - 3 aged 62 and one aged 61 - that is a shockingly lot of years to accumulate knowledge. Stating the total obvious - the human brain is incredible. It is amazing how things and facts almost forgotten or only ever half remembered can be dug out from the depths. How on earth does it work? Anyway not much senility evident so far - touch wood. Well done Satch - and I am sure it was just coincidence that one of the questions was - Vectis is the Roman name for where? - ha!

What I really intended to write about is two nights spent wild camping on Dartmoor - Dartmoor - Devon's wild and oft intimidating and always spectacular extended high granite moor.

We walked into the moor from our start point of the Dartmoor Inn carrying packs with everything we would need for two nights in a small tent. The Friday forecast was with the possibility of a shower - overnight and Saturday heavy showers and Sunday sunny and fine. We did not expect it to be particularly cold. The meteorologists pretty much got it spot on.

I have been here before - I have done quite a few treks on Dartmoor. Much is familiar - but walk memories merge and the tor landmarks look so different and often the same in light changes. It is a challenging place to navigate in - and judging distances not straightforward. It is beautiful. It is special. It is a genuine wilderness - it is so quiet - so unspoilt.

As we were setting off later than originally planned and with the threat of rain and heavy packs it made sense to get down to our planned camping spot in the Rattle Brook valley sooner rather than later. Erecting a tent in the rain is always best avoided if possible - ha! On the way we climbed Bray (Brat) tor famous for the landmark Widgery Cross on its summit. Puffing! Great views but ominous skies. We head down across clumpy turf for Hare Tor - really enjoying and to be honest feeling rather privileged to be in such a wonderful, quiet, massive, remote and special place all on our own. The threatening weather made it seem even more moody and atmospheric. We head across a wild moorland expanse in the direction of Chat tor - ground conditions are hard going - wet and boggy at times - but we know we do not have far to go to our chosen camp site. We speculate how easy it would be to lose bearings in poor visibility. We bear off down into the Rattle Brook valley and descend over tricky ground to be beside Rattle Brook on a flat lush turf promontory and a perfect isolated camp site. Kettle on - tent up. We sit outside and prepare dinner - stuffed tortellini - and take pleasure in our surroundings - a massive reward for a bit of effort and initiative.  It is not long before the showers start. It rains through the night and there were heavy showers for most of the following day. You might choose better weather - but it was great to be out in these wild elements. We were warm and dry - had plenty of good food - something to cook it on and - and a few luxuries. The vast moor surrounded us - the Rattle Brook made soothing noises as it rushed off the moor to eventually form one of the several Devon rivers that have their source on the high wet moor - water dropped by the prevailing south westerlies coming in over 3000 miles of unbroken Atlantic ocean. Our company and only in the distance - sheep and moorland cattle. Sadly perhaps - few people these days experience something like this - wild camping. They are at home in their box - TV on - and dinner in the microwave. (sorry that sounds judgemental - it is not intended to be really - but it is easy to become divorced from nature in our increasingly sterile and one dimensional world).

On Saturday we enjoyed the simple pleasures of breakfast in the tent with the rain coming down - warm and dry but with a strong sense of nature and a wild moorland and big sky view. Later as the rain eased we topped another couple of tors. Pre dinner drinks - beer or wine (just enough) was followed by a lovely risotto including peppers and bacon cooked on a meths fuelled Trangia - later a splash of whisky before bedtime - great stuff! The rain cleared overnight - the stars were out - it got cold but we were warm cosy in our little sturdy tent.

Sunday was a brilliant weather day. The sun was up - warm and clear visibility - we get water from the stream (I use a Sawyer) - brew up - breakfast - de camp and set off to eventually walk out. We see only a handful of fellow walkers in the whole day. The moor, the tors and the hugely extended views (due to the clear weather) are our privilege. We spend quite a lot of time clambering on Great Links Tor. It is a massive landmark as you get close. The views from the top are 360 panoramic - and we believe it is possible to see the sea well off to the coast of South Devon - wow. The top of Great Links Tor is worth the effort to get to indeed - very tactile scrambling on those massive, solid granite slabs and clitter (broken off granite bolders) that have their origin deep in the bowels of the earth and have stood there for millions of years and shaped in the harshest of weather.

Eventually we walk out on the old mining tramway track - now defunct of course but built 150 years ago. We round the foot of the grey whale like Great Nodden Tor and walk back to our start point - happy and tired and moved.

It is late Sunday afternoon - the Dartmoor Inn is closed but eureka - the nearby Fox & Hounds is open. Dartmoor Real Ale/Rattlers Cider and a wonderful roast dinner topped off a special weekend. To the next time!

Here are some views from my mob camera :-