Visiting the Giant's Grave at Melcombe Bingham

Dorset this week - selected mainly as the weather maps showed this as being the nearest location that was expected to have only light rain rather than a deluge. Yes the fabulous British summer weather returns...

More precisely  Melcombe Bingham and the Giants Grave. This was a walk of two parts - the first a quick run up the hill to find the pillow mound and "gravestone" and a second longer walk starting in the village but going in a completely different direction.

So first the Giant's Grave. This is the "headstone" at the end of a long low pillow mound ( medieval, not prehistoric  but constructed to provide a home for rabbits and a cheap source of meat). To be honest the mound is very hard to see so I am more or less taking this on trust.

Not the most exciting of menhirs but nevertheless it has a quaint story attached. The giant in question lost a stone throwing contest with a neighbouring giant and died of disappointment!




So back to the centre of the village and a steep climb up the other side of the valley. Spring has been very late this year so the path sides were thick with both spring and early summer flowers. Red and white campion. cowslips, primroses, vetch, violets and many more.

The wind and rain had set in by now and it was very exposed at the top of the ridge. The views would have been fabulous if we'd been able to see anything but low lying grey cloud. Oh well.

We could see the ditches and lines of the barrows at the top - this is taken looking along the top of one of them.

Coming down from the top it was a lot pleasanter being sheltered from the wind  and we carried on to find the Dorsetshire Gap

This was quite magical. A mysterious meeting of 5 trackways which cut deeply into the landscape. This was the hub of Dorset from medieval times to the 19CE.





All around is evidence of    of prehistoric and medieval settlement: hilltop cross dykes, barrows and an incomplete iron age fort.

I could have stayed here a lot longer than we did but it was time to take the upper track and start to head back to the car.

Stopping of course to admire the bluebells in the wood and to pick some of the wild garlic which was everywhere.







 What goes down though must come up and there was a short climb back up on to the exposed ridge to enjoy the wind and rain again... 

Still we were rewarded by the sight of a dew pond which made the climb almost bearable. I was glad though to drop down into the valley again and take the farm track along the bottom back to the car.

 

Beltaine at Butser

Firstly an apology for the picture quality. I decided to travel light with just the Sony Cybershot but it went flat on me and we had to resort to the mobile phone camera. That'll teach me!

Anyway  - not much to say so on with the pictures

Plenty of live music to get the visitors dancing. "Reckless" were playing when this was taken.

The venue is the reconstructed Iron Age village and this was a display of some of the plants and spices available then.

Some demonstrations of traditional crafts. This one was flint knapping. Flint is all over the hillside so he had plenty of raw material to work with. He was making some lovely spear and arrow heads.

A traditional besom broom maker - although he was using wire to wrap rather than the traditional willow withies. Lots of children were channelling their inner Harry Potter and he was doing a roaring trade in child sized brooms - he sold a fair few adult sized ones too and sold out of his supply of staffs very quickly.

 A view of some of the iron age buildings.

 An interior shot. Most of the buildings were in use and had a central wood fire. There was nowhere for the smoke to escape so the occupants must have been pretty well kippered. My eyes were streaming very quickly in some of the smaller huts.

As well as the live bands we had Mummers to entertain us...

Butser is known for its burning of the wicker man - so here he is. All that is missing is Edward Woodward or we could be on Summerisle.

A close up of his head - not quite sure what the parasol is all about though.

Wishes could be written on pieces of paper and tied to the wicker man to be carried up with the flames.

He was stuffed with straw to help him burn - you can see some of it here.

 As the light was beginning to fail the dancing really got started. Helped I'm sure by the real ale and cider tent!

And the moment we'd all waited for.  The raffle was drawn and the winner was allowed to light the sacrificial man. Here the blaze is just starting to get hold of his legs.

Now fully ablaze - you can almost see all those wishes being released!

I think a great evening was had by all.

The Valley of the Rocks

Egypt has the Valley of the Kings - Devon has the Valley of the Rocks...

Lynton is buried deep on the Devon coast and although in miles it isn't that far, it takes an age to get to whichever way you go. The village is quaint with loads of tea and gift shops and a hand made candlemaker. You really don't want to know how much I managed to spend in there!

One unscheduled return trip to the car to drop off armfuls of candles and we were at last ready to set out for the valley.

Lynton ( at the top of the cliff) is connected to Lynmouth ( at the bottom of the cliff ) by a Victorian water powered lift. It would be a steep climb otherwise.











Today our path took us midway between the two on the South West coast path. Health and Safety be damned. The path wends its way along the edge of the cliff with steep drops down and not a safety rail in sight. There are a few conveniently situated benches along it - just right to sit and eat a warm pasty ( I almost said Cornish pasty then!).  There were gulls and choughs circling below us and fabulous views of the Welsh coast merging into the mist - almost a mythical landscape.

 It's a pleasant easy walk along the path and the first rock formation was "Ragged Jack". A group of Druids dancing and making merry on the sabbath were turned to stone by the devil!

This is Castle rock - easy to see how it got its name. No prizes for guessing what came next - yes a trek to the top. A trek? Well more of a scramble really in places but it was well worth it.

Fabulous views from the top. The loose rocks on top of the mound are stacked and fallen at amazing angles.

Some of them look quite unstable and others show the effects of their falls and weathering. This one was split neatly in two as if hit with a giant axe.

Opposite the Castle is the Devil's Cheese Ring ( he was obviously busy in the Lyn valley!). This is said to be the site of the cave of Mother Meldrum in R D Blackmore's famous novel Lorna Doone.




 There is however no sign of a cave now other than a few stacked boulders - yes we did climb up to it to check!

And here is Mother Meldrum herself - the White Lady. She forms part of the Castle rock and is helpfully signed from the path so you don't miss her.











We decided to continue along the coastal path for a while, past Lee Abbey and spent a few minutes walking on the beach before heading back up on to the cliffs and circling back. This was hard work. Every time we gained some height it was promptly lost on the next down hill section only for the path to go back up again almost immediately....

Once we got past the Valley of the Rocks it became very quiet and we didn't see any other walkers at all - other than these locals who didn't seem too pleased to see us and couldn't get away fast enough!

Well Well Well(s)

Despite living so close to Wells it's a city I've never really visited other than to visit the bank in the High St and occasionally do a bit of shopping.

The first surprise was that a large supermarket was being built on the car park I usually use and  how much it was now going to cost me to park for the morning. Oh well.

I joined a group for the City tour

First though we had the pleasure of the local Town Crier drumming up some business for the market.

I don't think the Poet Laureate need worry - nor Pam Ayres!

Wells is Somerset's only city and either Britain's smallest or second smallest depending on what definition you want to use. Settlement dates back to at least the Roman times and very likely a lot earlier.

 Wells is of course famous for the Cathedral. Parts of the building date back to the tenth century and the west front is claimed to be  the finest collection of statuary in Europe. Although there are some modern ones, nearly   300 of its original medieval statues remain.

The statues and carvings tell various biblical stories. Just as a sample here is Eve tempting Adam with an apple - complete with the serpent curling above their heads.

Tucked around the side is the second oldest working clock in the UK ( the oldest is on Salisbury Cathedral). Whether you can rightfully claim this for a clock with a Victorian mechanism and a replacement central dial seems to me rather a stretch but there you go.

The original mechanism is safely in the Science Museum in London after having a narrow escape from the scrap metal merchant.

Despite the grandeur of the Cathedral I think this was my favourite part . Vicar's Close. A wonderful cobbled street lined with Grade 1 listed houses.







It claims to be the oldest residential street, dating from 14CE. Originally 44 houses, there are now 27, a change which resulted from the reformation and the permission for clergy to marry.



and finally I had to include, of course, a holey stone.

This is a hoker or oath stone through which farmers would shake hands to clinch a deal. Obviously at some time it has also done duty as a gate post.

It's also been moved - it was originally sited on Tor Hill but apart from that there seems to be little information on it.

Llantwit Major Beach

The recent bank holiday weekend was a chance to go back "home" and of course to visit the beach.

I love this beach. Many of my childhood holidays were spent here, often in driving rain and indulging in the hated activity of "winkle picking" for my grandfather who loved this delicacy...

More to my taste was fossil hunting in the boulders on the shore. The cliffs themselves are dangerously unstable and although full of tempting caves I was forbidden to go anywhere near them.

Llantwit Major beach is world famous for its limestone pavements.

The pavement is deeply scored by the tide  and the water collects in the depressions. Home to many sea creatures such as the aforementioned winkles.

Although mostly rocky, there are a few patches of sand, especially on the lower reaches of the beach.







This is the home of the Honeycomb worm (Sabellaria alveolata) .  A strange worm that builds a tube home out of mucus and sand particles. Being gregarious in nature these build up into fragile reefs which are easily crushed underfoot.

However the Honeycomb worm doesn't have the sand to itself. The occasional visitor had been seen to paddle across from Somerset in a coracle.

Rather him than me - it was bitingly cold!

Uley Again

Today was a return to an area we'd been to before but last time it was barrows, barrows and more barrows. This time we thought we try and find the hillfort at Uley

 It proved very easy to find - well it isn't exactly small, being over a mile if you walk around it!

Uley Bury hill fort is a very large Iron Age fort and very well preserved. It covers approximately 32 acres and dominates the landscape.

There is evidence of occupation from 300BCE to 100CE


 
The Bury is surrounded by step steep natural slopes made steeper by some judicious use or earth workings. It was created by terracing two lines of ramparts into the hillside. 





The entrance. There have been a number of interesting finds here including a crouched burial, coins including  one of   gold  from the Dobunni and a silver Roman coin






 The centre of the fort is private property but luckily a public footpath skirts the ramparts so you can peek in. Not much to see other than a flat meadow but aerial photography has revealed lots of crop marks so it looks like it was once heavily inhabited.

Time for lunch at the Old Crown Inn at Uley. Very pretty and great food. The fire was much appreciated as it wasn't that warm outside and although it looks empty here we were early. 30 minutes later it was packed!


Back now to the car but as Hetty Peglar's Hump ( Uley Long barrow) was so close we thought we'd just drop by to see if English Heritage had finished their restoration work. Last time we visited it was closed ans swathed in plastic.

 They had

It's a painful low crawl in but fortunately not far. I could have done without the sharp stones English Heritage have laid on the path. Very hard on the knees.

Still well worth it though. Absoluetely pitch dark inside as expected,

Inside there are numerous small chambers. Technically I'm told its a Gallery Grave. It is obviously heavily restored but nonetheless atmospheric.

Somerset in the Snow

I have a bit of a dilemma today - no trip out. Well not exactly true but the outlet centre in Swindon isn't really that photogenic even if the shopping trip was long overdue.

So today's pictures are in honour of the current bitingly cold weather - I don't think it has risen above freezing today and I really felt sorry for the stallholders at the farmers' market. It was far too cold to linger around their wares and they didn't seem to be selling much sadly.

These were taken earlier this year around my home village.

The view from the sitting room window and the sad remains of the apple tree. No apples at all last year. I wonder if we will be luckier this year? No sign of blossom on it yet.

The view across the valley  - still plenty of snow waiting to fall.

A teasel head from last year's growth

Getting arty now! Later in the year this pond will be alive with croaking frogs. Here it is still and quiet.

Some very overexcited geese!

The farmer had just appeared with a bucket of something interesting and they couldn't get there fast enough despite slipping all over the place in their haste.

The sheep though seemed much less keen to move from their bed of hay!