In this episode of my series “ Walks in Dorset”, I take a 5 mile “circular” walk from the village of Broadwindsor up to Lewesdon Hill (the highest hill in Dorset) & back. Once again I am accompanied by my Whippet, Logan.
I park my car in Broadwindsor and after having a look at the St John The Baptist church I have a wander around the village. I had a couple of small detours – firstly to the East of the village to check out the cricket pitch (one of the prettiest in the county) & also to the North West of the village to see if I could spot what was one The Butcher's Arms pub at Hursey.
Broadwindsor still has one pub – The White Lion – as well as a community stores. There is a lot of interesting history to the village – Charles II once slept in what was once The Castle Inn (now a property called The George – it is no longer a pub) – and Crosskeys House (also once a pub) has links with the story of Martha Brown who was the last woman to be publicly hanged in Dorset.
My route took me out of Broadwindsor, heading South through fields and uphill towards Lewesdon Hill. After entering woods near the top of the hill, and passing by the memorial to WW2 pilot Jean De Cloedt – I climbed the final steep ascent to the top where I got to explore the remains of an Iron Age Hill Fort.
I then followed a path Southwards & downhill to the foot of Lewesdon Hill before heading West past a farm.
My route then took me uphill – with some great views to the South including Pilsdon Pen (the site of another Iron Age Hill Fort) – to a ridge at which point I joined a section of the Wessex Ridgeway that took me back up Lewesdon Hill.
I finally reached the memorial to Jean De Cloedt again and retraced my steps back to Broadwindsor.
NB: There was a short section of the footpath near Great Beach Coppice (on the Westwards section of the walk) that was VERY muddy (almost like a bog – even in July). There may have been an opportunity to divert off the public footpath via a field to the North to avoid this – otherwise you will need a pair of good waterproof boots.
The White Lion pub is a “community pub” and it is best to check their website for opening times (some days, the pub does not open until 5pm).
Map courtesy of Google Maps.
Aerial pictures courtesy of Google Maps.
Historic Maps NLS Maps 'Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland' https://maps.nls.uk/index.html
Information Sources: Wikipedia, Dorset Churches, Historic England, British History Online & Dorset OPC.
Music by Original Spruce (Copyright owner). Permission for me to use this track has been given to me by the copyright owner. 2022. Tracks (in order of appearance in the video): 1) Pembrokeshire, 2) Marching The Moors, 3) Eko Eko, 4) Open The G, 5) Nicely Stone & 6) Martin Down . (To download these tracks & other music by Original Spruce go to: https://spruce1.bandcamp.com.
For further videos in the series, please go to: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP-PdocpLbbVj_2E4VxeU_w or my website at https://daveford5966.wixsite.com/website
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I use a GOPRO HERO 7, 8 or 10 Black Action Camera (sometimes with a Gimbal) & a Rode microphone (either a “Shotgun” or a Rode Wireless Go) together with a Canon Powershot SX530 HS.