Kilmington walk
MAP
OS Explorers 142/143
DISTANCE 6 miles TIME 3 hours TERRAIN
2 ascents; open hilltops
START
Red Lion at Kilmington (GR 787353 or postcode BA12 6RP)
Heading south from Frome towards Maiden Bradley, the landscape is dominated by woodland, remnants of the ancient Selwood Forest that extended from gillingham in dorset northwards to Chippenham. Beyond Maiden newton the landscape changes dramatically to that of large and open arable fields surrounded by some of Wiltshire’s finest hills and downland. initially there are the Little Knoll and the Long Knoll, before White Sheet Hill looms to the east. Beyond lie the isolated tops of Zeals Knoll and the Long Hill above Mere. This week’s walk explores this area, starting off at the Red Lion inn at Kilmington. The arable landscape around Search Farm makes for flat and easy walking for a couple of miles, with all around vistas of that chalk downland as a backdrop. Suitably warmed up, the first ascent is on to that Long Hill followed by the adjoining Castle Hill, with its fine view across Mere towards the distant dorset hills. The castle was a medieval fortification constructed of stone, with six towers, inner buildings and gates, but all that remains are earthworks. a longer, steadier climb brings the walk on to White Sheet Hill, a fine viewpoint as well as being an archaeologist’s dream. The hilltop can boast a hillfort, a cross-ridge dyke, a causewayed enclosure dating from 3000BC and an ancient Roman road that ran from Salisbury to the West Country. This is a national Trust property that is maintained as unimproved chalk grassland, with seasonal displays of flora that include cowslip and orchids, vetches and campanulas, that in turn attract an array of butterflies including the rare chalkhill blue. The walk drops down off of White Sheet Hill to Beech Clump, with its poignant memorial to 20 airmen who lost their lives here in 1945. Members of no 107 OTU Leicester, their plane had just taken off from nearby RAF Zeals on an overcast day with a low cloud base. The accident report suggests that the pilot, who was the sole survivor, had failed to climb to a safe height when flying in poor visibility with the dakota crashing into beech trees and bursting into flames. The memorial stone states that the pilot sustained severe injuries and subsequently died – other reports suggest that he joined the Foreign Service and committed suicide while on duty in Kenya.
GETTING THERE
Leave the a361 Frome Bypass and follow the B3092 towards Stourhead. in five miles, pass through Maiden Bradley before continuing for another three miles to reach the Red Lion inn on the left. immediately past the Red Lion is roadside parking on the left.
1. WHITE SHEET LANE
Follow White Sheet Lane alongside the Red Lion for 100 yards before turning right on to a driveway leading to Shavemead Cottage. in a few steps, pass through a gateway on the left and enter a field. Turn right and follow the right edge of the field – there is a dog leg – along to a gate. Follow the track ahead to another gate before following the right edge of a field to a stile and track called The drove. Turn left and, in 20 yards, right into a field. Follow the path along the left edge of this field to Search Farm. Keep ahead along to another property on the right. Continue for 100 yards to a junction with a track, cross the track and enter the left-hand of two fields ahead.
2. ZEALS KNOLL
Follow a track down the right edge of the field. in 600 yards, walk down the left edge of the next field, passing Zeals Knoll on the right, and keep following the field boundary – always on the left – down to a bridge crossing the a303. Cross the a303 and, in 20 yards, pass through a gate on the left. Follow the path ahead that climbs Long Hill and continue along the ridge to a gate and Castle Hill. Follow the path down some steps and along the right edge of Castle Hill – although a detour to the summit is almost obligatory. ignore the next series of steps on the right, keeping ahead along the side of Castle Hill. drop downhill at the next flight of steps to a gate and continue along a path to Manor Road, where a detour to the right brings you into Mere.
3. MANOR HOUSE
For the main walk, turn left and cross the a303, pass the Manor House on the right and, just before the next property – Swallow Cottage – follow a metalled farm road on the right. in 100 yards, keep left at a fork and climb uphill. Keep on the track as it bears left and continue uphill for ¾ mile towards White Sheet Hill. at this point, almost on the hilltop, pass through a gateway on the left and follow the line of a fence across the hilltop towards a covered reservoir and an aerial mast. Turn right by the reservoir and walk across the field to a gate and track.
4. WHITE SHEET HILL
Turn left and, in 350 yards, having passed an information board, pass through a gateway on the left onto the open ground of White Sheet Hill. Walk out the edge of the hilltop, turn right and follow a faint path – it shortly bears left and passes above a chalk quarry – before dropping downhill to a parking area. Walk down the left edge of the parking area to a gate before following a track across three fields to reach Beech Clump. Follow the track through Beech Clump and, in 200 yards, cross a stile on the right and retrace your steps across two fields back to White Sheet Lane before turning left back to the Red Lion.