Beyond the safari park
with Nigel Vile
I’m revisiting a walk on the fringes of the Longleat Estate that may have passed “under the radar” as it was published shortly before the Covid epidemic swept the country. This walk also appeared in an excellent book entitled The Land of Towers by Richard Wallis, a collection of 20 country walks around Frome, Shepton mallet and Warminster, the towers being the Ammerdown Column, Alfred’s Tower and Cranmore Tower. At least one of these towers can be seen on each walk.
mention Longleat and many of us think of only the house and its associated theme and safari parks. But there is much more to this grand estate, including hundreds of acres of ancient woodland, fine vantage points such as Heaven’s Gate as well as Shearwater, 36 acres of open water set in the heart of Longleat’s woodland.
From Shearwater and a corner of this woodland, the walk heads across to Longbridge Deverill, where the local church and nearby almshouses will catch the eye. St Peter and St Paul’s Church is partly Norman and contains a series of memorials to the Thynnes, including John (1550-1580), who built Longleat House. The nearby Thynne almshouses date from 1655, built in rubble stone and with slate roofs and a wooden clock face that projects from the roof gables.
Having crossed the River Wylye, a farm road is followed up to Southleigh Wood – and don’t forget to look back for a fine view that includes Cow Down and Cold Kitchen Hill. One source says that the woodland is the site where Alfred the Great made ready for the Battle of Edington, that skirmish against the Vikings led by Guthrum, which took place just a few short miles to the north. There is certainly an historic feel to these woods, evidenced by an ancient earthwork enclosure known as Robin Hood’s Bower.
Beyond these ancient woods, quiet lanes and fieldpaths take the walk through the scattered village of Crockerton and back to Shearwater, renowned for its fishing and sailing facilities. Another attraction is the Lake Shearwater Tea Rooms, which offers welcome rest and refreshment at journey’s end. Open from 9.30am until 5pm, depending upon when you arrive it could be a cooked breakfast or morning coffee, a light lunch or afternoon tea.
Getting there
Leave the Warminster Bypass at the junction of the A36 with the A350. Follow the A350 – signposted to Poole – for 1 mile before turning right onto the road signposted to Shearwater. Follow this road, there is a left turn along the way, for 1 mile where the Shearwater Car Park is on the left-hand side, opposite the entrance to the lake itself.
1. Walk up to the top end of the car park and, beyond a metal barrier, follow a path uphill into Foxholes Plantation. In 250 yards, at a junction, follow the path ahead that soon clings to the edge of the woodland before reaching a road by Foxholes House in 600 yards. Follow the road to the right and, on a left-hand bend that leads up to the A350, keep ahead along a cul-de-sac road. Where this cul-de-sac ends, continue along a Tarmac path up to the A350. Cross the A350, turn left and, in a few paces, drop down some steps to follow a footpath to a stile and field. Turn right, walk to the far end of the field and pass through a gateway. Cross the next small field to a gate and Longbridge Deverill church and churchyard. Walk through the churchyard and follow a lane along to some almshouses on the left.
2. Immediately past these almshouses, turn left and
follow a path down to a footbridge over the River Wylye. Cross the river to a gate before walking across a field to the next gate. Beyond this gate, follow the path ahead for 350 yards to its junction with a lane by Sand Hill Cottage, ignoring one right turn along the way. Follow this lane – it becomes a gravelled track past Sand Hill Farm – for 600 yards to a point where the track ends at a farm gate. Pass through this gateway and walk across the field ahead, bearing right all the while, to reach a gate on the far side of the field to the right of a mound that marks the site of Sand Hill Reservoir. Beyond this gate, enter Southleigh Wood and keep ahead for 75 yards to a crossroads. Keep ahead and continue along the main woodland track for ¾ mile to a crossroads, where less well-defined paths go off left and right. Turn left and drop downhill to a junction in 200 yards, turn right and follow a path along to a metal barrier and then downhill on a track to a lane. Turn left and follow this lane for 600 yards to the A350.
3. Follow the cul-de-sac opposite before continuing along a signposted bridleway that continues uphill to the side of a property to a gateway. Keep ahead to another gateway before following the left edges of three fields. In the corner of the third field, beyond a gate, follow an enclosed path
through to a road by a property called Ernie’s Yard. Follow this quiet road to the left for 300 yards to a junction and turn left. In 200 yards, take the second of two consecutive paths on the right and drop downhill through woodland to reach a lane in 350 yards. Turn right and, in 175 yards, where the road bears left immediately past a rank of cottages, keep ahead on a woodland path beyond a metal barrier. In 250 yards, just past Shearwater Sailing Club, turn left and follow a path alongside the lake back to a lane by Shearwater Tea Rooms. Opposite is the car park.