Tarrant Gunville and Chettle

Chettle House

We left Tarrant Gunville passing these delightful cottages ...

... and continued via School lane following a path which then led us along the edge of Eastbury Park. There was a lovely avenue of beech trees parallel with the edge. They were difficult to photograph into the sun - this was my best effort.

We followed a green lane with a large field beside it where there were a series of mysterious large hummocks - round barrows.

We followed a field edge and then went through woodland to emerge in a large field, by a long barrow, and turned right to walk through along the field edge and then through Little Wood. A right turn took past fields and some radio masts and we headed north east towards Chettle. This section was trying as the route past Ninety Plantation had been ploughed up and it was difficult to find the continuation of the path on the far side of the next field. A farmer in his tractor put us straight and we passed through a stand of trees expecting to cross a field of rapeseed in a diagonal line. No chance, there was no suggestion of a path, so we had to follow the field edge. It was noticeable how many white butterflies were attracted by this crop.

Now we were back on track and soon reached Chettle House where there was a first of all a view through trees of one side of this beautiful Queen Anne house.

Pevsner describes it as "the plum among Dorset houses of the early 18th century, even nationally outstanding." It was built for George Chafin who held the post of Ranger of Cranborne Chase. The architect was Thomas Archer.

We headed down to the pretty Victorian church ...

... and headed towards the village, which we passed behind as we crossed a large field. We noticed the rather pretty octagonal building on the right, but could not decide its purpose.

We had some uncertainty with the route after this, but eventually worked out how to get back to the large field with the long barrow and then retraced the route back to the village.

Conditions: sunny and warm.

From: 50 walks in Dorset (AA).

Map: Explorer 118 (Shaftesbury and Cranborne Chase).

Distance: 5 miles.

Rating: four stars, mainly for Chettle House.