Sherborne

Sherborne Abbey

We met up with friends, midway from our respective homes, to do this walk. The walk starts at the railway station and goes nowhere hear the abbey, although we did visit it after lunch. It is such a magnificent building, with some of the finest fan vaulting I have ever seen, that I thought it should be the first picture.

From the station, you head up to a path which leads into the park surrounding Sherborne Castle. The first view was impressive, although the damp cloudy weather wasn't very flattering.



Quite soon there is a fine view away to the left of the Castle, a fine late Elizabethan house built by Sir Walter Raleigh. A bit further on there is a more classic head-on view, but by then it was pouring with rain.



You then go through a section of the deer park (although there were no deer in sight), through some woodland and then back into the deer park again. Now you cross the embryonic River Yeo.


After a detour around a farm, you leave the park via ornate gates and enter woodland and then cross a couple of fields to reach the road back into Sherborne. At this point there is a disused chapel - St Cuthbert's chancel - the chancel of a former parish church. It dates from 1533, but the remainder of the was demolished in Victorian times, having fallen into disrepair.



The last section, mainly along the road, passes reasonably close to the Old Castle. It dates from the 12th century, but was largely destroyed during the civil war. The most impressive part of the ruin is the former gatehouse; its tip is just visible on the right of the photo.



After that, you cross the railway line and the river and walk along by the river back to the station.

From: Walkingworld.com (walk ID 582).

Map: Explorer 129 (Yeovil and Sherborne) - not needed, the directions were very clear.

Distance: 5 miles.

Conditions: cloudy, lots of showers, muggy when it wasn't raining.

Rating: four stars.