Winterborne Zelston

St Mary's church, Winterborne Zelston

For today's walk we drove from Poole to the village of Winterborne Zelston. On the way along the A31 we passed the longest brick wall we have ever seen, enlivened by three splendid entrance gates. It turns out to have been the Drax wall which surrounds Charborough Park (at least on the road side). Built in 1841 by the Drax family, it is said to be 3 miles long and to contain 2 million bricks. The present owner is Sir Richard Drax MP (for South Dorset) who was born Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax.

We parked by the church and admired the stone tower and the nice display of snowdrops. We headed aw`y from the church and turned left to follow the well-marked path heading west across fields to pass through a farm. Soon we passed the large and imposing farm at Winterbourne Tomson ...

... and then made a detour towards the farm to see the beautiful 12th century church of St Andrew, which was restored in the 1920s. The plain apse was very striking.

We retraced our steps and continued westward to reach Muston Lane (a track really) and made a detour left to get a glimpse of Anderson Manor, built in 1622.

We walked past the Manor and crossed a delightful stream ...

... to reach the 13th century St Michael's church, largely of 1622 like the Manor. It had new windows in 1889 and is now a private chapel. The porch was a bit of a let-down.
 

We returned to Muston Lane and headed north, and then east to join a section of Roman road which continues as far as Badbury Rings.

We turned left through an area of woodland and then right to follow a field path and then a lane to return to the village.

Conditions: bright and sunny.

Distance: 4 miles.

Rating: 4 stars.

Map: Explorer 117 (Cerne Abbas & Bere Regis).