puddleshark

Another walk in the Tarrant Valley, this time following old drove ways from Tarrant Monkton, and not getting lost once...

An early morning drive along the Tarrant Valley, the roads empty.

Along the narrow back lane to Tarrant Monkton - the lane that avoids the ford (the Elderly Ford does not approve of fords, which is a bit ironic). Parked the car by the village pub, which must be quite popular, since it has two overflow car parks in neighbouring fields.

The Langton Arms.

Lots of thatched cottages in the village.

Over the ford, and a right turn up the lane a little way, before joining Turner's Lane, the old drove way that leads up onto the downs.

A slightly sunken way, between high hedges. Sheltered and secretive. At this time of year, the way lined with elderberries and rosehips and sloes.

Darter & Elderberries, Turner's Lane, Tarrant Monkton

No views, unless you scramble up onto a steep bank along a track left by the badgers, but this is north Dorset arable country anyway, so at this time of year the views are either sinister or boring: a landscape peopled by monoliths (if the straw is yet to be brought in) or a landscape of vast empty stubble fields (once the straw has been brought in).

Onto the bridleway that skirts the edge of Launceston Wood. No chance of getting onto the wrong path. There are "PRIVATE WOOD. KEEP OUT." notices on all tracks leading into the wood. I suspect the wood might be quite pretty in sunlight, but as I was passing it was being gloomy and sinister. The bridleway skirts several orderly, straight-edged woods, planted by landowners for timber and as cover for game, with names like Horse Coppice, Strawberry Coppice, Hogstock Coppice.

The sun came out! It's peaceful here, but rather bleak. A landscape devoid of deer and hares and birds - not so much as a rook or a wood pigeon.

The bridleway then crosses an arable field, where I got a bit carried away photographing monoliths.

Landscape with Monoliths, Tarrant Monkton 2

Landscape with Monoliths, Tarrant Monkton 4

Landscape with Monoliths, Tarrant Monkton 5

And then left onto Common Drove, a path leading back down to the valley.

Too narrow for modern farm machinery. An old-fashioned way lined with wild flowers: Field Scabious, Wild Basil and Wild Marjoram, St John's Wort. The banks humming with bees and hoverflies. A few battered late-summer butterflies on the wing. And what looked like a Brown Hawker, with distinctly amber wings, hunting along the track.

Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis).

Wild Basil, Common Drove, Tarrant Monkton

Wild Basil (Clinopodium vulgare).

Nearing the village, I met a gentleman on an electric bike, who was gliding majestically uphill, accompanied by two golden retrievers who gave me a good barking-to (because I am a suspicious character without a canine companion).

Back down into the village, playing dodge-the-bin-lorry along the narrow lane.

True wuv. Graffiti on the parapet of the bridge. Presumably from the days when lovestruck rural teenagers had no other means of entertainment.

All Saints, Tarrant Monkton. I don't think I've ever been inside - it has always been locked when I've visited. But I think it was heavily restored in 1873 anyway. I couldn't see any memorials in the churchyard that predate the 1870s.

The pub still wasn't open on my return, so I sat on a wooden bench in the churchyard in the sunshine and drank coffee from a thermos. The only sound the rival cooing of wood pigeons and collared doves, and the cawing of the rooks.