Barn walks

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Walks from The Barn To the Rocks Duration: 45 minutes Grade: -Easy, suitable for young children. Terrain: tarmac road, rocky path incline to the first gate. Directions: Come out of the drive and turn right and walk towards the village square, go past the school and the church and continue going up the hill. Keep walking straight on up the road and go past the junction. Continue walking up the hill until you reach a house called ‘The Hames’ on the left, diagonally opposite you will see a gate.

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A booklet of walks in the Mendips which can be accessed directly from The Barn Burrington

Transcript of Barn walks

Walks from The Barn

To the Rocks Duration: 45 minutes Grade: -Easy, suitable for young children. Terrain: tarmac road, rocky path incline to the first gate. Directions: Come out of the drive and turn right and walk towards the village square, go past the school and the church and continue going up the hill. Keep walking straight on up the road and go past the junction.

Continue walking up the hill until you reach a house called ‘The Hames’ on the left, diagonally opposite you will see a gate.

Walk through the gate 1 remembering to close it after you. Continue walking up the path 2 when you reach a fork take the left hand path 4 and continue walking straight on through the wooded area 4 as the path plateaus you will reach sign post turn right 5 follow the track and continue to follow it until you reach a clearing at the top 9. continue walking straight on and you will reach a small hill with some rocks now you can sit and enjoy the view of the Bristol channel on the right and the Blackdown hills on the right. 10

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To make your descent take the path directly in front of the rocks and continue to walk straight on down the same route which you took on the way up the path through the woods until you reach a fork take the left hand fork and you will see some dens 11 which have been made out of broken branches on the way continue walking 12 until you reach the same gate which you used on the way up 13. Turn left out of the gate and follow the road back down to the Barn 14.

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Walks from The Barn

To the Blackdown hills Duration: 1hr 20 minutes Grade: -Easy, suitable for young children. Terrain: tarmac road, some uneven terrain, sharp incline up the road past Ham Link Directions: Come out of the drive and turn right and walk towards the village square, go past the school and the church and continue going up the hill. Keep walking straight on up the road until you reach a fork take the right hand fork

Walk up the road until you reach the junction with the main road 1 cross over to the opposite road and continue to walk up the oppostite road 2,3 as you walk up the hill the road broadens to become a track 4 cross over the cattle grid 5 and walk straight on until you reach a fork take the left fork and you are on the path leading up to the Blackdown hills 6.

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Walk up the hill and enjoy the views, to return to the Barn simply follow the same route back down.

Walks from The Barn Uphill Nature Reserve 20 min drive from The Barn. Grade: -Easy, suitable for young children, push chairs and the elderly Terrain: Even tracks Directions: By car: take the A371 towards Weston Super Mare and follow the signs to Uphill village and head towards Uphill Marine Centre BS23 4XR, park the car in the car park just inside the gates. The entrance to the nature reserve just past the café. If you fancy a climb you can climb to the top of the hill to the castle at the top.

Some longer walks Crook Peak, Mendip Hills

Kings Wood car park is a 15 minute drive from the Barn

Distance: 5 miles (8 KM) Time: 2 1/2 hours

Take a high-ridge ramble along the stunning western edge of the Mendip hills to

Somerset’s shapeliest summit

!   HOW TO GET THERE

!   By road, King’s Wood is just off the A38, about a mile south of Winscombe and the junction with the A371. Turn off Bridgwater Road (A38) on to Winscombe Hill for the National Trust carpark at Kings wood Winscombe hill.

!   Crook Peak is one of the most important and distinctive features of the Somerset landscape.

!   Indeed, it is believed to have been a beacon site, set up to signal the threatened arrival of the Spanish Armada to the West Country coast. For most of us, however, it’s that distinctive, conical hill just off the M5 that we hurry past on our way to the more celebrated attractions of Devon and Cornwall.

!   But this classic outcrop of craggy limestone epitomises the rugged beauty of the Mendip Hills and is definitely worth a detour off the well-beaten track.

!  Directions.

!  Start out at King’s Wood (an ancient woodland now managed by the National Trust) and follow the blue arrow signs for the long distance footpath, The West Mendip Way.

!  Walk beneath the canopy of huge oak, ash and sweet chestnut trees, using their wide-spreading roots like steps as the rocky path climbs upwards.

!  The rumble of the A38 fades away as you emerge from the dappled shade of the woods on to Cross Plain, where the landscape opens up dramatically before you.

!  The shrubs and stunted hawthorns on the lower side of this heathland provide cover for migrating birds in spring and early autumn. Follow the higher course and a dry stone wall, and keep an eye out for all-year-round resident skylarks, meadow pipits and excitable stonechats calling from the tops of gorse bushes.

!  Top of the Down

!  Hill Farm soon appears to your right. Exmoor ponies, that graze the upper grassland and stop scrub encroachment, can often be seen gathered together under the branches of the impressive beeches and sycamores. From here, take the rough track up to the trig point directly ahead. This marks the pinnacle of Wavering Down and is slightly higher than Crook Peak, now visible for the first time, to the west.

!  Keeping to the left of the boundary wall, follow the route along the narrow ridge. The grassy slopes are richly carpeted in colourful wildflowers, such as bird’s-foot-trefoil, red clover and wild thyme. In September, the pink and purple hues of flowering heather and heath mix with the buttery blooms of Western gorse. Thickets of thistle, bramble and bracken attract an abundance of butterflies.

!  In mid-summer, striking dark green and small pearl-bordered fritillaries can be seen. But plenty of species – meadow browns, small tortoiseshells and small heaths – will still be flying later in the season.

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!  Valley village

!  The trail drops on a steep descent, before curving round to the south-west, with the village of Compton Bishop nestled in the valley below you.

!  Then it’s uphill again to the rough-hewn crown of Crook Peak itself. Although the origins of the hill’s name are unclear, the far-reaching views from its summit are anything but.

!  From the 191m (627ft) peak, the Somerset countryside is laid out beneath you in all its splendour. Sit on the topmost rocks and savour the scene. Patchwork fields

!  With mewling buzzards and cronking ravens soaring above, look east, back along the humpbacked hills of the West Mendips, to Cheddar reservoir glistening on a sunny day below you. Westwards, the rises of Bleadon Hill and Brean Down give way to the Bristol Channel and the coast of South Wales, with the Black Mountains beyond, can also be spotted on a clear day.

!  And the Somerset levels spread away to the south– see if you can spot the mystical outline of Glastonbury Tor some 13 miles away.

!  Before retracing your steps, pause for a moment and look down at those poor souls slugging along the motorway far below you and smile with a sense of self satisfaction.

!  Aren’t you glad you took this dramatic diversion?

!  MAP

!  OS Explorer 153 Grid reference: ST 387 558 OS Explorer 141 for King’s Wood (Grid reference ST 422 561)

The original Rock of Ages, Burrington Combe, Somerset

Distance 8km Duration 2 – 2 ½ hours Walk in a nutshell

From the "Rock of Ages", said to be the inspiration for the hymn of that name, you climb steeply out of Burrington Combe,

skirt the northern side of the combe (valley) and then cross it. You walk along the flank of Black Down moor and enter the

Mendip Forest for lunch in the village of Rowberrow. Then pass Rowberrow church and return over Dolebury Warren,

stopping at the iron age hill fort to admire the view across the Vale of Wrington to the Bristol Channel and south Wales, and

Crook Peak, the most prominent summit in the Mendips, with Bridgwater Bay and the Quantocks beyond.

Why it's special

According to a famous (but unsubstantiated) story, the Reverend Augustus Montague Toplady, a preacher in the nearby village

of Blagdon, was inspired to write Rock of Ages in 1763, while sheltering from a storm in a cleft of rock in Burrington Combe.

Struck by the title, he scribbled down the initial lyrics on a playing card. Regarded as one of the four great Anglican hymns of

the 19th century, Rock of Ages was a favourite of Prince Albert, who asked it to be played to him on his deathbed.

Directions from the Barn

On foot: Turn right walk through the square past the school and follow the road up when it branches off take the right fork

and follow the road to the end turn left and continue to walk past the Burrington Inn until you reach the toilet block.

By car: you can drive here and park in the car park by the toilet block. To drive turn left out of the drive at the bottom of the

lane turn left and then take the first turning on your left to Burrington Combe, continue up the road for about ¾ mile you

will see the Burrington Inn on your left 500 metres after this you will see the toilet block where you can park.

Step by step instructions for the walk.

1. Take a path that runs just above a toilet block, then go right up a steep, narrow, well-worn path. Near the top beware of the

cliff to your right. Enter the trees and just before the top edge of the wood turn right, keeping the cliffs on your right. At a

small crag, turn left along a grassy path with woodland on your right.

2. The path bears right uphill and you reach a rocky outcrop (climb it for the view). Follow a broad grassy path ahead across a

shallow dip, then bear left along ridge. After about 1km, bear right at a blue arrow on a broader track downhill.

3. Reach road at car park, bear left and cross it; after 100m, road bears left, turn right up a stony track past Ellick House.

4. Just after passing gates on opposite sides of the track, the path divides. Bear right, then right again, following a public

bridleway sign "Limestone Link". The path is narrow but a broader track runs on the left. After about 1km, bear left, then

sharp right across a wooded cleft. Look for views of Burrington Combe on right. Cross a second cleft and ignore paths to left

and right, to continue along the flank of the hill. At a crosspath go straight on, following the Limestone Link. As you reach

some trees, bear left, then take the rightmost of three paths.

5. After descending hill, reach junction. On right (opposite path on left) is a sign in the trees. Continue ahead, then almost

immediately cross broken fence on to earthen track and follow downhill. On left is a cleared area and fir trees of Mendip Forest

about 100m away. Path diverges left to climb gently into forest. Continue on forest track. Cross shallow valley by going right

and left. After passing field, bear right at junction and follow track as it curves left downhill.

6. By blue and white cottage, go through gate. Ignore track on right, but take road up to right. Follow round to left at top of

hill and continue to crossroads (complete with Victorian letterbox) and Swan Inn, Rowberrow (local ales and food served until

2pm, drinks until 3pm). Stop here for Lunch the food is good.

7. From the inn, turn right down the road. Follow round Rowberrow church by bearing left, then right. About 100m

after the end of a wall, turn sharp right through gate on path downhill. At the bottom of the valley, turn left.

8. Go through stile by a double gate, then turn right over a stile in the wall with a National Trust Dolbury Warren

sign. Take the long flight of steps uphill.

9. Dolbury is one of two impressive hill forts on the Mendips. Turn right on ramparts; after about 40m bear left,

following ramparts to reach highest point.

10 After admiring view, retrace your steps for a few metres then turn left, east along ridge. In a shallow dip, cross a

stile and continue ahead. At a low hilltop bear right, follow track through trees and bear right at yellow arrow. On

shoulder of hill turn left, cross stile and aim for gate you can see in the distance, passing a line of trees on your right.

11 Cross stile, turn right, pass waymark 5 and bear left uphill, retracing your steps. At end of forest, ignore track to

right. When you reach a shallow summit, bear left, keeping (most of) the trees on left. Bear right at T-junction and

continue ahead past black wooden house. Follow track (which becomes road) downhill. After the second cottage on

the right, take a path on right (with a Public Path sign). Follow this to road and turn right to reach starting point.