{"id":2505,"date":"2022-09-03T02:05:02","date_gmt":"2022-09-03T01:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=2505"},"modified":"2022-08-21T20:52:22","modified_gmt":"2022-08-21T19:52:22","slug":"longbridge-deverill-and-cold-kitchen-hill-wiltshire-downs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=2505","title":{"rendered":"Longbridge Deverill and Cold Kitchen Hill, Wiltshire Downs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk; varwalkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=740,width=1230,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script><br \/> First published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('Longbridge.jpg');\" rel=\"nozoom\" title=\"Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window\">Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52181062792_4b0ff8bc65_z.jpg\" title= \"golden wheatfields leading to Cold Kitchen Hill\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52181062792_4b0ff8bc65_s.jpg\" alt=\"golden wheatfields leading to Cold Kitchen Hill\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52181064847_71bd9c0cf5_z.jpg\" title= \"speckled wood butterfly\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52181064847_71bd9c0cf5_s.jpg\" alt=\"speckled wood butterfly\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52182089713_cec47ce9ae_z.jpg\" title= \"looking back from the path to Cold Kitchen Hill\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52182089713_cec47ce9ae_s.jpg\" alt=\"looking back from the path to Cold Kitchen Hill\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52182336379_cdce745123_z.jpg\" title= \"path towards Cold Kitchen Hill\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52182336379_cdce745123_s.jpg\" alt=\"path towards Cold Kitchen Hill\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52182572675_f0328336b2_z.jpg\" title= \"Woodcombe Bottom from Cold Kitchen Hill\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52182572675_f0328336b2_s.jpg\" alt=\"Woodcombe Bottom from Cold Kitchen Hill\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52182089063_825659e8f8_z.jpg\" title= \"looking from Cold Kitchen Hill towards Bushcombe Bottom and Woodcombe Bottom\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52182089063_825659e8f8_s.jpg\" alt=\"looking from Cold Kitchen Hill towards Bushcombe Bottom and Woodcombe Bottom\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52182086266_f80e56dc6a_z.jpg\" title= \"pheasant crop on Cold Kitchen Hill\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52182086266_f80e56dc6a_s.jpg\" alt=\"pheasant crop on Cold Kitchen Hill\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52181062862_00ddbef9ea_z.jpg\" title= \"wheatear on the path\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52181062862_00ddbef9ea_s.jpg\" alt=\"wheatear on the path\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52182334134_afbcbb9d6a_z.jpg\" title= \"ridge track on Cold Kitchen Hill 1\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52182334134_afbcbb9d6a_s.jpg\" alt=\"ridge track on Cold Kitchen Hill 1\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52182091168_7215fddf8d_z.jpg\" title= \"ridge track on Cold Kitchen Hill 2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52182091168_7215fddf8d_s.jpg\" alt=\"ridge track on Cold Kitchen Hill 2\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52182090913_484ac6ee8f_z.jpg\" title= \"ridge track on Cold Kitchen Hill 3\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52182090913_484ac6ee8f_s.jpg\" alt=\"ridge track on Cold Kitchen Hill 3\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52181065482_1e320837d3_z.jpg\" title= \"looking east from Whitecliff Down\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52181065482_1e320837d3_s.jpg\" alt=\"looking east from Whitecliff Down\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52182336824_aaeff78461_z.jpg\" title= \"east from the foot of Whitecliff Down\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52182336824_aaeff78461_s.jpg\" alt=\"east from the foot of Whitecliff Down\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52181065067_c70c66d3a1_z.jpg\" title= \"green lane back to Longbridge Deverill\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/52181065067_c70c66d3a1_s.jpg\" alt=\"green lane back to Longbridge Deverill\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"javascript:pwindow=window.open('\/Walks\/prn.php?f=2505','pwin','height=700,width=1000,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes');\" title=\"Click for printable version\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/Walks\/print.gif\" align=\"right\"><\/a><br \/>\nStrong morning sunlight threw into prominence the lumpy shapes of house foundations and sunken lanes, all that remains of the medieval village of Hill Deverill.<\/p>\n<p>In the green lane that led west towards the Wiltshire downs, a bench had been placed in the shade of a field maple. \u2018Bob Hembury,\u2019 said the memorial plaque. \u2018He loved to walk this lane every day with his dog\u2019. A man and a place summed up with perfect simplicity.<\/p>\n<p>At the roots of a coppiced hazel badgers had dug out the multiple entrances to their subterranean city, throwing back the pale chalky earth in showers as though miniature shells had exploded there.<\/p>\n<p>A side lane led up between wheat and barley fields onto the rolling back of Cold Kitchen Hill. In pre-Roman times it was Col Cruachan, the \u2018wizard\u2019s hill\u2019, perhaps in deference to the spirits of the Neolithic long barrow that lies at the crest of the down. A wonderful bronze brooch was unearthed here, a rider on a capering horse, his clubbed hair bouncing behind him.<\/p>\n<p>At the crest of Cold Kitchen Hill a magnificent view unfolded, a great semi-circle of undulating downs patterned in green, tan and grey, folding in steep hollows to the level farmland below. The ridge track ran west, a white streak ribboning away through dull gold wheatfields past the iron cresset of a Jubilee beacon, with King Alfred\u2019s Tower at Stourhead a pointed finger raised on the distant skyline.<\/p>\n<p>Steep-sided Bushcombe Bottom sank out of view, a green basin down whose flanks the bushes and trees appeared to be sliding towards an invisible plughole. We followed the track through grasses awash with the pale purple fronds of bartsia, looking down into the horseshoe of Woodcombe Bottom three hundred feet below.<\/p>\n<p>Down through a nameless wood of old oak and beech, its floor thick with the dried-up seed heads of last spring\u2019s bluebells, and out at the bottom to turn along the homeward track at the foot of the downs.<\/p>\n<p>In a grassy meadow by the path a rough square block of stone carried the names and dates of Joan and Bernard Russell. No other clues about them, but they, like Bob Hembury and his dog, must have loved this beautiful corner of countryside.<\/p>\n<p>How hard is it? 6\u00be miles; easy; green lanes, downland tracks, muddy in parts.<\/p>\n<p>Start: George Inn, Longbridge Deverill, Warminster BA12 7DG (OS ref ST 869408). Please ask parking permission, and give them your custom.<\/p>\n<p>Getting there: Bus 57 (Warminster-Mere)<br \/>\nRoad: Longbridge Deverill is on A350 (Warminster-Shaftesbury)<\/p>\n<p>Walk (OS Explorer 143): Right along A350, in 100m, right (\u2018The Deverills\u2019). In 500m, past \u2018Stonewold\u2019, right (868403, fingerpost\/FP) up field. At top, 2 opposing gates (865404); through right-hand gate along lane. In 700m at crossroads, left (859402, \u2018Restricted Byway\u2019, bridleway FP) up hedged lane. In \u00bd mile, right through gate (860395); in 100m, over rusted-up gate; fork left (ignore \u2018Permissive Path\u2019) up to gate (858395, yellow arrow). Up field to FP (858394); on past tree clump. In 300m, successive gates (854391, FP); on past barrow mound (847383), Cold Kitchen Hill trig pillar (846382) and beacon cresset (841391). In another 900m on Whitecliff Down, keep ahead (834386), following fence on left. In \u00bd mile, track curves sharp right away from fence (827389), round top of Woodcombe Wood. In 250m fork left (828391, gate, FP, \u2018Mid Wilts Way) through trees. At bottom of slope, through gate (828399); right (orange arrow, \u2018Byway\u2019) along path\/lane at foot of downs for 3\u00bc miles back to Hill Deverill, then Longbridge Deverill.<\/p>\n<p>Lunch\/Accommodation: George Inn, Longbridge Deverill (01985-840396, <a href=\"http:\/\/the-georgeinn.co.uk\">the-georgeinn.co.uk<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Info: <a href=\"http:\/\/visitwiltshire.co.uk\">visitwiltshire.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Strong morning sunlight threw into prominence the lumpy shapes of house foundations and sunken lanes, all that remains of the medieval village of Hill Deverill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-walks","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}