On Foot

Emma Tabor and Paul Newman

Distance: 4½ miles (plus extra mile for detours) Time: Approx. 3 hours Park: By the village green in Littlebredy Walk Features: A circuit which takes in the head of the Bride valley with a bracing return along the ridge overlooking Black Down, plus detours to view Martin’s Down Bank Barrow and Poor Lot Barrow Cemetery. There is one moderate climb from Long Bredy up Long Barrow Hill. The walk is boggy in a couple of places but otherwise straightforward. Refreshments: The White Horse, Litton Cheney >

Each month we devise a walk for you to try with your family and friends (including four-legged members) pointing out a few interesting things along the way, be it flora, fauna, architecture, history, the unusual and sometimes the unfamiliar. For December, we discover the head of the Bride Valley, with the distinct church towers of St Michael and All Angels in Littlebredy and St Peter’s in Long Bredy, nestling beneath Black Down. There are fine views south towards the coast and across the surrounding downland, marked by strip lynchets, as well as many signs of prehistoric activity including bank barrows, long barrows and cross dykes. The return route provides the opportunity to walk up to Martin’s Down Bank Barrow and also detour to Poor Lot Barrow Cemetery which has all four types of round barrows and rarer pond and disc barrows.

Directions Start: SY 587 891 There is plenty of space to park along the road running by the village green, just after the bus shelter. 1 Before setting out, take time to admire some of the fine buildings in Littlebredy with a mix of architectural styles including Jacobean and Gothic. 2 Turn down a marked footpath by the bus shelter.

After 75 yards, turn right across a small section of grassy common to a stile. Climb this then head diagonally across the centre of a field, slightly uphill, towards a wooden stile on the right. Head over the stile and straight across the next field, following the contours around a large oak tree in a marshy area, towards another wooden stile set in the next fence.

Cross this, into a marshy field and reed bed, which is very boggy in places. The footpath soon meets a

short wooden walkway; cross another stile into a not-so-marshy field! Go straight ahead and uphill towards a group of beech trees where a hedge on your right reaches the trees. Turn right in front of the beeches; there is a stile on the right which you go over to then meet the road. 3 Turn left onto the road and walk for just over 1/3 mile. Where the road is crossed by the Macmillan

Way, it then turns sharply left. On this bend, at the entrance to Belmont House and Farm, go slight right off the road, through the gate that faces you as you leave the road. There is no visible footpath sign but go through the gate (with a golden duck on it) into the field ahead. Do not go up the drive to Belmont House. Head uphill towards a small metal gate in the hedge - ignore the stile towards the left. Go through the gate, up the field and keep the fence and trees on your right. You soon come to a seven-bar metal gate on your right. Go through this and follow the footpath to emerge into a triangular corner of a field. Head uphill and then round to your left, following the contour of the hill.

The village of Long Bredy is now visible down to your left hugging the base of the hill, with the coast beyond. As you walk around the hill, the view opens up to reveal bare-shouldered hills, lined with sheep tracks, with the square-turreted church of St Peter’s nestling in the fold of the combe. Look out for buzzards, ravens and green woodpeckers along here as well as flocks of goldfinches. You soon meet a fence with a small wooden gate - pass through this into a small paddock, turn slight left and walk down towards a small metal gate taking you out of the paddock and then into a drive between buildings.

Emerge onto a road at a junction and then bear round to the right following the sign for the church. 4 Just before the church, turn right through a large gate, heading uphill along a sunken field track, between grassy banks. Go through another gate and keep heading uphill, with a lovely view over the church and school houses. After a few more yards, you reach the top of the hill and three gates. You can detour here and go left for ⅓ mile and climb

Martin’s Down to take a closer look at the Bank

Barrow and Long Barrow. Otherwise, go through the small metal gate on the right and turn right. 5 Walk along this track for a short while; where the track then turns left, keep going straight on through a seven-bar metal gate. At the top, go through a

five-bar metal gate keeping the wire fence on your right. There are some good views all around from here. You then come to a seven-bar metal gate with a bridleway sign. Go through this, keeping straight on; on your right is a lovely, old, crumbling flint wall studded with wind-blown hawthorns. You will start to see more barrows along the ridge. A view then opens up across Poor Lot Barrow Cemetery which has over 40 barrows of differing types, size and construction. If you are carrying an OS Explorer map, you will see cross dykes marked along the path here as well. 6 You will soon meet another five-bar metal gate.

Go through this and then cross the middle of a large field - look out for the large barrow on your left which the field boundary bisects. Once you reach the hedge, go through the gate then turn immediately left. Keep the hedge on your left, heading downhill until you meet another track.

You can take the second detour of the walk here and turn left to investigate Poor Lot Cemetery further. Otherwise, turn right onto the track, which is the route of the Jubilee Trail. The track heads slightly downhill and then uphill, around the edge of a wood on your left and soon passing farm buildings on your right. After a short while, you will meet a road junction. 7 Turn right here onto the road and follow the sign for ‘Littlebredy ½ mile’ downhill until you reach the village and back to where you have parked.

The light was fading as we completed the walk. Descending the road into Littlebredy, we watched the leaves falling from the trees, which formed a sheltered boundary along the road. The failing light through the trees was sublime, bouncing off the sea and revealing the outline of nearby Crow Hill and Tenant Hill. As with many of the walks, we wanted to linger. It was a moment of crepuscular wonder and, in the confusion of twilight and hibernal gloom, we realised that among the falling leaves a bat was patrolling the canopy.

As the year closes, we’d like to say thank you to readers who have enjoyed the walks, even if just through reading them! We hope that we’ve been able to convey some of the wonder and interest of what we’ve seen. We’ve tried to give a sense of the variety of things to see at different points throughout the year and look forward to sharing some more walks in 2022.