Day 8 Washford to Holford: Cleeve, Cake, and Quantocks

For an OS map of today's walk click here.

Today got off to a rough start. The bathroom window at the White Horse Inn used a small key to latch it shut, and the key fell out of the window when Ken tried to shut it. Fortunately, he was able to retrieve the key from the driveway of the house next door. At breakfast I attempted to pass across to Ken some of my scrambled eggs, and they fell into the condiment tray between us. I managed to fish them out discretely.

Cleeve Abbey Gatehouse

The Refectory

Things got better after that. We toured Cleeve Abbey, which is one of the best preserved monasteries in England, particularly the living quarters. It really helped us to get a sense of how the monks lived their daily lives. The refectory, where the monks ate their meals, was particularly striking, with a magnificent roof with projecting angels carved from wood. There was a dormitory as well as a floor composed of medieval painted tiles that were protected under a tent—the tiles were fairly well preserved and were decorated with birds, shields and other heraldic patterns.

The Cloister —Refectory Above

Near the end of our tour the Abbey really did come to life, as there were little Cistercian monks running around: children were able to dress up like monks, and they seemed to enjoy it. We concluded our time there with a small pot each of very local ice cream.

Medieval Tiles with Royal Arms

I should explain that many of the walking paths are often in sunken lanes, with hedgerows on either side. The hedgerows do differ, with various combinations of some of the same plants. You obviously can't see to the other side of the hedge, so all sorts of life could be going on beyond the hedge that you wouldn't know about. As we started out on today's wooded path, we heard shooting ahead. We could tell we were getting closer to it, and it made us a bit nervous. Ken shouted out "We surrender!" and the shooting stopped. As we passed by we could hear the shooting starting again—perhaps skeet.

Sampford Brett Church

After lunch in Williton, we walked to the small village of Sampford Brett and looked at the church, which had a really good feeling about it—although the village itself is associated with one of the four knights who murdered Thomas à Becket at Canterbury! The pew-ends had interesting carvings, and Ken liked the color scheme of cream walls and white moldings that looked like plaster. I actually had a nap on a pew for fifteen minutes. We sang "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee." Passing the village hall, we saw many people cleaning up and leaving after some kind of celebration. A young man exited holding a flat cookie sheet with something on it. He looked at us and said, "Would you like some cake?" It turned out to be his grandfather's 80th birthday, and everyone was very happy. We gladly accepted the cake as fuel for the hills to come! The Quantock hills awaited just past the next village of Bicknoller.

The walk up Bicknoller Combe yielded some great views. When we reached the top, there was a post (Bicknoller Post) to mark the meeting of several paths. Having seen no one on our ascent, we saw two cyclists coming on one path, a single walker on another, and three walkers on a third. We converged with the three, and joked that it looked as though we had all arranged to meet there. They responded, "It's great to see you, how have you been?"

Climbing up the Quantocks via Bicknoller Combe

Bicknoller Post, Quantock Hills

The relatively flat and featureless top of the Quantock range was a bit confusing, with many paths or potential paths—more than were marked on the 1:25,000 scale Ordnance Survey map we were using—and Ken impressed me with his navigational skill by eventually getting us down to Alfoxden House, which I really wanted to see because William and Dorothy Wordsworth had lived there at the end of the eighteenth century. I knew it had ceased to be a hotel a few years back, but it was really sad to see how run down it was, though there seemed to be people living in some of the rooms while other parts of the complex seemed to be in the process of being gutted. We did see a large group of deer outside, something Dorothy had mentioned in her journal, so it wasn't a total loss.  It was a slightly depressing way to end the day, although a friendly welcome from our bed and breakfast host and a nice meal at the Plough Inn in Holford village did much to raise our spirits.

32,077 steps, 24.057 km, 943 cal
OS getamap measured distance: 10.89 mi (17.53 km)

[Sara's later note: It was fascinating to think that Nature--the herd of deer--was doing much better two hundred years after the Wordsworths than Culture--Alfoxden House, which was in such disrepair.]

Taking in the View / Wayfinding

Alfoxden House—Now sadly run down