In our very first episode Wiltshire photographers Glyn Coy and Paul Timlett talk about how the whole Hidden Wiltshire concept started, and the journey that led to the launch of the podcast.

 

We also talk about one of Glyn’s favourite walks and the hill forts of Battlesbury, Scratchbury and Cley Hill that dominate the Warminster skyline. Glyn explains how he caused a major international incident (well, an article in the Wiltshire Times) by posting a film clip of a moth, and tells the highly dubious story of the guys who throw pyrotechnics out of a plane over Warminster prompting all sorts of stories about UFOs.

 

The music in this, and hopefully all future episodes, is provided by the multi-talented Steve Dixon. This piece is entitled The Holloway.

 

Links:

 

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on the Hidden Wiltshire website and his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

 

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

 

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

 

You can read about Glyn’s moment of infamy here Wiltshire Times

 

And the unlikely pyrotechnic throwing pilots can be found at Airborne Pyrotechnics

 

Finally you can read Glyn’s blog about his walk around the Warminster skyline on the website at Warminster Skyline Walk

 

In this episode we move a little further east from the location for episode 1 to visit the Iron Age settlement at Knook Castle. We mine the rich seam of history to be found in this area, thinking about how it might have looked over thousands of years of human habitation and how this has attracted interest from our ancestors since the dawn of archaeology.

From there we head north and discuss the sad story of the village of Imber and share the fascinating story of Alan Dodson who has been trying to trace the location of some cottages he visited as a boy in 1941/2. If you think you can help Alan in his search you can contact Hidden Wiltshire via the links below. 

However, we begin with a couple of entirely warranted apologies and explanations.

The music in this, and hopefully all future episodes, is provided by the multi-talented Steve Dixon. This piece is entitled The Holloway.

Reference Material:

A History of the Villages – Heytesbury, Knook and Tytherington (Printed and published on behalf of the Heytesbury Local History Group by the wonderful Coates and Parker in Warminster)

Little Imber on the Down - Salisbury Plain’s Ghost Village by Rex Sawyer

Ancient Trackways of Wessex by H.W. Timperley & Edith Brill

Historic maps available on the National Library of Scotland website at National Library of Scotland Maps

The book by antiquarian Sir Richard Colt Hoare mentioned in the podcast is The Ancient History of South Wiltshire. He also wrote The Ancient History of North Wiltshire. You will need a lot of money if you want to buy a copy!

Links:

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on the Hidden Wiltshire website and his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s website can be found at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

You can read about Glyn’s visit to Knook Castle here Knook Castle - Glyn Coy, and Paul’s walk which takes in Knook Castle here Heytesbury, Knook Castle and Upton Lovell

And finally you can read about Paul’s visit to Imber in January 2020 here Imber

This episode looks at the beautiful and historic landscape around the villages of Edington and Bratton.

We follow a walk that Glyn wrote about in May 2019 that starts at the Iron Age Hillfort of Bratton Camp above the Westbury White Horse, and continues via Picquet Hill above Edington after a short diversion to Tinhead Hill. We explore Luccombe Bottom and its spring before returning via Bratton church and the lung busting climb back to Bratton Camp.

You can follow Glyn’s walk on the Hidden Wiltshire website. He’s also written about the area in later blogs. You can tell it’s one his favourite places.

Also in this episode Paul has a little rant whilst Glyn searches for the bleeper.

Thanks to Paul Jackson for the information on the cold war bunker.

The music and sounds are provided by the multi-talented Steve Dixon. The piece in the Introduction is entitled “The Holloway”. The second piece he calls “Sprung”!

Links:

You can read Glyn’s blog about his walk on the Hidden Wiltshire website at Edington Hill, Luccombe, Combe and Longcombe Bottom. 

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on the Hidden Wiltshire website and his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s website can be found at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

In which we follow the first half of a walk heading south from Kingston Deverill to explore the beautiful and ancient landscape of the hills above the Wylye Valley. An area that has been continually farmed since at least 3,500 BC.

 

This is an infrequently visited area of great natural beauty with seemingly endless views. A place where you will find a peace and solitude that belies its past as a busy farming area in prehistoric and Roman times. A meeting place of several ancient trackways including Roman roads and, it is thought, the place that King Alfred assembled his armies on their way to defeating the Danes at Ethandun.

 

But it’s also a place of great biodiversity due to the organic farming methods used here and, incredibly, at least six music festivals in the 1990s. And finally a place where you will find some rather bizarre and misleading secrets!

 

The walk ends at Brixton Deverill which will be the starting place for the second half of the walk in episode 5.

 

You can follow the walk that both Glyn and Paul have done on the Hidden Wiltshire website using the link below. We’ve also written about it in further blogs. Truly a favourite area for both of us.

 

The music and sounds are provided by the multi-talented Steve Dixon. The piece in the Introduction is entitled “The Holloway”.

 

Links:

 

You can follow the walk on the Hidden Wiltshire website here A Different Take on the Deverills

 

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on the Hidden Wiltshire website and his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

 

Paul’s website can be found at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

 

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

 

And two of the businesses mentioned in the podcast:

 

 

 

In this episode we continue our journey around the Deverills and the Wylye Valley, picking up where we left the walk in the previous episode at Brixton Deverill. 

We look at the extraordinary find of the site of a Roman villa in the gardens of a house in Brixton Deverill. We then take to the hills tracing a route to Brims Down, Cold Kitchen Hill and Whitecliff Down discussing the area’s rich history dating back to Neolithic times and the incredible long barrow on Cold Kitchen Hill before returning to Kingston Deverill where we began the walk in the previous episode.

Also in this episode we respond to comments and questions from listeners, talk about what Glyn and Paul have been up to in the Wiltshire countryside since the last episode and shamelessly plug the superb blog by long term Hidden Wiltshire contributor Steve Dewey about the bridges that cross the Wylye River from beginning to end. We also marvel at how Steve managed to work the word “bosky” into his blog.

Finally we provide details of the fantastic offer to listeners of the podcast from Lowa Boots UK. You'll need to listen to the end for details!

You can follow the walk that both Glyn and Paul have done on the Hidden Wiltshire website using the link below. We’ve also written about it in further blogs. Truly a favourite area for both of us.

The music and sounds are provided by the multi-talented Steve Dixon. The piece in the Introduction is entitled “The Holloway”, whilst the piece introducing us to continuation of the walk is entitled Downlands. We also use Steve’s composition to play us out at the end of the podcast. Can you name the birds whose calls Steve captured for his recordings?

Links:

You can follow the walk on the Hidden Wiltshire website here A Different Take on the Deverills

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on the Hidden Wiltshire website and his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s website can be found at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And you can find Lowa Boots UK at  Lowa Boots UK

In this episode we visit Castle Combe without actually going to the village. It’s hardly hidden is it? Instead we concentrate on the beautiful and historic countryside surrounding the village with its many hidden combes and bottoms (including one where we can only imagine at the derivation of its name) and its babbling brooks.

We follow a walk posted on the Hidden Wiltshire website on 26 July 2020 (link below) but only in preparing for the podcast did we realise the significance of the river By Brook in this landscape. As for the ancient history, unfortunately we’ll all have to use our imaginations for a couple of these as they are either on private land or nothing remains of the archaeology. Or we simply ran out of time on the walk!

Also in this episode we respond to comments and questions from listeners, talk about what Glyn and Paul have been up to in the Wiltshire countryside since the last episode, and consider the wisdom of building on Wiltshire’s green spaces.

Finally we remind everyone about the fantastic offer to listeners of the podcast from Lowa Boots UK. You’ll need to listen to the podcast for details of how you can save 20% off their boots and walking shoes.

The music and sounds are provided by the multi-talented Steve Dixon. The piece in the Introduction is entitled “The Holloway”, whilst the piece introducing us to the walk is entitled “Round the Downs”.

Links:

You can follow the walk on the Hidden Wiltshire website here Castle Combe and a Hint of Ancient History

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on the Hidden Wiltshire website and his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s website can be found at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And for all things cow related we also mention the Instagram account run by Frankie at East Hill Farm called far From the Madding Cows Far From the Madding Cows

And you can find Lowa Boots UK at  Lowa Boots UK

In this episode we visit the hills to the north of the Pewsey Vale where Glyn and Paul have an argument about whether they are called the Pewsey Downs or the Marlborough Downs!

 

But first we talk about a query from a listener about what to do when faced by a blocked public right of way. The answer is to report the matter to Wiltshire Council. There’s a link below.

 

Glyn then tells us about a letter (yes an actual letter on paper and everything) that he received from Wiltshire artist David Alderslade about a previously unknown wood. We’re looking to forward to hearing about Glyn’s recce in a future episode. And if that’s not enough we talk about our two weeks in Wiltshire since recording the last episode, including Paul’s unwitting trespass into someone’s garden whilst walking near Knook.

 

Then onto the walk that Paul blogged about in February 2019 (see link below). The walk takes us to the dizzy heights of Wiltshire’s highest hill, Milk Hill, which pips neighbouring Tan Hill by 26 cms. We follow historic Wansdyke for a while before turning south over Rybury Camp on the Clifford’s Hill ridge before returning to Stanton via the Kennet and Avon Canal.

 

A recurring theme of this episode is the number of striking things that Paul missed when he did this walk on Valentine’s Day 2019. Firstly he was oblivious to one of the most important Iron Age sites in the UK, All Cannings Cross which he passed on the descent from Clifford’s Hill. This was the first site to be identified by archaeologists as marking the transition from late Bronze Age to early Iron Age. One of the finds, a distinctive form of pottery, can be found in the British Museum.

 

Whilst we can excuse not noticing All Cannings Cross (of which there is no evidence on the ground) there is no excuse for failing to see All Cannings Long Barrow. Let’s face it how can anyone pass within 200 metres of a sizable long barrow in the middle of a field without noticing it? For those that don’t know it, this barrow was built in 2014 as a modern day place of internment for 340 lucky souls.

 

And finally, the chance discovery on the map of the Honeystreet Hanging Stone near Stanton St Bernard warrants a future visit for those curious about its gruesome past.

 

We finish with a reminder about the offer to listeners of the podcast from Lowa Boots UK. You’ll need to listen to the podcast for details of how you can save 20% off their walking boots and shoes.

 

The music and sounds in the podcast are provided by the multi-talented Steve Dixon. The piece in the Introduction is entitled “The Holloway”, whilst the piece introducing us to the walk is entitled “Downland”.

 

 

You can follow the walk on the Hidden Wiltshire website here Milk Hill, Tan Hill, Clifford's Hill - Pewsey Downs

 

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

 

Paul’s website can be found at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

 

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

 

The link to report blocked public rights of way to Wiltshire Council My Wiltshire Booking and Reporting

 

Wiltshire artist David Alderslade’s striking artwork can be found here David Alderslade Art Work

 

And you can find Lowa Boots UK at  Lowa Boots UK

 

In today’s episode we visit Ranscombe Bottom, Morgan’s Hill and the very spooky Furze Knoll following a route that Glyn wrote about in his blog dated 17 September 2020. Use the link below for Glyn’s superb photographs and a description of the walk including the route map. 

 

But before doing so we have a chat about what we’ve been up since the last podcast including a recce for a future blog and podcast; a white out in blizzard conditions; and Glyn’s walk around the Fonthill Estate.  We also recommend the trilogy written by local author Nick Cowen about the rambles of a young Henry Chalk, Pedestrian Tourist, who wanders through south Wiltshire in the early 19th century including his challenge to trespass into the Fonthill Estate and climb the Fonthill Folly before being caught. Paul’s challenge was to say the word “tour”! You’ll find a link to the publishers of Nick Cowen’s book below.

 

Then on to the walk. This walk takes us from Ozzie’s Kebab van in the layby on the A4 at Quemerford Gate to the remarkable landscape of Ranscombe Bottom via the springs that are the source of the River Marden – a beautiful, peaceful spot filled with birdsong. From the Bottom we head towards the Roman road from Bath to Speen near Newbury and we debate what constitutes a dull Roman road! Then a stiff climb up to Morgan’s Hill with its grizzly past and World War I connections as a Zeppelin listening station. From there it was a hop skip and a jump to the mysterious and frankly quite creepy Furze Knoll. Finally we head to Calstone Wellington and its magnificent church and mill, before heading back in search of a kebab.

 

Also on the walk we discuss the remarkable graffiti in St Mary’s Church, Calstone Wellington, the earliest (that we found) dating back to 1647, and the unlikely sounding Wiltshire Medieval Graffiti Survey website.

 

During the course of the podcast we spend a disproportionate amount of time discussing the thorny issue of blocked public rights of way, something we encounter several times on the walk. And it’s a subject we’ll return to in the next podcast. It’s becoming a bit of theme!

 

We finish with a reminder about the offer to listeners of the podcast from Lowa Boots UK. You’ll need to listen to the podcast for details of how you can save 20% off their walking boots and shoes.

 

The music and sounds in the podcast are provided by the multi-talented Steve Dixon. The piece in the Introduction is entitled “The Holloway”, whilst the piece introducing us to the walk is entitled “Eyes Looking East”. Steve also designed the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust information board at Morgan’s Hill.

 

 

Links:

 

You can follow the walk on the Hidden Wiltshire website here Ranscombe Bottom

 

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on the Hidden Wiltshire website and his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

 

Paul’s website can be found at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

 

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

 

The link to report blocked public rights of way to Wiltshire Council My Wiltshire Booking and Reporting

 

Paul’s favourite photography podcast, The Fujicast, can be found at The Fujicast  Any similarity in style is of course entirely coincidental! The presenters are Wiltshire wedding photographer Kevin Mullins, and Berkshire wedding photographer Neale James but their podcast covers all things photography related and is great entertainment.

The Complete Adventures of Henry Chalk, Pedestrian Tourist, by Nick Cowen - The Complete Adventures of Henry Chalk Initially this was a published as a trilogy, but they’ve now been consolidated into a single publication.

The painting by Eric Ravilious of Hippenscombe The Causeway, Wiltshire - Eric Ravilious

 

Wiltshire Medieval Graffiti Survey’s website can be found here Wiltshire Medieval Graffiti Survey

 

Artist Anna Dillon, who has just completed a painting of Ranscombe Bottom, can be found here Anna Dillon. She and local photographer Hedley Thorne also do a podcast. Started in January. Just after ours!

 

The beautiful book by Roger Deakin for anyone interested in natural history and conservation -  Notes From Walnut Tree Farm

 

And finally you can find Lowa Boots UK at  Lowa Boots UK

 

An episode of mystery, intrigue and colourful characters. After all it wouldn’t be Hidden Wiltshire without at least one of these elements and we have all three!

We begin with a chat about what we’ve been up to in the last two weeks since the previous episode. Glyn’s excited about his discovery of a new bottom, and an old coffin trail to Steeple Ashton which included a stone bridge built, we think, by well-known West Country stonemason Andrew Ziminski. His book “The Stomemason” is thoroughly recommended (see link below).

Also in the last two weeks Glyn and Paul both separately did a walk around the Fonthill Estate which will be the subject of the next podcast in two weeks time. Meanwhile Paul suffered the ignominy of being caught with his head in a muddy puddle by a BBC film crew whilst he was searching for the very well hidden fairy shrimp.

We also talk about our plans for Hidden Wiltshire including our first outside location broadcast with a special guest; Hidden Wiltshire walks with some experts from “another organisation”; and the new Hidden Wiltshire Shop on the website (link below).

We then go on to talk about the Folly Wood walk. You can follow the route in the link below. This was a location recommend to us by local artist David Alderslade who has painted some remarkable pictures of the famed tree you will find. See the link below. Between them Glyn and Paul did the walk three times in the space of five days. There was so much to see., and slight re-routing to recce.

The walk was the story of bizarre works of art; blocked footpaths; a moated enclosure which was the location for a gatekeeper’s lodge into the Bishops of Salisbury’s deer park; mysterious and touching stories of ghosts and incredible personal sacrifice; and a tree with an adjacent cave that was like something from the imagination of J.R.R. Tolkein.

We also encounter some fascinating and lovely people. Sculpture, poet and illustrator Mark Whelehan and his dog Crook, and Hidden Wiltshire followers Melanie May and Wayne Ford – see the links below to their stunning Instagram feeds. We then arrive at a beautiful peaceful woodland called Oakfrith Wood, visit the pretty village of Urchfont and round off with a climb onto Salisbury Plain with its far reaching views.

This is one of those walks where it doesn’t really matter where you start. You can begin in Easterton, Urchfont or New Plantation on Salisbury Plain. There’s even a pub, the Royal Oak at Easterton.

We finish with a reminder about the offer to listeners of the podcast from Lowa Boots UK. You’ll need to listen to the podcast for details of how you can save 20% on their walking boots and shoes.

The music and sounds in the podcast are provided by the multi-talented Steve Dixon. The piece in the Introduction is entitled “The Holloway”, whilst the piece introducing us to the walk is entitled “My Daughter” which is a collaboration between Steve and Dave Guiville.

Links:

You can find out more about Andrew Ziminski and his book “The Stonemason” here Andrew Ziminski - The Stonemason

The new Hidden Wiltshire shop Hidden Wiltshire Shop

You can follow the walk on the Hidden Wiltshire website here Folly Wood and The Headless Horseman

David Alderslade’s website, and his painting “Folly Wood” can be found here David Alderslade - Folly Wood

Melanie May’s beautiful Instagram feed can be found here with superb photographs of Wiltshire’s natural history Melanie May - Wiltshire Girl

Wayne Ford has two Instagram feeds. One is his general photography account. It will come as no surprise to know he is a graphic designer when you see his photography Wayne Ford - General Photography. His other account is also focused on natural history and is called ‘notesfrompinnyland’ (I wish I knew why)! Wayne Ford - Natural History Both accounts are equally captivating.

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on the Hidden Wiltshire website and his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s website can be found at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

The link to report blocked public rights of way to Wiltshire Council My Wiltshire Booking and Reporting

And finally you can find Lowa Boots UK at  Lowa Boots UK

As we clock up double figures with our 10th episode this one is dominated by stories of some truly bizarre people including the gold suited Spanish dwarf Perro.

But we begin with the prospect of a re-enactment of Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights by Glyn and Paul on Sidbury Hill. A prospect too ghastly for words. You’ll have to listen to find out more. 

We then catch up with activity over the two weeks since the last podcast which mostly involve the colour blue. Yes, it’s bluebell time again in Wiltshire and after visits to several woods we’re just about done with bluebell photographs and the challenges involved in photographing them. As for the best display? For us it’s a toss up between Bidcombe Wood and Gopher Wood. Check out the Facebook page (or Closed Facebook Group if you’re a member) for the photos.

And with everything that’s going on in the world of Hidden Wiltshire (including the new and thriving Online Shop linked below) Glyn has issued the first weekly Newsletter. Subscribe on the website to receive a copy by email.

Then onto this week’s walk which is dominated by the Fonthill Estate. You can follow the walk on the website using the link below. It’s an extraordinary story of immense wealth generated in the dark days of slavery, accompanied by scandal, man-traps and killer bloodhounds. A story of the inheritance by an 18 year old William Beckford of the largest real estate in Europe, followed by marriage and a ruined reputation. He sought solace in a young Italian boy named Gregorio Franchi and the aforementioned dwarf Perro. These characters all appear in the thoroughly recommended trilogy The Complete Adventures of Henry Chalk, Pedestrian Tourist by Wiltshire author Nick Cowen (link below).

We discuss the construction (and eventual collapse) of the extravagant Fonthill Abbey built to house William’s collection of art and manuscripts, described by essayist and friend of the poet John Keats William Hazlitt as “an immense museum of all that is most curious and costly and at the same time worthless”. He went on to say of William “The only proof of taste he has shown in the collection is his getting rid of it”!

The estate changed hands a number of times over the years and is now owned by Alastair Morrison, 3rd Baron Margadale no less. But controversy continued to surround Fonthill (the current house is the sixth iteration) with complaints to the police about an all night 21st birthday party for Morrison’s daughter Nancy in 2016 which made the national press. But this was eclipsed by William Beckford’s own 21st birthday party at the estate in 1781 which lasted three days!

But this part of Wiltshire is not just about the estate. Whilst the landscape may be somewhat manicured and artificial it is not without its appeal. And we’re not just talking about the Beckford Arms at Fonthill Gifford! Like so much of our countryside it is dotted with ancient churches including the pretty little church at Berwick St Leonard with its touching memorials, including that to the six of MP George Grobham Howe’s 11 children who died before the age four in the late 17th century. We also find the remains of a long gone system of irrigation by means of sluice gates and drains that would have been used to flood the meadows between Berwick St Leonard and Fonthill Bishop.

We finish with a reminder about the offer to listeners of the podcast from Lowa Boots UK. You’ll need to listen to the podcast for details of how you can save 20% on their walking boots and shoes.

The music and sounds in the podcast are provided by the multi-talented Steve Dixon. The piece in the Introduction is entitled “The Holloway”, whilst the piece introducing us to the walk is entitled “Dark and Lonely Water”. The words are from a 1970s public information film warning about the dangers of children playing by water and were read by actor Donald Pleasance.

Links:

The new Hidden Wiltshire shop Hidden Wiltshire Shop

You can follow the walk on the Hidden Wiltshire website here The Fonthill Estate

The Complete Adventures of Henry Chalk, Pedestrian Tourist by Nick Cowen The Complete Adventures of Henry Chalk

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on the Hidden Wiltshire website and his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s website can be found at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And finally you can find Lowa Boots UK at  Lowa Boots UK

Today’s podcast revolves around the search for Kitt’s Grave in bandit country on the borders with Dorset and Hampshire. A story of historical fact or folklore? Or both?

To begin with Glyn tries to justify why RAF Chinooks over Imber are hidden (he failed)! 

We continue with our review of the last two weeks in Wiltshire where rain largely stopped play. Paul admits to traitorous behaviour having spent a marvellous day walking on the South Downs in his home county of Sussex in the previous week. 

We then look at one last bluebell wood (no, really) which was more than just about bluebells. Grovely Wood is huge and therefore hardly hidden. What are hidden are the numerous little tracks and glades, and the many little surprises to be found within. And we talk about the sad prospect that climate change may result in the loss of beech woodland from southern England and the ubiquitous Wiltshire Clump from Wiltshire within a generation. You can read more about this in Robert Macfarlane’s wonderful book The Wild Places (link below).

Glyn tried a new walk near to his usual haunt of Tinhead – Barn Bottom, when he is accused of having an obsession with bottoms! A myth we completely fail to dispel. Barn Bottom is popular with dog walkers but quiet of an evening. He also shares with us the unedifying image of him undertaking a Nordic walking tour of Martinsell Hill – something we’d all love to witness!

Then on to this week’s main subject, revisiting Paul’s walk and blog entitled Searching for Kitt’s Grave from July 2020 (link with route map below). Whilst we park in Hampshire the walk is firmly based in Wiltshire and involves crossing the Ackling Dyke Roman Road in the search for what is marked as Kitt’s Grave on the map. Who Kitt was is a mystery and whether he/she even existed is moot. The search in the woodland of Vernditch for Kitt’s Grave (which may be a burial bound) was in vain but fascinating.

The route then crosses Marleycombe Hill, where we take in the stunning and wide-ranging views of the Ebble valley and take a quick look at the 11 Bronze Age barrows on its flanks. The walk then takes us to the villages of Bowerchalke (Wiltshire’s most haunted village!) and Broad Chalke before embarking on the track along Paul’s favourite bottom – Church Bottom, the site of the Chalke History Festival. Along this track Paul rested a while on a bench commemorating the life of Kay Chalk. A beautiful and peaceful spot. From the little offerings left there, whoever Kay was she was clearly much loved by her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Paul also spent some time thinking about his own Mum at this lovely spot, who was born the same time as Kay. 

Then on into Middleton Down Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve. Check out the information board which hosts some photographs by the brilliant Wiltshire nature photographer Stephen Davis whose Instagram page and website are linked below.

Finally we encounter a couple of gores before the end of the walk as we struggle to re-connect with Ackling Dyke and the last mile or so back to the car park. Until now we never knew that “gore” was nothing more than a term for a small, usually triangular piece of land. 

We finish with the usual housekeeping. A reminder about the Hidden Wiltshire Online shop  (link below) and a reminder about the offer to listeners of the podcast from Lowa Boots UK. You’ll need to listen to the podcast for details of how you can save 20% on their walking boots and shoes.

The music and sounds in the podcast are provided by the multi-talented Steve Dixon. The piece in the Introduction is entitled “The Holloway”, whilst the piece introducing us to the walk is entitled “Canopy”.

Links:

The Wild Places by Robert Macfarlane The Wild Places - Robert Macfarlane

You can follow the walk on the Hidden Wiltshire website here  Searching for Kitt's Grave

Stephen Davis’ beautiful nature photography can be found on Instagram here Stephen Davis and his website here Stephen Davis Photography

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on this website and his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s website can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

The new Hidden Wiltshire shop Hidden Wiltshire Shop

And finally you can find Lowa Boots UK at  Lowa Boots UK

In this episode we explore the expanse of Fyfield Down, searching out both hidden natural and human phenomena. There was so much to see and find that we went twice, and in the process recorded our first outside broadcast.

 

But first, in our catch up on the last two weeks in Wiltshire, Glyn regales us with far too much information about his feet, and reviews the first of Hidden Wiltshire’s walks in conjunction with Wiltshire Museum. The glory of these walks is that we are accompanied by a proper archaeologist who actually knows what he’s talking about as opposed to Glyn and Paul’s distinctly amateurish interpretations. Details of the programme of walks and tickets can be found on Wiltshire Museum’s website using the link below.

 

We also welcome the arrival of the orchid season as we wave goodbye to bluebells. The cold, wet early spring seems to have delayed the orchids by about three weeks.

 

We then head off to Fyfield Down following in the footsteps of Paul’s walk about which he posted a blog on the website on 27 May 2021. You can follow the route using the map in the blog. This is a walk with numerous options both for the route itself and for the start/finish point. Paul’s walk begins and ends at West Overton Church to the south of the River Kennet and the A4 but you can cut this out and park on Fyfield Down near Manton House (SU 15872 69955) if you want to head straight to the Down. However, if you wish to take in the River Kennet and the lovely villages south of the river a better place to park would be the village hall in Lockeridge, on the road between Lockeridge and West Overton.

 

Fyfield Down is yet another Wiltshire landscape steeped in history, characterised by the sarsen stones used by prehistoric man for construction. But the stones themselves are the product of various ice ages. Man made extensive use of these stones and there are examples dotted around the Down where prehistoric man has left his mark on them, including the Polisher and the Cup Marked Stone. Since Paul failed to find these, and the Toad Stone, during his walk he and Glyn returned one evening to find them and to record their search for the podcast.

 

We also visit the mysterious Beech Circle and the ruined house called The Delling, 100 metres from Delling Copse next to the Herepath. The Beech Circle appears to be the location for some mystical ceremonies, whilst The Delling was offered for sale as part of a large estate in recent years with the promise of a “project” for someone with DIY skills. It looks like there were no takers! Somewhere between the Beech Circle and nearby Totterdown Wood is the Cup Marked Stone. Somewhere! But the wood provided one last glimpse of bluebells together with another ruined building and a dew pond.

 

From here we head across the ancient field systems on Fyfield Down towards the Valley of the Stones. Glyn wrote a blog about his visit here in 2018 and you will find his fabulous aerial photographs in the link below, including an incredible shot of the Valley of the Stones. Itself.

 

Of course the highlight of man’s activity here is the Devil’s Den dolmen burial chamber. Like a miniature Stonehenge trilithon it’s easy to miss (Paul did when he first walked here in 2017) but once you know where to look it’s easy to find, unlike the Cup Marked Stone that we failed to find!

 

The walk re-crosses the busy A4 and the River Kennet by Clatford Hall, a robust looking 16th century manor house partially built from sarsens. You may be lucky and find yourself in the Who’d A Thought It pub in Lockeridge on your way back. Sadly when Paul passed a week or so ago it was closed but during his previous visit found it to be a fine way to end the walk.

 

We finish with the usual housekeeping. A reminder about the Hidden Wiltshire Online shop  (link below) and a reminder about the offer to listeners of the podcast from Lowa Boots UK. You’ll need to listen to the podcast for details of how you can save 20% on their walking boots and shoes.

 

The music and sounds in the podcast are provided by the multi-talented Steve Dixon. The piece in the Introduction is entitled “The Holloway”, whilst the piece introducing us to the walk is entitled “Downland”, a piece we’ve used before but one that seemed entirely appropriate for this walk.

 

 

Links:

 

Hidden Wiltshire Walks in Conjunction with Wiltshire Museum Wiltshire Museum Walks

 

Follow the walk in Paul’s blog entitled Sarsen Stones and the Devil’s Den Sarsen Stones and the Devil's Den. And you can see Glyn’s fabulous drone shots of the area from 2018 here The Devil's Den and Fyfield Down

 

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on  his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

 

Paul’s website can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

 

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

 

The new Hidden Wiltshire shop Hidden Wiltshire Shop

 

And finally you can find Lowa Boots UK at  Lowa Boots UK

 

Today’s episode is the second of our walks to include some location recording, which seemed be so popular (according to our poll of three listeners) following our first attempt two weeks ago. Between them Glyn and Paul have done this walk three times already this year. It was that good!

 

To begin with, in our catch up of the last two weeks in Wiltshire, we provide a bit of an update on how the outside broadcasting is going (pretty good we think) as well as a sneak preview of some really exciting plans involving video and audio, working with David Carson whose family has farmed the area around Alton Barnes and Alton Priors for over 100 years. More of that later in the summer.

 

Paul has spent the last few days of the hot weather locked indoors printing photographs for the upcoming Marlborough Open Studios arts tail that takes place each weekend throughout July. Together with our very own musical genius Steve Dixon, Paul will be exhibiting his work at the gallery he and Steve help run which is owned by photographer Alan Cowley. It’s called The Photographers Studio (no apostrophe!) and can be found in the beautiful surroundings of Roundway, Devizes just below the white horse. There’s a link to the page on Paul’s website that contains more information below.

 

But on to this week’s walk. Glyn and Paul did this walk one evening a week or so ago to record some sound on location. It was a lovely peaceful evening, and we had the hills to ourselves. We were really pleased with the audio, our new equipment coping well with the strong wind on the hill tops. We repeated the walk a few days later in conjunction with David Dawson from Wiltshire Museum, guiding a number of delightful people who had purchased tickets from Wiltshire Museum. It was fantastic to have a proper archaeologist with us and for once Glyn and Paul didn’t have to make assumptions about what we could see in the landscape. Or make things up!!

 

The walk begins outside the church in Sutton Veny where we spent a while talking about the Commonwealth cemetery there and in particular the large number of ANZAC graves, many of whom fell victim of the Spanish Flu pandemic of 100 years ago. It was so sad to think how many young men, and the women who nursed them, survived the horrors of the trenches only to succumb to flu in a field hospital in Wiltshire.

 

From Sutton Veny the route, which you will find in Glyn’s blog linked below, heads steeply at first across the slopes of Whiten Hill to the top of Littlecombe Hill by Haycombe Hill Farm. The first section, with the gallops of the local racehorse stable in view to the right, is a real lung buster and nearly finished us off not long after we started. But persistence and a steady pace (it’s not a race right?) paid off. The views from Littlecombe Hill are immense and, despite being on a hot weekend afternoon, our little group again had the place to ourselves.

 

David was a fantastic guide, pointing out various burial mounds visible as far as Cold Kitchen Hill in the far distance, explaining why they were positioned the way they were. We also discussed the ancient trackways that criss-cross this landscape, with some commentators believing that the route we were on actually formed part of the Great Ridgeway that supposedly traversed the country from East Anglia to Devon.

 

This area was also very important to the Romans and from our vantage point on the ridge we could see the locations of the Roman temple at Bidcombe Down above Kingston Deverill, the huge Roman villa found at Brixton Deverill and a network of Roman roads, including the one hidden under the canopy of Great Ridge wood to the south of where we were walking. However, there was to be more even closer by. As we stood by a farm gate by the track that leads back down to Tytherington David pointed out the very clear remains of a Roman settlement in the field not 50 feet in front of us. Curiously a Roman settlement not by a water course.

 

Returning to the valley we came to Tytherington and its beautifully simple little church, where Glyn and Paul had recorded late one evening a few days earlier. Then across the fields via two more burial bounds to the fascinating abandoned church of St Leonard’s in Sutton Veny. As you may have seen on this website the church yard contains what is believed to be the only iron mortsafe in Wiltshire, guarding a grave that contains the bodies of the Parham family interred here across the space of 17 years in the mid 19th century, their bodies kept safe from body snatchers by the wrought iron covering over the grave. 

 

We finish with the usual housekeeping. A reminder about the Hidden Wiltshire Online shop (link below) and a reminder about the offer to listeners of the podcast from Lowa Boots UK. You’ll need to listen to the podcast for details of how you can save 20% on their walking boots and shoes, which this week we omitted to mention is obtained by using the discount code HW20 when ordering on their website.

 

The music and sounds in the podcast are provided by the multi-talented Steve Dixon. The piece in the Introduction is entitled “The Holloway”, whilst the piece introducing us to the walk is a new one entitled “Bee Leaf”.

 

 

For more information about Marlborough Open Studios 2021 the relevant page on Paul’s website is here Paul Timlett Exhibitions

 

Hidden Wiltshire Walks in Conjunction with Wiltshire Museum Wiltshire Museum Walks

 

You can follow this walk here Hidden Wiltshire - Sutton Veny and Tytherington

 

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

 

Paul’s website can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

 

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

 

The new Hidden Wiltshire shop Hidden Wiltshire Shop

 

And finally you can find Lowa Boots UK at Lowa Boots UK

 

Something a bit different in this episode. Instead of talking about a particular walk we focus on something that is classic Wiltshire. Something that we’ve all seen right across the county. The ubiquitous Wiltshire Clump.

But to begin with we do our usual round up of the last two weeks in Wiltshire. We briefly mentioned the last joint walk that we ran with Wiltshire Museum on Adam’s Grave and Milk Hill. The walk was superbly led by David Carson whose family has farmed these lands since the 1880s. 

In a neat segue from the Wiltshire Museum walk, Paul (henceforth to be known as Flower Boy) spent a couple of afternoons grovelling on his hands and knees on Milk Hill searching in vain for the rare and elusive Early Gentian. Despite having a 10 digit grid reference he never found them, although he was literally falling over the orchids there were so many. It’s been an incredible year for wild orchids and they’re far from finished. Whilst we’ve not seen so many poppies after 2020’s bumper crop, our chalk downland orchids have more than made up for it. 

Meanwhile Glyn has walked the Coffin Trail between West Ashton and Steeple Ashton. He’s already posted a brief description with some stunning photographs on the Hidden Wiltshire Facebook pages but he’s going to write this up as a blog on the website.

Glyn also shared the fact that he’s got another blog brewing about the farmland and gallops around Beckhampton which he photographed for the local farmer. Again he’s already shared some beautiful photographs of this area, including a number of aerial shots. This location is turning into a firm favourite of Glyn’s with its huge views and sense of remoteness.

Finally in this section Paul once again shamelessly plugs the photography exhibition he and Steve Dixon are staging together with another Wiltshire photographer, Alan Cowley, as part of the Marlborough Opens Studios Art Trail. This takes place from 11:00 to 17:00 on the first four weekends in July although Steve, Paul and Alan’s gallery will only be open for the first three weekends. See the link to the Marlborough Open Studios website below for full details and directions. Our gallery is Studio 12.

Then onto this episode’s main feature – an exploration of our favourite Wiltshire Clumps, the mostly beech tree copses found in prominent positions right across our landscape. Glyn, Paul and Hidden Wiltshire stalwart Steve Dewey collaborated on a blog for the website with lots of photographs of various clumps in all sorts of weather. And as a special feature Glyn and Paul recorded on location one evening at Furze Knoll. We’ve always found this to be a creepy location and our evening session did nothing to dispel that feeling! But we also got a great view from the Knoll of Oliver’s Castle which, although not the classic copse of trees, stands out for miles around nonetheless. 

Other favourites include Glyn’s much loved Tinhead with its long barrow, Paul’s favourite - the little known and slightly hidden clump on Copehill Down on Salisbury Plain, and Steve’s regular haunt  - Charlton Clumps near Upavon.  Amongst others we talk about the remote and lonely clump on Summerslade Down (mentioned in several previous podcasts) and, of course, the one that so many admire from afar – Woodborough Hill.

We finish with the usual housekeeping. Reminder about the Hidden Wiltshire Online shop (link below) and the offer to listeners of the podcast from Lowa Boots UK. You’ll need to listen to the podcast for details of how you can save 20% on their walking boots and shoes. Now we’re all venturing out more you definitely need a good pair of boots, and Glyn and Paul can both vouch for the quality of Lowa.

The next walk in conjunction with Wiltshire Museum is to Box on 11 July 2021. Tickets are nearly all gone.

The music and sounds in the podcast are provided by the multi-talented Steve Dixon. The piece in the Introduction is entitled “The Holloway”, whilst the piece introducing us to the walk is a new one entitled “Sitar Slink”.

And finally be sure to listen to the next podcast, number 15, when we will have a special guest!

For more information about Marlborough Open Studios 2021 the relevant page on Paul’s website is here Paul Timlett Exhibitions, or you can go direct to the Marlborough Open Studios website here Marlborough Open Studios

You can find the guys’ blog about Wiltshire Clumps here Hidden Wiltshire Blogs - Wiltshire Clumps

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s website can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

Hidden Wiltshire Walks in Conjunction with Wiltshire Museum Wiltshire Museum Walks

The Hidden Wiltshire shop Hidden Wiltshire Shop

And finally you can find Lowa Boots UK at Lowa Boots UK

In this weeks episode we have our first guest – Hidden Wiltshire’s resident expert on Salisbury Plain, Mr Steve Dewey.

 

But to begin with, Glyn talks about some birthday and anniversary milestones that instead of being celebrated in Rome, will be celebrated at Bishopstrow in Wiltshire – keeping it local!

 

This weeks episode was actually recorded a while ago as Paul is currently closer to Norway than London, as he is taking a break travelling around Shetland and Orkney. 

 

Paul once again shamelessly plugs the photography exhibition he and Steve Dixon are staging together with another Wiltshire photographer, Alan Cowley, as part of the Marlborough Opens Studios Art Trail. This takes place from 11:00 to 17:00 on the first four weekends in July although Steve, Paul and Alan’s gallery will only be open for the first three weekends. See the link to the Marlborough Open Studios website below for full details and directions. Our gallery is Studio 12.

 

Glyn talks about the next Hidden Wiltshire walks – 24th July will be Bratton and Luccombe Springs, and 14th August is the Hills above Edington,

 

Then onto this episode’s main feature – an exploration of Salisbury Plain with Steve Dewey. Steve is a photographer who spends a lot of time around the plain, exploring in his 4 wheel drive car as unlike Glyn and Paul, he is definitely not a walker. This is a huge subject, but after a general chit chat about the whole area we focus on two things – the Black Heath area, and the Old Slow Coach Road, both of which Steve has written about for the Hidden Wiltshire website. 

 

We finish with the usual housekeeping. Reminder about the Hidden Wiltshire Online shop (link below) and the offer to listeners of the podcast from Lowa Boots UK. You’ll need to listen to the podcast for details of how you can save 20% on their walking boots and shoes. Now we’re all venturing out more you definitely need a good pair of boots, and Glyn and Paul can both vouch for the quality of Lowa.

 

The music and sounds in the podcast are provided by the multi-talented Steve Dixon. The piece in the Introduction is entitled “The Holloway”, whilst the piece linking to the talk on Salisbury Plain is a new one entitled “Holgar the Can Man”.

 

 

For more information about Marlborough Open Studios 2021 the relevant page on Paul’s website is here Paul Timlett Exhibitions, or you can go direct to the Marlborough Open Studios website here Marlborough Open Studios

 

You can find Steve’s blog posts about Salisbury Plain here: Black Heath, The Old Slow Coach Road

 

Steve Dewey’s author page on Amazon where you can find his books is here: Steve Dewey Author Page

 

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

 

Paul’s website can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

 

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

 

Hidden Wiltshire Walks in Conjunction with Wiltshire Museum Wiltshire Museum Walks

 

The Hidden Wiltshire shop Hidden Wiltshire Shop

 

And finally you can find Lowa Boots UK at Lowa Boots UK

 

It was an important and historic day for Wiltshire when we recorded the podcast as we waited for the decision of the courts on the judicial review of the Government’s decision to build the A303 tunnel past Stonehenge and the Winterbourne Stoke bypass. Will the courts allow the legal change against the process for arriving at the decision to build, or will they decide the process was not legal? Will it be the end of decades of wrangling? Whatever your view, the decision will be known by the time the podcast goes live. But either way today will be remembered for generations to come as the day that Glyn and Paul recorded Episode 16 of the Hidden Wiltshire podcast!

But first a roundup of the last two weeks in Wiltshire. In fact it’s four weeks since we recorded as Episode 15 was put together before Paul left for his trip to Shetland and Orkney. Whilst he was unable to share his thousands of holiday snaps (mercifully this is an audio production) Paul did share his thoughts about the connections between the truly remarkable prehistoric sites on Orkney (such as Skara Brae, the Ring of Brodgar, the Ness of Brodgar, the Stones of Stenness and countless more) and the many monuments we have in Wiltshire. The craftsmanship and technology exhibited in the dwellings built by Neolithic man at Skara Brae in particular are astonishing considering they date from around 3300 BC. They include a drainage system more advanced than that used in Medieval Britain some 4,800 years later.

Whilst Paul galivanted around Scotland, Glyn held the fort in Wiltshire. The latest Hidden Wiltshire guided walk with Wiltshire Museum was to one of our favourite spots at Bratton and Luccombe Springs where Glyn met the owner of Luccombe Mill. His disagreements with various parties over rights of way across his land has given him a degree of notoriety but it seems he has improved access to the Springs and has ambitious plans for a couple of old pumping stations there.

Glyn posted a new walk on the Hidden Wiltshire website (link below) taking in the Gallops at Beckhampton and discovering a new (to us) clump at Witches Plantation. Despite its proximity to the A4 it’s possible to find yourself alone in this stunning and, of course historic, landscape.

Glyn has also been flying his drone again recently and has posted some stunning aerial footage and stills on the Facebook Page and in the Facebook Group for contributors.

Then on to the main subject of this episode. This sort of follows a walk Paul did in March 2019 on the Pewsey Downs to the east of the Pewsey Downs car park between Walkers Hill and Knap Hill. Despite Glyn’s insistence we will not be calling this episode of the podcast “Golden Balls”! The blog Paul wrote (linked below) about the walk was entitled “Knap Hill,  Medieval Shaw, Huish and Oare in the Pewsey Downs”. A snappy little title but maybe in need of abbreviation? Just not to “Golden Balls”, despite Golden Ball Hill being on the route.

You’ll need to listen to the podcast or read the blog to understand the reference to Medieval Shaw. But on a day of biblical weather Paul failed to find the site of the abandoned village of Shaw, although he was convinced at the time he had found it. He’s discovered it since which necessitated a re-drafting of the blog in December 2020 for fear of sending people on a wild goose chase.

But fear not, the amended walk is a fine one, taking in the sites of some of Wiltshire’s most ancient settlements on an escarpment that includes Neolithic Knap Hill, Mesolithic Golden Ball Hill as well as Draycott Hill, Gopher Wood and Huish Hill. Golden Ball Hill is one of the first locations where our hunter/gatherer ancestors first settled and began their long transition to farming. Finds there included three extremely rare dwellings with flint floors, post holes and hearths.

Descending to Oare and Huish we find the true essence of Hidden Wiltshire encountering incredibly lifelike sculptures of deer (they had Paul fooled), a mini Avebury stone circle and a seven foot rooster. And something we forgot to mention, the grave of David Niven’s ex-wife in the churchyard of St Mary’s, Huish. Returning to the hills you can capture views of the remarkable Oare Pavilion, a summerhouse looking like a giant wigwam in the parkland surrounding Oare House. A place of enormous wealth and privilege.

And so to the wrap up.

Steve Dixon’s piece in the middle leading into the discussion about the walk is entitled “Gatherings”, redolent perhaps of the ancient gathering places in these hills. After Glyn’s recent appearance on BBC Radio Wiltshire, who did a short feature on our podcast, Steve is also going to appear in a feature about his music. Terrific news and well deserved.

The next Hidden Wiltshire/Wiltshire Museum guided walk will be on 14 August 2021 and will be to the hills above Edington. You can get tickets using the link below.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter. It’s going to move from a weekly publication to a more targeted newsletter in future, so watch out for that.

Thanks again to Tim Kington at TKC Sales, the UK distributors of Lowa walking boots and shoes, for the 20% discount on their products to Hidden Wiltshire podcast listeners. Listen to the show for the discount code. It can’t last forever! You’ll find a link to Lowa Boots’ website below.

And finally, help us keep the lights on by heading to the Hidden Wiltshire Online shop. Link below.

You can find Glyn’s blog, Beckhampton Gallops and Witches Plantation, here Beckhampton Gallops and Witches Plantation

You can follow the walk we discuss in this episode here Knap Hill, Medieval Shaw etc

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s website can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

Hidden Wiltshire Walks in Conjunction with Wiltshire Museum Wiltshire Museum Walks

The Hidden Wiltshire shop Hidden Wiltshire Shop

And finally you can find Lowa Boots UK at Lowa Boots UK

A welcome return to Wiltshire for Glyn after his selfless trip to Pembrokeshire in South West Wales in search of links to his home county. We might call it a holiday but he assures us it was all in the interests of Hidden Wiltshire! 

The link is of course that the blue stones at Stonehenge were sourced from the Preseli Hills some 5,000 years ago. And it’s now thought the exact location was a stone circle at Maun Wawn. Evidence suggests the stone circle was dismantled after around 300 years leaving the three stones that remain today. The profile of the hole left by one of the stones matches exactly one of the blue stones, the smaller stones, at Stonehenge. We can only guess why our ancestors decided to transport these two tonne stones the 150 miles from Maun Wawn to Stonehenge, or how!

As we recorded the podcast (usually on a Friday) we were preparing for the next Hidden Wiltshire/Wiltshire Museum Guided Walk in the hills above Edington, taking in a view of the long barrow of Tinhead. We were looking forward to seeing what local finds David Dawson from Wiltshire Museum would produce during the walk.

And for anyone listening to the podcast on the day it goes live (Sunday 15 August) spare a thought for Glyn and Paul who will be pulling ragwort together with some fantastic volunteers from the ranks of Hidden Wiltshire’s followers at East Hill Farm, Warminster. East Hill Farm sits on the Imber Range where the land is rented from the MOD by the Guy family. The quid quo pro is that Frankie Guy has kindly agreed that we can do a special podcast with her on the farm soon. A unique opportunity to visit a part of Salisbury Plain permanently closed to members of the public.

Then on to this week’s walk. This was a walk that Paul did in 2020 as described in his blog on the Hidden Wiltshire website of 10 June 2020. The walk was of around 12 kms taking in the Ebble Valley villages of Ebbesbourne Wake and Alvediston before heading into the hills on the water shed above the valleys of the Ebble and the Nadder. After an irritating encounter near the beginning of the walk, and some way finding problems due to overgrown paths, it turned into a stunning walk. The villages along this end of the valley where the Ebble rises are sleepy hideways with some beautiful old buildings. St Mary’s Church, Alvediston is the resting place of British Prime Minister Anthony Eden who lived in Alvediston Manor until his death in 1977.

The views looking up into the hills surrounding the Ebble are wide raging, giving the sense of being cosseted by the geography. But once up into the hills on White Sheet Hill and Gallows Hill the views in all directions are outstanding. The photographs in the blog don’t really do it justice. On this ridge is the old Salisbury to Shaftesbury turnpike, which also at some point was part of the Herepath, a military road. All along this ancient road the expanse of south west Wiltshire and Dorset to the south, and the Nadder Valley and its hills to the north reveals itself with a different perspective at every bend along the way. Whilst the four kilometres along the ridge became tiresome due to the heat and hard surface, the views more than made up for it.

The finale to the walk is the descent into Prescombe Down, a Natural England Nature Reserve. In June 2020 this was a peaceful haven from the madness taking place in the outside world. To the background sounds of tawny owls, cuckoos and guinea fowl Paul found a grassy bank on which to lie and savour the tranquillity. However, this turned out to be unwise interlude as evidenced by the seven ticks he took home with him.

With the sun beginning to sink towards the hill tops surrounding the villages it was time for a few final photographs before returning to the car parked in the centre of Ebbesbourne Wake, tantalisingly close to The Horseshoe Pub which in these times of pandemic was closed. Hopefully when you do this walk it will have come through the other side and once again be open for business.

And so to the wrap up.

Steve Dixon’s piece leading into the discussion about the walk is entitled “Shadows Travel Fast”, a nod towards the deep shadows formed by the sinking sun in the many combes in this part of Wiltshire. As ever the piece in the introduction and the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

The next Hidden Wiltshire/Wiltshire Museum guided walk will be on Monday 30 August 2021 and will be to Erlestoke Wood and Salisbury Plain. You can get tickets using the link below.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website.

Thanks again to Tim Kington at TKC Sales, the UK distributors of Lowa walking boots and shoes, for the 20% discount on their products to Hidden Wiltshire podcast listeners. Listen to the show for the discount code. It can’t last forever! You’ll find a link to Lowa Boots’ website below.

And finally, help us keep the lights on by heading to the Hidden Wiltshire Online shop. Link below.

You can follow the walk we discuss in this episode here Eden's Last Post

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s website can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

Hidden Wiltshire Walks in Conjunction with Wiltshire Museum Wiltshire Museum Walks - Erlestoke Wood and Salisbury Plain

The Hidden Wiltshire shop Hidden Wiltshire Shop

And finally you can find Lowa Boots UK at Lowa Boots UK

It’s been a busy couple of weeks and there is dissent amongst the Hidden Wiltshire staff about pay and conditions. Paul in particular is unhappy with the current working practices that required him to spend two full days this week walking in warm sunshine across the Wiltshire countryside, taking photographs and testing the local hand pumped beers available in a Wiltshire pub after one particular walk. More of that in a future episode.

But in the meantime, somebody had to do it and the Hidden Wiltshire staff are considering joining a union unless conditions are improved.

This week’s podcast follows the coffin trail between West Ashton and Steeple, a walk that Glyn posted a blog on the website about on 9 July 2021. This was the route used to ferry coffins from the village of West Ashton, before its church was built in 1846, to the church at Steeple Ashton for burial. The route crosses a little brook over which a stone bridge was built around 200 years ago, connecting the path from West Ashton to what is known as Luffenham Field, a delightful mini nature reserve created and maintained by local villagers. The route passes what remains of Rood Ashton Hall, once the family seat of the Long Family.

The halfway point of this 4.5 mile walk is the village of Steeple Ashton where Glyn and Paul spent a delightful and informative 90 minutes with the hugely knowledgeable stonemason and author Andrew Ziminski. Andrew and his colleagues restored the old stone bridge at Luffenham in 2019/20 and they are now carrying out a series of works at St Mary’s Church in Steeple Ashton. This was the perfect opportunity to record a discussion with Andrew which we did on the roof of the church! An absolutely fascinating conversation during which Andrew brought the building to life, sharing its secrets and stories over hundreds of years.

Glyn has done this walk several times and it’s interesting to see and hear how it changes with the seasons. When Paul did the walk after the interview with Andrew Ziminski there were a number of route finding challenges as several of the rights of way were overgrown by the crops or had been ploughed up.

Steve Dixon’s piece leading into the discussion about the walk is entitled “Play Dead”. For obvious reasons! As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

The next Hidden Wiltshire/Wiltshire Museum guided walk will be on Monday 30 August 2021 and will be to Erlestoke Wood and Salisbury Plain. You can get tickets using the link below.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website.

Thanks again to the ever patient Tim Kington at TKC Sales, the UK distributors of Lowa walking boots and shoes, and for the 20% discount on their products to Hidden Wiltshire podcast listeners. Listen to the show for the discount code. It can’t last forever! You’ll find a link to Lowa Boots’ website below. And to complete the Steeple Ashton link, this is where TKC Sales are based so they are a true Wiltshire company.

And finally, help us keep the lights on by heading to the Hidden Wiltshire Online shop. Link below.

You can follow the walk we discuss in this episode here The Coffin Trail From West Ashton to Steeple Ashton

Andrew Ziminski’s brilliant book can be obtained here if you’d prefer not to use Amazon The Stone Mason: A History of Building Britain

Cheryl Nicol’s book about the Long Family can be obtained here Inheriting The Earth: The Long Family's 500 year reign in Wiltshire

Glyn’s photographs can be seen of course on this website and on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

Hidden Wiltshire Walks in Conjunction with Wiltshire Museum Erlestoke Wood and Salisbury Plain

You can find Lowa Boots UK at Lowa Boots UK

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop

Bit of a chaotic start to this episode of the podcast. We weren’t sure where we were. Glyn simply can’t get the staff these days. And what’s worse is that our reputation as serious podcasters is at risk due to the fact that most Google searches for reference material about Wiltshire lead back to this website! We’ll need to be a bit more diligent about our fact checking in future, although in this podcast we didn’t make a particularly good start!!

Starting on a slightly sombre note, after Paul attended the funeral of his Aunt earlier in the week, we talked about the importance of recording social history. The lives and history of ordinary people as opposed to the conventional kings and queens approach that was popular in the English curriculum. Glyn is reading a book by Time Team archaeologist Francis Pryor that does just this, bringing the landscape to life through archaeology and imagining the lives of those that trod this land before us. There’s a link to the book below.

And on this theme, Glyn and Paul went to listen to stonemason Andrew Ziminski who gave a talk at Toppings Bookshop in Bath last Sunday. A fascinating and engaging talk by someone at the forefront of his profession. We interviewed Andrew for the last podcast, Episode 18 The Coffin Trail.

Since the last podcast we’ve completed another guided walk in conjunction with Wiltshire Museum from Erlestoke up to Salisbury Plain. Glyn wrote a blog about this for the website which is linked below. This will also be the subject of the next podcast.

Another blog posted recently was the walk Paul did from Broad Chalke which took in the stunning Knapp Down. We’ll be recording a podcast about this walk too at some point.

The main subject of this episode was the walk that Glyn did in July around the Beckhampton Gallops. There’s a link to his blog about it with a map below. This is where we were really exposed as being the charlatans we are as we struggled to get our history right!! This is a landscape that as ever in Wiltshire is steeped in prehistory. A cursory glance at the map will show it is covered in ancient monuments, almost too numerous to mention. From the Bronze Age through the Iron Age to the Romans you’ll be walking in the steps of our ancestors throughout the walk. But we did also find the time to have a moan about our contemporaries who insist on damaging this precious landscape and who risk having it closed off to the public by the landowner who allows us the freedom to roam across parts of it.

Steve Dixon’s piece leading into the discussion about the walk is entitled “My Borrowed Hand”. Because the tabla sounds like horses hooves right! As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

The next Hidden Wiltshire/Wiltshire Museum guided walk will be on Sunday 12 September 2021 and will be to Devil’s Den and Fyfield Down. You can get tickets using the link below, if there are any left.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website.

Thanks again to the ever-patient Tim Kington at TKC Sales, the UK distributors of Lowa walking boots and shoes, and for the 20% discount on their products to Hidden Wiltshire podcast listeners. Listen to the show for the discount code. It can’t last forever! You’ll find a link to Lowa Boots’ website below.

And finally, help us keep the lights on by heading to the Hidden Wiltshire Online shop. Link below.

You can follow the walk we discuss in this episode here Beckhampton Gallops and Witch Plantation

Andrew Ziminski’s brilliant book can be obtained here if you’d prefer not to use Amazon The Stone Mason: A History of Building Britain

Francis Pryor’s book can be obtained here at a great price Scenes from a Prehistoric Life - Francis Pryor

Glyn’s blog about the guided walk with Wiltshire Museum from Erlestoke Erlestoke Wood and the 1917 Field

Glyn’s photographs can be seen of course on this website and on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

Hidden Wiltshire Walks in Conjunction with Wiltshire Hidden Wiltshire/Wiltshire Museum Walks

You can find Lowa Boots UK at Lowa Boots UK

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop

Someone has called Glyn and Paul the Whitehouse and Mortimer of the podcast world but with more sheep. We’re not sure if that was meant as a compliment but we’ll take it. We just need to decide which one of us is Paul Whitehouse and which one is Bob Mortimer.

Before getting on to the main subject we discuss the last two weeks in the world of Hidden Wiltshire. It was the final Hidden Wiltshire/Wiltshire Museum guided walk recently which took us to Fyfield Down where we led a sell out six mile tour that included the Devil’s Den, the Valley of the Stones, the Polisher Stone and the Toad Stone. A superb walk marred only by the fact that one of the guest’s car was broken into at the Manton House car park. Beware if you park here and don’t leave valuables in your car.

The guided walks have been so successful that we’re going to plan some more.

Regular contributor and podcast guest Steve Dewey has posted a new blog about Nine Mile River. It’s neither nine miles in length, nor a river for part its length at the moment! As we’ve come to expect from Steve the blog is thoroughly well researched with beautiful photographs and packed with little known facts. You’ll find a link to Steve’s blog below.

We’ve also been filming our first video podcast (is that a VLOG?) around the Pewsey Vale, assisted by Glyn’s son Rohan and Paul’s son Adam. The star of the show was David Carson, whose family has farmed in the area since the 1880s. This has been a long time in the planning. Recording video as well as audio on location is a whole different ballgame. Glyn has a lot of editing to do but mercifully we were blessed with beautiful weather.

On the video front, Paul recently posted a short 30 second video on the Facebook Page and Group of the location for the 19th century hamlet of Down Barn Cottages on Maddington Down near Shrewton. But his video was trumped by Hidden Wiltshire follower and contributor BBC South Today’s Paul Clifton, who recorded a 2:20 film at and around this location for the BBC earlier this year. Paul Clifton is a friend and neighbour of Paul’s and they both spend a lot of time walking the same part of Salisbury Plain, sometimes together! Apart from filming at the site of Down Barn Cottages Paul Clifton also filmed his walk along some of the hollow ways that radiate out from Shrewton. The BBC finally aired his film on 21 September and Paul kindly gave us permission to use it. You’ll find it on the Facebook Page and the Closed Facebook Group for members. It’s a lovely short film and well worth watching. You’ll also find it on the Hidden Wiltshire YouTube channel which we’ll be making greater use of in future. You’ll find a link below.

We then moved onto this episode’s main subject, a previous Hidden Wiltshire/Wiltshire Museum walk to Erlestoke Wood and the 1917 Field. You can follow the walk using the link below. The walk starts in the village of Erlestoke itself. The village has connections with the Special Operations Executive, the secret British organisation that was active during the Second World War. In the graveyard next to the car park where the walk began is the gravestone of Marie Louise Huntley Walker who died in 1980 and who was a member of the French Resistance. Surely a nod to Erlestoke’s SOE activities?

From Erlestoke village the walk climbs the steep slopes through Erlestoke Wood up to the Plains. The woods and lakes appear to have been created by the new owner of the manor John Smith in the 1780s. He enclosed the common land, turfed off the villagers and relocated the village to its current location in order that he could create a landscape for the enjoyment of him and his family. Nice.

The walk then takes us through the woods parallel to Coulston Hollow before joining the Imber Ranger Perimeter Path. After a stretch along the track we come to open fields with views across the Imber Range. And there, in the middle distance, is the famous Lollipop Tree that features in the closing scene of the film “1917”. With no sign of the huge film set built here, we headed down to Cheverell Hill Farm before returning to Erlestoke via Hill Wood.

A thoroughly enjoyable, and at times lung busting walk which will be very muddy if you attempt it in the winter.

Then on to the wrap up:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading into the discussion about the walk is entitled “When Swallows Rise”. As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website.

Thanks again to the ever-patient Tim Kington at TKC Sales, the UK distributors of Lowa walking boots and shoes, and for the 20% discount on their products to Hidden Wiltshire podcast listeners. Listen to the show for the discount code. It can’t last forever! You’ll find a link to Lowa Boots’ website below.

And finally, help us keep the lights on by heading to the Hidden Wiltshire Online shop. Link below.

You can find Steve Dewey’s blog about Nine Mile River here Nine Mile River - Steve Dewey

Paul Clifton’s short film for the BBC about Down Barn Cottages can be found on the Hiddden Wiltshire YouTube channel here Paul Clifton BBC Film - Down Barn Cottages

To follow the walk in this episode click on this link Erlestoke Wood and the 1917 Field

Glyn’s photographs can be seen of course on this website and on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

You can find Lowa Boots UK at Lowa Boots UK

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop

Glyn’s been so busy since the last episode that he’s not done any walking or taken a single photograph. But that doesn’t mean he’s been shirking his Hidden Wiltshire duties. He’s produced the first draft of the second Hidden Wiltshire book which will be out before Christmas. This one is a joint venture between Glyn and Paul and will feature photographs taken both from above and at ground level. Glyn has also embarked on the mammoth task of editing the footage shot for what will be Hidden Wiltshire’s first YouTube video.

Meanwhile Paul has been slacking insofar as once again he’s been entirely absent from Wiltshire since the last podcast. This necessitated another first for the team. Whilst Glyn was recording from his bunker in Trowbridge, Paul was recording from the depths of south west France – the very north of Dordogne to be precise. So we spent some time talking about the differences in the landscape between south west France and Wiltshire. Both steeped in history but revealing itself in different ways.

The main subject this week was the walk that Paul did with regular walking chum Stu at the end of August. In fact Stu was responsible for putting this route in the Ebble Valley together. But his long career in the army, where he was used to yomping long distances laden with huge loads, resulted in a slightly over-ambitious route of nearly 15 miles including a gruesome 4 miles along the old Salisbury – Shaftesbury turnpike. With a bit of tweaking this was reduced to just over 10 miles with an alternative route coming in at around 9.5 miles. Crucially both options involve a shorter trudge along the turnpike.

The walk starts in the lovely village of Broad Chalke in the Ebble Valley in the south west of the county. An alternative start point is the village hall at Bishopstone, further east along the valley. The walk begins by following the River Ebble through these two beautiful villages before striking north and up to the ridge which once carried the old turnpike road, all the time checking the views as they open up behind you. Whilst the ridge route can be a little boring you do get some fantastic views north and south from time to time. Our goal was the large Iron Age hillfort of Chiselbury Camp. It’s worth walking around its single bank to the edge of the escarpment to the north for the views across the Nadder Valley and the tops of the Fovant Badges at your feet.

For Stu and Paul the revelation of this walk was the stunning Knapp Down. After a leg breaking descent from the turnpike into the head of the combe the going gets easier as you head down towards Broad Chalke. This is a beautiful, peaceful place with scenes reminiscent of Alpine meadows. We threaded our way through the open access land eventually reaching Chalk Pyt Farm via the bridleway to the south west of the open access area. You can’t quite reach Chalk Pyt Farm on the open access land. But from here it’s a short walk back to the village and a well-earned pint in the Queens Head.

A glorious and varied walk for a warm sunny day.

Then on to the wrap up:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading into the discussion about the walk is entitled “Hills Hiding Hangars”. This piece was featured in the interview BBC Radio Wiltshire did with Steve a while ago. It’s such a beautiful piece we decided to play all of it so this segment is slightly longer than usual. As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website.

Thanks again to the ever-patient Tim Kington at TKC Sales, the UK distributors of Lowa walking boots and shoes, and for the 20% discount on their products to Hidden Wiltshire podcast listeners. Listen to the show for the discount code. It can’t last forever! You’ll find a link to Lowa Boots’ website below.

And finally, help us keep the lights on by heading to the Hidden Wiltshire Online shop. Link below.

To follow the walk in this episode click on this link Knapp Down and the Ebble Valley

Glyn’s photographs can be seen of course on this website and on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

You can find Lowa Boots UK at Lowa Boots UK

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop

In which Glyn bravely battles through the podcast whilst suffering from a long bout of man flu, with frequent triggers of the mute button as he splutters into the crook of his arm as instructed by the scientists. But, ever the professional, the listener will hopefully not notice!

Paul is still in Dordogne so has obviously done nothing in Wiltshire in the last two weeks. But we had plenty to talk about.

Whilst researching something else Glyn stumbled across Potterne Midden. For those that don’t know a midden is a prehistoric rubbish dump. A landfill if you like. And Glyn decided to look into it! This one dates from the late Bronze Age and is vast, covering an area of at least 5 hectares between 1 and 2 metres deep. Excavations revealed pottery, animal bone, coprolites (fossilised excrement), worked bone and antler, bronze metalwork, flints and even human remains. It was first excavated in the 1980s but is a new one on us.

We also discuss the de-declaration of Fyfield Down as a National Nature Reserve. This caused considerable alarm when it was announced a little while ago and naturally people suspected the worst. But it seems when Natural England took a 99 year lease on the Down in 1955 there was a break clause that enabled either party to dissolve the agreement in 2019. The current landowner chose to do this. But the Down will continue to be a SSSI, and access will be maintained under the CRoW Act (Controlled Rights of Way) which identifies part of what was the nature reserve as “open access land”. Natural England will continue to work with the owner to manage the landscape under a new Countryside Stewardship agreement, so we are assured nothing will change. Which does beg the question what is the point of National Nature Reserves?

The main subject of this episode is the walk that Paul did in February 2020 taking in Great Ridge. There is a link to the blog he wrote below. This is an 8.5 mile walk part of which follows the Roman Road through the heart of Great Ridge Wood. As ever this is an area rich in history and prehistory, with evidence of multiple enclosures along the way as well as some curiously named places such as Snail-creep Hanging, and North and South Soupir. The walk also passes the immaculate and picturesque Neolithic Corton Long Barrow which is topped off by a perfect little clump.

Great Ridge is a substantial woodland where the inhabitants of nearby Chicklade once had the right to collect wood. It is now the site of a substantial commercial forestry operation and sporting estate owned by Fonthill Estate, so it’s important to stick to rights of way. But it is also a place where, if you are lucky, you may hear or even see the elusive Goshawk.

Emerging from the wood spectacular views northwards open up, encompassing a landscape full of our favourite feature – bottoms. There are bottoms galore here, several of which are open access, including Well Bottom, Long Bottom, and Whatcomb Bottom.

This is a stunning walk in all seasons but beware it can get very boggy in the wood around Point Pond and Scrubbed Oak, and the track leading from the Wessex Ridgeway to the point where we emerge from it above Well Bottom.

Then on to the wrap up:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading into the discussion about the walk is entitled “From the Edge of Grey to Green”. As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website.

Thanks again to the ever-patient Tim Kington at TKC Sales, the UK distributors of Lowa walking boots and shoes, and for the 20% discount on their products to Hidden Wiltshire podcast listeners. Listen to the show for the discount code. It can’t last forever! You’ll find a link to Lowa Boots’ website below.

And finally, help us keep the lights on by heading to the Hidden Wiltshire Online shop. Link below.

The next episode of the podcast will be a special with guest David Dawson from Wiltshire Museum.

To follow the walk in this episode click on this link Great Ridge

Glyn’s photographs can be seen of course on this website and on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

You can find Lowa Boots UK at Lowa Boots UK

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop

A real treat in store in this episode as we interview David Dawson, Director of Wiltshire Museum in Devizes.

But first we have our usual round-up of what we’ve been up to since the last episode.

The second Hidden Wiltshire book is approaching completion. Apart from providing the music for the podcast Steve Dixon is a graphic designer. He’s now cast his eye over the draft and given us some great advice. We’re nearly ready to send it off for a draft print before ordering the full print run. The book will be available from the Hidden Wiltshire online store in time for Christmas.

Meanwhile Paul has returned from a month in France to a cold damp Wiltshire. But this week’s volunteering at Parsonage Down warmed him up after being given the run around by a ram in a very large field who was reluctant to share a paddock with two other rams. His (the ram, not Paul’s) eye was on the sheep further up the hill. It took six people on foot plus a seventh in a Landrover to catch the bugger! (Which idiot left that gate open??) Still, that was better than being eaten alive by a swarm of midges later the same afternoon. The midges of Scotland would have been proud of their southern cousins.

Earlier in the week Paul and regular walking chum Stu did a recce for a walk in the countryside around Hippenscombe and the Chute Causeway. If you follow the Hidden Wiltshire Facebook page or members’ Group you will have seen the report and photographs. We’re planning to run an extra combined Hidden Wiltshire/Wiltshire Museum walk in the area this winter but there’s so much to see we may have to split it in two. Parking will also be a challenge in the narrow lanes and little villages there.

We then turned to our interview with David Dawson. We’ve got to know David well over the course of this year during our programme of Hidden Wiltshire/Wiltshire Museum walks, in which David’s expertise and his “box of tricks” (finds from the areas in which we’ve walked) have been invaluable. This was a really fascinating discussion which could have gone on for hours, and explains why this episode of the podcast is slightly longer than usual. 

David’s interest in archaeology began when he was a boy and he’s been passionate about it ever since, having studied archaeology at university. A qualified museum curator he patiently waited over the course of several years for the role at Wiltshire Museum (which was founded in 1853) to become vacant in 2008. He didn’t hesitate and he’s been here ever since.

Our discussion ranged from David’s particular areas of interest, the structure and funding of Wiltshire Museum to a taster of the some of the internationally significant exhibits that can be seen at the museum in Devizes. Followers of the podcast have heard us talk on a number of occasions about amateur archaeologist (although the term was not used then) and antiquarian William Cunnington of Heytesbury, and his patron Sir Richard Colt Hoare of Stourhead. David really brought these characters to life for us. Listeners may also have heard us talk about landscape artist Eric Ravilious. Whilst not from Wiltshire he was a lover of our chalk downlands and painted many local scenes, including one of our favourites which is of Hippenscombe from the Chute Causeway entitled simply “The Causeway”. Wiltshire Museum currently has an exhibition of Ravilious’ artwork. Entitled Downland Man the exhibition runs until 30 January 2022. This is a unique opportunity to see 25 examples of his work, on loan from their owners all over the country. For the entry fee of £6 (children free), which also covers access to the museum’s other exhibits, this is an absolute bargain. You’ll find a link to the museum’s website with more details below.

Finally we discussed the museum’s plans to relocate to the old Devizes Assize Courts building next to Wadworth Brewery. This is a long-term project which hopefully will see the museum relocate in around 8-10 years’ time. But first there’s the small matter of raising the £12m-£13m required. Fortunately David’s not inconsiderable skills include raising funds!

Then on to the wrap up:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading into the interview with David Dawson is entitled “Porto”, for no other reason than we haven’t used it before and it conjured up the image of Steve in a beret playing the accordion! As ever the piece in the introduction at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website.

Thanks again to the ever-patient Tim Kington at TKC Sales, the UK distributors of Lowa walking boots and shoes, and for the 20% discount on their products to Hidden Wiltshire podcast listeners. Listen to the show for the discount code. It can’t last forever! You’ll find a link to Lowa Boots’ website below.

And finally, help us keep the lights on by heading to the Hidden Wiltshire Online shop. Link below. The second Hidden Wiltshire book will be available there soon.

Wiltshire Museum’s website and details of the Eric Ravilious exhibition, Downland Man, can be found here Wiltshire Museum

Glyn’s photographs can be seen of course on this website and on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

You can find Lowa Boots UK at Lowa Boots UK

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 

Glyn opens this episode of the podcast with the announcement that he has moved the Hidden Wiltshire Headquarters from Trowbridge. Fearing that HQ had been relocated to Liverpool, Paul’s initial shock was eased by the news that HQ is now at Heywood House on Capps Lane just outside Westbury! And just as Paul was left wondering where Glyn had got what was probably a five million quid asking price from, Glyn stated that in fact he was simply renting a desk in what is serviced office accommodation. From a £5m mansion to a lone desk in 30 seconds…

However, this episode of the podcast focuses on a blog Paul posted on the Hidden Wiltshire website on 23 January 2021 about the River Till. A blog re-printed in the Tilshead Newsletter in March 2021. Fame at last! 

But first we talk about the last two weeks in Wiltshire, one day of which Paul spent in the Badlands of Gloucestershire.

The excitement is building for Hidden Wiltshire’s second book which this time is a collaborative effort between Glyn and Paul. With a fair wind and favourable conditions in Customs (since the book is being printed in the Netherlands) the book will be launched on 10 December at a surprise and secret venue. So it should be available just in time for Christmas. It’s been an all-consuming effort but having seen a proof copy, which required a fair few tweaks, we’re really excited about the release.

Meanwhile Paul’s had some interesting times of late working for Natural England. It’s hoped the volunteers can work more independently on the local nature reserves in future which involves being trained and certified for all manner of tasks. The Government does like its health and safety courses. Paul spent a day last week near Cirencester on a 4x4 driving course where he learned that he had driven the nature reserve’s old Landrover Defender all the way from Parsonage Down to Cirencester with the differential lock engaged. Which is not a good thing. It’s no wonder he struggled to go round corners. And whilst working at the reserve this week the Defender was found to be abandoned in the farmyard. Broken! But not Paul’s fault we hasten to add. Next step – tractor driving training.

Still at Parsonage Down the volunteer team spent one day this week coppicing a small wood that provides shelter to the farm. It really highlighted the point we’ve made in a couple of podcasts, and in particular the one entitled Wiltshire Clumps, that woodland needs to be managed in the light of climate change and other challenges such as ash dieback. It was quite a shock to see how many trees in this small copse were dead or dying. Beech, ash, elder, hawthorn – all were dying back. Whilst some dead wood can be left to provide a rich habitat, much had to be cleared to allow the light to penetrate to the woodland floor. The area will we re-populated with a more diverse species of native tree which will provide a beautiful wood for future generations to enjoy.

We then move on to the main subject – the River Till. This quintessential chalk winterbourne rises in Tilshead and flows all the way to Stapleford where it joins the Wylye. Many people quite understandably assume that Tilshead takes its name from the river. But this is not the case. The name is actually derived from "Theodwulf's hide”. The name Tilshead came into use in the 16th century. The river was called the Winterbourne until around the start of the 20th century, when the name River Till began to be used. Locally the river was also referred to as Waterlake, a name which subsists today in the form of Waterlake Lane in Orcheston.

During the podcast we talk about the inevitable rich history that surrounds the Till. From the three Neolithic long barrows on the hill above Tilshead which are orientated along the lines of the river’s re-entrants, to the story of the Orcheston grass that once grew in the water meadows in that village at a rate of 17 – 18 feet a year, to the Bronze and Iron Age round barrow cemetery of The Coniger between Shrewton and Winterbourne Stoke (where Roman pottery has also been found) to medieval Stapleford Castle, once the home of Jane Seymour’s father. (Henry VIII’s third wife, not the actress!)

We also had a fairly monumental political rant! It’s been widely reported that Wessex Water has been allowing raw sewage to enter the Till for several years – both at Orcheston and from the sewage treatment plant at Shrewton. According to The Times between July 2019 and June 2020 the Shrewton treatment works operated by Wessex Water spilt untreated sewage into the River Till for 5,110 hours, or more than seven months. 

Entreaties to Wessex Water, the Environment Agency and Natural England have all failed to resolve the issue. Meanwhile the water meadow next to Waterlake Lane in Orcheston, where the famed grass once grew, is virtually sterile. And during the spring of this year Paul saw young children playing in the stream just 50 metres below the sewage treatment works outfall. Is it any wonder that otters, water voles and brown trout are no longer or rarely seen in Shrewton? A truly disgraceful situation which the Government’s new Bill does little to remedy.

There is no map to follow along with this episode of the podcast. Paul pieced together the blog following two day long walks – one between Shrewton and Tilshead (which included Orcheston) and the other between Shrewton and Stapleford which can be extended to make a long day’s walk taking in the hills either side of the Till valley that includes the views from Druids Lodge and returning via Yarnbury Castle and the ancient ridgeway across the Plain. A long point to point walk could easily be put together from Tilshead’ where the river rises’ to its end at Stapleford. Once for the longer days of summer.

Then on to the wrap up:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading to our main subject is entitled “When Swallows Rise”. We’ve used it before but as Paul has spent many happy hours watching swallows dart around the Till just above the remains of the sluice gates below The Coniger, it seemed appropriate. As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website.

Thanks again to the ever-patient Tim Kington at TKC Sales, the UK distributors of Lowa walking boots and shoes, and for the 20% discount on their products to Hidden Wiltshire podcast listeners. Listen to the show for the discount code. At year end we’re going to discuss with Tim whether we continue with the discount.  You’ll find a link to Lowa Boots’ website below.

And finally, help us keep the lights on by heading to the Hidden Wiltshire Online shop. Link below. The second Hidden Wiltshire book will be available there soon.

Paul’s blog about the River Till and his photographs can be found here The River Till - the story of a winterbourne

Glyn’s photographs can be seen of course on this website and on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

You can find Lowa Boots UK at Lowa Boots UK

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop

A fit of the giggles for Glyn and Paul this week. In a break from tradition we recorded this episode in the evening and this seems to have had a disturbing effect on our sanity. But more of that later.

This week we head to the south of the county again, not far from the scene of the last podcast. We follow a walk Paul did in May 2020 which appears on the Hidden Wiltshire website and is entitled In Pursuit of Kites. You’ll find a link below.

But first, the usual round of the last two weeks in Wiltshire. 

Against his better judgement Paul attended a Christmas event. Firmly of the belief that Christmas is on 25 December, and not 25 August as Waitrose would have you believe, Paul was taken aback to find himself at the Natural England Parsonage Down Staff and Volunteers Christmas BBQ on 2 December. Far too early! Grudgingly he admitted it was a terrific day. The morning started with a tour of the Hen Harrier Project at Parsonage Down together with a really engaging talk from the staff who work on the project. This was followed by a BBQ in a copse we have been clearing over the last few weeks prior to re-planting. Despite the freezing temperatures it was a wonderful afternoon gathered around the fire feasting on locally reared English Longhorn beef (in the form of burgers) under clear blue skies.

The Hen Harrier Project team is keen to show groups around the site that has been prepared for the eventual arrival of the birds. They really are engaging and passionate speakers (the staff, not the hen harriers). Sadly they can’t accommodate visits by individuals but if you can muster a group of people they would be delighted to entertain you. School visits are welcome. Please contact Paul via the Facebook Group or Page, via the Hidden Wiltshire website or via Paul’s website (link below).

We also talked about some of our wonderful listeners including the incredible Sarah Lucas. Sarah has lived in Scotland for the last 30 years but originates from Wiltshire. She listens to the podcast which brings back fond memories of her past in the county. Sarah wrote to us to express her thanks for the podcast. To show her gratitude Sarah prepared Paul’s family tree including an Ancestry book. She will be doing Glyn’s family tree next. Sarah is purely an amateur genealogist at the moment but is thinking about taking it up full time. Meanwhile she will do commissions so if anyone is interested please contact Paul.

Talking of listeners and followers we are delighted to say we are taking orders for our new book – Hidden Wiltshire from near and far. The official launch date is Friday 10 December and a launch event is being hosted by Wiltshire Museum in Devizes where Glyn and Paul will talk about the book and sign copies. It starts at 7:30 pm and tickets, which are free, are available on the Hidden Wiltshire website where you can also order a copy of the book. You’ll find a link to the online shop below. The books are already flying out the door.

We also chatted about Paul and his usual walking buddy Stu’s walk in the far north of the county where they visited the astonishing Inglesham church. The walk dipped in and out of the neighbouring counties of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire but the church is firmly in Wiltshire. This wasn’t Paul’s only traitorous act as he also did a walk in the hills above the lovely West Sussex town of Midhurst. Beer may have been involved courtesy of a lunch stop at the little Langham Brewery. He can thoroughly recommend their wares!

So on to the main topic. We’ve called this episode Codford Down and Chitterne Brook but it could equally have been called East Codford Down, Clay Pit Hill, Codford Circle or Oram’s Grave – all places that were visited on the way. Or maybe we could have called it “Bottoms” (listen to podcast to hear why)!

There is a link below to Paul’s blog and walk description which is dated 21 May 2020, together with a route map. The walk as shown is 11.6 kms (7.2 miles) and begins in the layby at the top of the hill on the B390 as it leaves Chitterne towards Shrewton. Once again this is an area steeped in history. But apart from the Bronze Age and Iron Age landscape we find reminders of the more recent past including the clay pit that was dug in the 17th century to provide clay for the manufacture of tobacco pipes in Amesbury, and the disturbing tale of poor James Oram who hung himself on the 25th July 1768 having suffered “disappointment in love”. As was the practice he was buried at a crossroads (in this case the junction of the Maddington-Codford and Old Sarum-Warminster roads) in order to confuse the spirits. It’s said that later his body was uncovered and a stake driven through his heart. The walk takes you right past the burial mound.

We continue up to Clay Pit Hill before heading south past the late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age hilltop enclosure of Codford Circle. The “private” signs everywhere are a warning that visitors are not welcome. But since there is little to see it’s best to stick to the old Maddington to Codford Road which slowly descends from the heights above Chitterne Brook, with its spectacular views of Codford Down and far beyond. This is a favourite haunt of red kites and buzzards, hence the title of the original blog.

It was shortly after this point in the walk description that things went awry. The story of the unexploded World War 2 hand grenade discovered in Punchbowl Bottom just outside Codford was for some inexplicable reason what prompted a moment of hysteria as Glyn and Paul struggled to stifle their giggles. They failed!

Having recovered our composure we described the remainder of the walk that follows the path of the delightful Chitterne Brook before heading back up to Clay Pit Hill just short of what remains of the Aston Valley Barrow Cemetery. The cemetery was the location of 10 bell and one bowl barrow (although little remains visible now). The walk retraces its steps from Clay Pit Hill Clump back down to Oram’s Grave before returning to the layby. This is a memorable walk with far-reaching views, perfect for a crisp clear winter’s day or in the heat of summer. Either way, if you’re lucky, the King’s Head Community Pub in Chitterne may be open by the time you do it.

Then on to the wrap up:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading to our main subject is entitled “Bee Leaf”, just because it reminds us of a warm sunny day. As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website.

Thanks again to the ever-patient Tim Kington at TKC Sales, the UK distributors of Lowa walking boots and shoes, and for the 20% discount on their products to Hidden Wiltshire podcast listeners. Listen to the show for the discount code. At year end we’re going to discuss with Tim whether we continue with the discount. You’ll find a link to Lowa Boots’ website below.

And finally, help us keep the lights on by heading to the Hidden Wiltshire Online shop. Link below. The second Hidden Wiltshire book can now be ordered from the online shop.

Paul’s blog about the walk and his photographs can be found here In Pursuit of Kites. This location also features in our new Hidden Wiltshire book.

Glyn’s photographs can be seen of course on this website and on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

You can find Lowa Boots UK at Lowa Boots UK

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 

and a link to Glyn’s blog about the book, how to purchase a copy and how to get tickets for the launch here Hiddden Wiltshire from near and far

Episode 26 of a fortnightly podcast means we’ve made it to the end of our first year of podcasting. And with the dreaded COVID-19 rampaging through the country again we don’t seem to have come very far. But this episode is a Christmas Special and when we look back over the last year we realise just how much we’ve covered and how far we’ve come.

But first our final look for 2021 at the last two weeks in Wiltshire.

Notwithstanding a couple of days’ tractor driver training at Parsonage Down for Paul, it’s all been about the Hidden Wiltshire book so not much walking and photography going on. We had the official book launch on Friday 10 December which we are most grateful to Wiltshire Museum in Devizes for hosting. Tickets were limited so that people could be distanced from one another and there were a few no shows. But we had a great evening with some lovely people and even managed to sell (and sign) a few books. Glyn and Paul blathered in true podcast style for about an hour before chatting to people afterwards over wine and nibbles. It definitely wasn’t a party! The book was available for pre-order before the launch so we’ve been busily parcelling them up and sending them out. 

We’ve sold nearly half the first print run which is incredible. Sadly the Christmas rush and pressure on the Royal Mail to deliver huge numbers of COVID test kits has meant a lot of books are taking a long time to arrive. Added to which we calculated the postage incorrectly on the early orders so some people have been asked to pay additional £1.50 by Royal Mail. If you have been affected please contact us and we will arrange a refund of the additional postage.

We had a most welcome and unexpected piece of news this week. We were contacted by the British Library who asked if they could enter the podcast in the British Library Sounds Archive. This is a huge honour for us, although we’re not sure whether it means we will now be stored in a basement somewhere in London. Or fired into space to be discovered by aliens in a million light years’ time.

The main part of the podcast was a review of some of our favourite events of the year. Looking at the analytics software we use it’s been amazing to see how many overseas listeners we have, and from such a diverse range of countries. Of the nearly 10,000 listens around 10% have been by people outside of the UK from places as far as the USA, Japan, Australia and Hong Kong, to countries closer to home such as Malta, Luxembourg and Montenegro (wherever that is)!

Some of our favourite podcasts have been those where we discovered some remarkable characters any mysterious legends such as The Fonthill Estate and the Gold Suited Doorman, and Folly Wood and the Headless Horseman. But we’ve an absolute ball doing some recording outside so you’ll hear clips from the decidedly eerie Furze Knoll (the Wiltshire Clumps podcast), Fyfield Down (where we were spooked late in the evening by some terrifying sounds) and the Coffin Trail podcast where we interviewed the marvellous Andrew Ziminski on the roof of Staple Ashton church just as the bells began to chime. We’ll be making a lot more use of the outside recording equipment next year and we may even get to use it in time for the next podcast, if only Steve Dixon would give us a date when he is available to record it!

You’ll find links to the featured podcasts below.

Whilst we’ve travelled to the far corners of the county, we have a lot more walks planned. But we want to get further out to the borders of the neighbouring counties. Paul was hoping to avoid Swindon since it is its own separate Unitary Authority but Glyn assured him it was still in Wiltshire! But we must visit places like the pretty town of Malmesbury and the area south of Salisbury towards the New Forest. If listeners have any suggestions we’d love to hear them. We’ve had one or two via the Facebook Page and Group already. If you want to submit your own photo blog for inclusion on the website we’d happy to consider your material, or if you are a member of the closed Facebook Group you can post blogs on there direct.

We finished the review of the year with another mention of Steve Dixon who, following Glyn’s appearance on Radio Wiltshire, was featured on one of their programmes talking about his piece “Hills Hiding Hangars”. The station has also asked him to write and record some music for them. The boy would be nowhere without us!! And speaking of “Hills Hiding Hangars” we used this music in our soon to be released video featuring David Carson and the landscape around Alton Barnes and Alton Priors. Watch out for more news on this soon.

Then on to the wrap up:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading to our main subject is entitled “Bright Thaw”, although there doesn’t seem to be much prospect of there being anything to thaw this Christmas. Another T-shirt and shorts Christmas we fear. As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website.

A final thanks to Tim Kington at TKC Sales, the UK distributors of Lowa walking boots and shoes, and for the 20% discount on their products available to listeners of the podcast. This will be the final opportunity to make use of the discount as the code will no longer work after the end of the year. Listen to the show for the discount code. You’ll find a link to Lowa Boots’ website below where you can place your order and utilise the discount code.

And finally, help us keep the lights on by heading to the Hidden Wiltshire Online shop. Link below. Did we tell you there’s a second Hidden Wiltshire book! That can be ordered in the online shop or you will find it in the shop in Wiltshire Museum in Devizes.

To sign off we’d like to wish all our listeners a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks for your support and for lending us your ear.

The podcasts featured in this episode can be found here:

Glyn’s photographs can of course be seen on this website and on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

You can find Lowa Boots UK at Lowa Boots UK

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 

and a link to Glyn’s blog about the book, how to purchase a copy here Hiddden Wiltshire from near and far

A Happy New Year to all our listeners. A new year and the start of our second year as podcasters. We still can’t believe it.

Our usual round up of the last two weeks in Wiltshire was pretty spartan. Neither Glyn nor Paul have done anything other than enjoy Christmas with our families. Paul had COVID in the house so spent the best part of the 10 days up until Christmas Eve isolating to keep his son company. A diet of walks onto the Plain from home kept him sane.

Both Glyn and Paul have been doing a lot of reading and in the links below you’ll find some of the books that have been keeping them busy. And speaking of books, we’re still busy packaging up and sending out copies of the Hidden Wiltshire book. Both books are available to order from the Hidden Wiltshire online shop (link below) whilst the second book, Hidden Wiltshire from Near and Far, is also in stock at Wiltshire Museum and Devizes Bookshop. It will also be available for loan from Wiltshire Libraries later in January.

The main subject of the podcast is our first walk involving the whole Hidden Wiltshire team. Glyn and Paul were joined by Steve Dixon and we recorded our exploits as we walked. We’d been planning to do the Quaker’s Walk in Devizes for a long time. Since this is Steve’s hometown and he spends so much time walking the area it was great to have him along to share his knowledge and wit!

From Quaker’s Walk we headed up to Roundway Hill and Oliver’s Castle. From there we continued to King’s Play Hill then followed the Wessex Ridgeway for a stretch before turning to head back towards Roundway Hill. 

The weather forecast predicted a 10% chance of a shower. What we got was continuous torrential rain for several hours with Roundway Hill cloaked in thick cloud as we approached. We were drenched. And to add insult to injury Glyn took an involuntary lie down in the mud on Oliver’s Castle. On the tops we were then greeted by a howling gale which blew Paul off his feet whilst on King’s Play Hill. We struggled to record our observations as we went, including reading a short description of the Battle of Roundway which took place nearby on 13 July 1643.

Along the stretch of the Wessex Ridgeway we came across an ancient milestone. James Rawlings posted about this in the Hidden Wiltshire Facebook Group in April 2021. We know it’s a milestone (which apparently has an Ordnance Survey mark on it) but we’d be intrigued to know whether this track was a coach road or whether the Wessex Ridgeway has milestones along its entire length.

Anyway, we returned to Devizes Wharf tired and covered in mud but contented after our 10 mile walk. And what a transformation. A beautiful still evening with a sunset revealing powder blue skies streaked with pink clouds. We couldn’t believe that seven hours earlier the weather was so appalling the thought of abandoning had crossed our minds!

Then on to the wrap up:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading to our recording of our walk is entitled “Gatherings” as the drum led us to imagine the sound of a drummer boy in the Battle of Roundway Down. As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

Thanks again for all your support during our first year of the podcast. Don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website.

The books mentioned in the podcast:

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on the Hidden Wiltshire website and on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 

and a link to Glyn’s blog about the book, how to purchase a copy here Hiddden Wiltshire from near and far

Something a little different in this episode – not a walk but a whole area!

We open with a mention of Glyn’s talk at the Bratton History Association on the subject of Blind Houses at 4:00pm on Sunday 16 January. The event will be held at Bratton Church Institute. It is but a vicious rumour that Glyn will be performing his talk as dance.

After saying we’ve had a quiet two weeks we then embark on an extended round up of the last two weeks, in which mud featured large. Lenka Stokes asked in the Facebook Group whether anyone could recommend a walk that didn’t involve mud. This was a tricky one! The answer wasn’t quite a resounding “no” but people did struggle with ideas. 

Meanwhile, Paul has done two walks this week, one in Wiltshire and one just outside. The walk outside Wiltshire was just over the border in Oxfordshire taking in a stretch of the Ridgeway, which of course extends into Wiltshire and includes Avebury. Being a little closer to home than North Uist and France (Paul having taken some flack for a Facebook post about prehistoric monuments in these two places) it’s well worth venturing over the border to see the Uffington White Horse, Uffington Castle and Wayland’s Smithy. He did though make comparisons with similar monuments in Wiltshire in order to justify the mention! This part of south Oxfordshire did though trump Wiltshire for mud. It was shocking!

Paul’s other walk was firmly in Wiltshire, albeit not too far from the Hampshire border. David Dawson at Wiltshire Museum has asked us to lead a walk to include Tidcombe long barrow, Hippenscombe and the Kinwardstone (aka Kenwood Stone or Devil’s Waistcoat). So, accompanied by his trusted walking buddy Stu, Paul knocked together a route which he proceeded to trial. The weather was grey and drizzly so did not show this beautiful part of the world in its best light. Watch out for a blog and podcast about this in due course. But despite the weather and the mud Paul and Stu did complete the walk, throwing in an extension to include the Iron Age bivallate hill fort of Fosbury Camp – a worthwhile deviation.

Hippenscombe features in British water colourist Eric Ravilious’ famous painting “The Causeway”. Recently both Glyn and Paul have been to see the unique exhibition of his paintings, entitled Downland Man, at Wiltshire Museum in Devizes. It was interesting to compare the landscape that Ravilious painted in 1937 to how it looks today. The area now hosts industrial scale game shooting, something that is not so evident in Eric’s beautiful painting. He also painted the aforementioned Uffington White Horse, thereby completing the circle! The exhibition is on until the end of January so there is not long left before the pieces are returned to their owners. The Causeway in particular will henceforth be kept in a dark room for several decades to reduce light damage so for many of us this will be the last chance to see it. It should be noted the exhibition is now getting very busy so it would be wise to book ahead.

The main subject in this episode of the podcast was Whitesheet Hill near Stourhead, and the surrounding area. We discuss the myriad prehistoric monuments on Whitesheet Hill, nearby Long Knoll, and Park Hill Camp at Stourton as well as medieval Mere Castle, and memories of the Second World War by way of Zeals aerodrome and the poignant Dakota Memorial close by Whitesheet at Beech Clump. As usual in our part of the world, there are immense views everywhere, including across Dorset and Somerset.

In the podcast Paul mentions the connection with the late 18th/early 19th century poet Percey Bysshe Shelley with this area, and in the process gets it completely wrong. Paul said Shelley met his first wife, Harriet Westbrook here. In fact it was his first love, Harriet Grove, whose family owned Ferne House at nearby Donhead St Andrew. This must be a first – issuing a correction at the same time as the podcast is released! What is even more hilarious is that we discovered that Wikipedia cited Paul’s Hidden Wiltshire blog about Long Knoll and Little Knoll on their page about Long Knoll. If only they knew!

Then on to the wrap up:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading into our main subject is entitled “Downland” for obvious reasons. As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

Don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. Both Hidden Wiltshire books can be purchased there. The second book is also available at Devizes Bookshop and Wiltshire Museum in Devizes. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website.

Details of the Eric Ravilious exhibition at Wiltshire Museum, Devizes can be found here Eric Ravilious - Downland Man

We talk in further detail about the whole area around Whitesheet Hill in a number of blogs on the Hidden Wiltshire website – links as follows

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on the Hidden Wiltshire website and on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 

and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

It’s the eleventy seventh of January and we’re sick of the endless grey days but Spring is in the air. We’ve seen snow drops and crocuses, and the River Till behind Paul’s house has finally risen from its dry river bed. It won’t be (that long) before we’re out taking photos of bluebells again, although in an act of extreme provocation Glyn has already posted bluebell images on his Twitter feed.

Things have been a bit busier since the last podcast. The Hippenscombe walk has finally been posted on the website and Facebook pages. It’s been a real labour of love with Paul returning to the location five times in all to refine the walk and capture photographs in something other than flat grey light. It’s been quite a struggle to get the right balance of distance for the walk whilst taking in all the locations that really should be seen in this part of Wiltshire. Since we had to admit to not being finely tuned athletes some of the climbs along the walk proved to be pretty challenging, one of which saw Paul prostrate in the mud!

It was also good to get the Quaker’s Walk blog up on the website after we did the walk as part of a podcast with Steve Dixon.

Since the last podcast Glyn has delivered his talk to the Bratton History Association on the subject of Wiltshire Blind Houses, the main topic for this episode of the podcast. Glyn plans to visit every Wiltshire Blind House, just as he undertook to visit every Wiltshire hill fort (seems he may have been beaten to this)! We then managed to disappear down an enormous rabbit hole talking about hill forts and whether they were really forts at all. Rather than muse about the purpose of these from a base of our limited understanding we thought it would be far more sensible to invite an expert onto the podcast to speak about them. Watch this space.

Meanwhile we’ve got a few more walks planned which Paul and his walking buddy Stu will be scheduling over the next month or two. Meanwhile Glyn and Paul will be joined by long-term Hidden Wiltshire follower and contributor Bo Novak (who was responsible for the guided walk Glyn led in Bradford-on-Avon last year) on a walk based around Winsley. A walk that we were asked to do by Sarah Lucas who lived there some 30 years ago before she moved to Scotland. We’re planning to record some audio whilst we walk for a future podcast.

Speaking of recording, we are almost ready to release the film we made with David Carson last summer around Alton Barnes and Alton Priors, and the surrounding hills. This will be posted on YouTube. It’s been a long haul and a lot of work!

Then on to the main topic of this episode of the podcast - Wiltshire’s Blind Houses. When Glyn delivered his talk he illustrated it with a number of slides, and you can see the photographs in his blog from 24 January 2021 (see link below). We talk about the origin and purpose behind these little lock-ups which in fact had a relatively limited life, having become redundant once Wiltshire’s constabulary was founded in 1839. 

They were built for the temporary detention of troublemakers, drunks, criminals and miscreants, but were also used to detain prisoners in transit from the assize courts to gaol. They come in various shapes and sizes – round, square, octagonal but are always small buildings designed to house one or two prisoners for short periods. Glyn was armed with a range of fascinating and amusing stories about individual blind houses. One was even constructed for the set of the BBC series Cranford and seems to have been a replica of the Steeple Ashton blind house. The replica now resides on a West London housing estate!

Then on to the wrap up:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading into our main subject could only be the curiously titled “Holgar the Can Man” for obvious reasons. As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

Don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. Both Hidden Wiltshire books can be purchased there. The second book is also available at Devizes Bookshop, Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and now Wiltshire’s libraries. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website.

You will find the Glyn’s blog and photographs used to illustrate his talk here Blind Houses

Glyn’s photographs can be found on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 

and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

Glyn has a new toy. A 360 degree camera which he assures us will be used for nothing more suspicious than making videos for the Hidden Wiltshire YouTube channel whilst out walking. So watch out for more news on this, and more of our ugly mugs. Meanwhile Paul is traumatised having sold all his camera gear without having the foresight to sort out a replacement kit.

Unfortunately we’ve received another complaint from a Mr Jenkins about how long it takes us to get to the main subject of each podcast. In the last podcast it took us 29 minutes (apparently) to get to the point. We’ll see if we can do better and maybe get through an entire episode without getting to the point. Some would argue we already do!

Back on the subject of videos the countdown is on for the YouTube premier of Hidden Wiltshire’s first serious crack at making a film. Our 40 minute film starring local historian David Carson is based around the villages of Alton Barnes and Alton Priors and the surrounding hills, taking us on a historical journey from Neolithic times up to the English Civil War and the Swing Riots of the 19th century. The film premiers at 7:30 pm on Tuesday 15 February and viewers can use the Chat function to talk to the Hidden Wiltshire team as we watch the video together. There’s a link to the YouTube channel below.

We posted a blog a few days ago about the walk Paul did based around Lacock and the Wilts & Berks Canal. For those who don’t use Facebook it’s a good idea to keep an eye on the Hidden Wiltshire website for regular blogs. You can subscribe to alerts which will notify you when new blogs are posted. There’s a link to the Wilts & Berks Canal walk below.

A quick mention also of the exhibition by aerial photographer David Abrams called Ancient Sites from the Air. David’s incredibly detailed photographs include many in Wiltshire and can be seen at Salisbury Museum until Sunday 15 May. More details in the link below.

Finally, before we get on to the main subject, we thank some of our lovely Facebook Group contributors for their posts about their walks and finds. A special mention goes to Elaine Perkins who’s posted details and photos of some terrific walks recently. Just the sort of thing we’re looking for.

The main subject of this episode of the podcast is the walk Glyn and Paul did recently together with Hidden Wiltshire follower Bo Novak, around Old Winsley and Turleigh which took in the curiously named “The Elbow”. We recorded some audio as we walked so this podcast is a mixture of indoor and outdoor recording. We’ve mentioned this walk a few times but we were inspired to do it following correspondence with Sarah Lucas. Sarah moved away from Wiltshire some 30 years ago and listening to the podcast brings back memories of her youth. She lived with her family in Old Winsley and during the last war her mother worked as a nurse in what was a TB clinic and is now Avonpark Retirement Home. Her grandparents owned a house by the Kennet and Avon Canal called The Elbow. Sarah asked if we would do a walk and take some pictures in the area. We were happy to oblige. It’s an area Glyn and Paul knew little about so it was great to have Bo along to act as our guide. You’ll find a link to the blog about the walk below.

Then on to the wrap up:

Thanks as usual to Steve Dixon for the music. His piece leading into our main subject is called “Canopy”. As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

Don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. Both Hidden Wiltshire books can be purchased there. The second book is also available at Devizes Bookshop, Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and now Wiltshire’s libraries. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website.

To watch the Premier of the video click here Alton Barnes, Alton Priors, Pewsey Vale - A History

You can find the blog about the Lacock and Wilts & Berks walk here Lacock and the Wilts & Berks Canal

Details of David Abram’s exhibition at Salisbury Museum can be found here David Abrams: Ancient Sites from the Air

You can follow the walk on the blog on the Hidden Wiltshire website at Old Winsley, Turleigh and The Elbow

Glyn’s photographs can be seen  on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud, He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 

and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

It’s been a busy couple of weeks since the last podcast. The succession of storms had an impact and Paul foolishly agreed to appear on BBC South Today to talk about the deprivations of a whole three days without electricity. What an embarrassment. Thirty minutes or so after the BBC left the power came back on! Meanwhile Glyn was dodging the roof of the Wetherspoons pub that was flying low over Trowbridge.

But what we experienced in the south was nothing compared to our fellow countrymen in the north, some of whom went for weeks without power a short while ago. And certainly nothing compared to those people who live that way every day of their lives. This minor inconvenience was a sobering reminder of how fortunate we are.

Paul has also recommenced volunteering for Natural England. The Parsonage Down volunteers have been stood down since December. But the venue this week was the stunning Prescombe Down, which Paul visited during a walk in June 2020. The walk can be found at the link below and was called Eden’s Last Post. We covered it in podcast 17. Prescombe Down is part Natural England National Nature Reserve and part SSSI (which Natural England is responsible for monitoring). The Natural England team spent a day brush cutting and “tree popping” in what was a truly hidden side valley, visible only from the entrance to the valley itself or from a bridleway high on the slopes above. This really is a beautiful place with a sense of remoteness about it, often closed to the public because of the local shoot.

Glyn is also back to volunteering for Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, counting sheep at Dunscombe Bottom close to Knook Camp which is busy with Army personnel at the moment.

Following in the footsteps of the last podcast and the story of Sarah Lucas and her family who last lived in Wiltshire 30 years ago, we had another of life’s wonderful coincidences. Something that would complete a circle for us. We recently received a book order from Wiltshire thatcher Brian Chalk. Since he lives only around 15 minutes away Paul said he’d deliver the book. We then received an email from Brian to say that Kay Chalk, who featured in podcast 11 and in the walk Paul did in August 2020 which was written up in the blog dated 27 August 2020 entitled Searching for Kitt’s Grave (In Memory of Kay Chalk 1929-2019), was his mother! Anyone who listened to podcast 11 will know that when he found the bench erected in memory of Kay Chalk, Paul became quite emotional as Kay was almost the same age as his own mum albeit Kay lived a lot longer. It was a poignant reminder. 

Brian shared some photos of his mum and told us the story of how, from the age of 5, she used to walk to school alone from her parent’s lonely cottage at Hut and Lodge Farm on Ox Drove, down Church Bottom to Broad Chalke – a distance of around 3.5kms. And the real shock for Paul was that Kay’s ashes were scattered by the bench that bears her name. This might explain why Paul was so deeply affected by the experience of being there. You can almost feel Kay’s presence. Brian shared photographs and more remarkable stories about his family who have lived in that part of Wiltshire for hundreds of years. You’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out more. But for Glyn and Paul, this is what makes Hidden Wiltshire so worthwhile. Joining the dots and connecting to the history of Wiltshire through its present day inhabitants. 

We eventually got to the main theme of the podcast – the World War II RAF bases of Blakehill and Ramsbury. Glyn takes us on a journey through the landscape of what used to be two RAF airfields. 

Blakehill Farm is now an important Wiltshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve and the north Wiltshire headquarters for the Trust (the southern headquarters is at Coombe Bissett Down (spelled “Combe” on the 1:25,000 OS map)). It adjoins Stoke Common Meadow and lies to the south west of the Saxon town of Cricklade - once home to the Royal Mint from 979 to 1100 AD. RAF Blakehill was the base for a number of tactical air transport squadrons that operated RAF C-47 Dakotas and Horsa gliders. The airfield played a key role in the D-Day landings when the Dakotas towed gliders full of airborne troops to France in support of Operation Overlord in June 1944. It also served as a listening post during the Cold War. Little remains of the airfield’s past but the runways are still evident from above as crop marks. It is now a vast hay meadow of 264 ha/650 acres and when Glyn visited in June 2017, armed with permission from WWT to fly his drone, it took him 90 minutes to walk from the entrance at Stoke Common Meadow all the way across to the far side of Blakehill Farm. You’ll find a link to his original blog with photographs and links to more information about the reserve and its past below.

RAF Ramsbury, to the south west of the village of Ramsbury, started life as a base for the Training Units from RAF Bomber Command. Pilots were trained on two-engined Airspeed Oxfords before moving on to four-engined Avro Lancaster bombers located at other bases. But following America’s entry into the war it became a base for the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) for troop carrying operations. As with RAF Blakehill, C-47 Dakotas operated from Ramsbury but this time they were USAAF aircraft. Apart from carrying paratroopers they also towed American Waco as well as British Horsa gliders. Again, Ramsbury played a critical role in supporting the D-Day landings in June 1944. Little remains of the airfield now but you can read more about it in Glyn’s two blogs dated 14 March 2019 and 15 June 2019 linked below. There are lots of photographs. There’s also a link to a website about the history of the airfield below.

Then on to the wrap up:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading into our main subject today could only be “Eyes Looking East” for a host of obvious reasons. As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

Don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. Both Hidden Wiltshire books can be purchased there. The second book is also available at Devizes Bookshop, Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and now Wiltshire’s libraries. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website.

The Eden’s Last Post blog about a walk that takes in Prescombe Down can be found here - Eden's Last Post

The Searching for Kitt’s Grave (in Memory of Kay Chalk 1929 - 2019) blog can be found here - Searching for Kitt's Grave

Glyn’s 2017 blog about Blakehill can be found here - HW Blakehill Farm and Stoke Common Meadows

Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s page about Blakehill Farm and Stoke Common Meadows can be found here - WWT Blakehill Farm and Stoke Common Meadows The webpage includes a link to the RAF Blakehill Farm website.

You can find Glyn’s brief blog about his first visit to RAF Ramsbury here RAF Ramsbury Commemoration

You can find Glyn’s blog about his second visit to RAF Ramsbury here RAF Ramsbury Memorials

More about the history of Ramsbury Airfield - Ramsbury Airfield

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 

and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

Since the main part of this podcast is about a short five mile walk we thought this would be a shorter episode than normal. But how wrong we were. We still managed to blather on for what seemed like hours!

We kick off with some concerning news about some unedifying scenes in the Facebook Group today with a discussion about Paul’s bottom. This is a family show and we’ve no idea what prompted such a debate. Much!!

Despite eye watering petrol and diesel prices we’ve managed to get out a little in the last two weeks. Glyn had a weekend in Wells but that’s in Somerset so we’re not interested! But he did see the sad spectacle of the broken spire of St Thomas’ Church, blown down during Storm Eunice like a scene from Hot Fuzz, also filmed in Wells. Meanwhile Paul had a reminder of how grim London is, but since that’s not in Wiltshire we’re not interested in that either.

But Paul did manage to do a day long walk based in the hills around Aldbourne, visiting the site of the abandoned village of Snap on the way. We’re grateful to Andrew Rumsey, Bishop of Ramsbury, for helping us find it. There’s a link to his fantastic book, English Grounds, below. Paul posted a blog with lots of photographs of the walk on 9 March. There’s a link to it below. We’ll do a podcast about it sometime.

Another recent blog posted on the website was one about the Russian scientist Vladimir Artemovich Pasechnik who defected in the 1980s and moved to Shrewton. He worked at the UK Department of Health's Centre for Applied Microbiology & Research (CAMR) at Porton Down and went on to do some ground breaking research into tuberculosis and other drug resistant infections. He is buried in one of the churchyards in the village. You’ll find a link to the blog below.

Otherwise, Glyn has been playing with his new toy, a 360 degree camera which he’s managed to hook up to our outside recording equipment. Watch out for content produced with this gear in the future. If it ever stops raining. Meanwhile Paul has walked a few of his regular routes onto Salisbury Plain. The current extensive Army training exercises and the heavy armour have made a dreadful mess of the sodden ground on the Plains. But nearby the haven that is Parsonage Down is beginning to show the first signs of Spring and there’s been some interesting research taking place about the impact of grazing on the flora there.

Our main subject this week is the walk that Paul and his walking buddy Stu did in November 2021 which was the subject of a Blog dated 26 November entitled Medieval Inglesham – Three Counties Walk. Continuing this episode’s theme of straying beyond Wiltshire this walk in the extreme north-east of the county involved brief forays into neighbouring Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. But this was necessary in order to reach our objective.

This part of Wiltshire forms a finger shaped wedge into Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. But we began the walk in Lechlade-on-Thames in Gloucestershire, and very nearly got no further than the splendid Sourdough Revolution artisan bakery and café. We could quite happily have stayed there all morning! But we were on a mission so we re-crossed Halfpenny Bridge and followed the south side of the Thames, safely back in Wiltshire, en-route to our objective – the Church of St John the Baptist at Inglesham via a thoroughly ugly lock-keepers cottage that looked like a concrete cooling tower on the way. 

We were concerned the church might be locked but were relieved to find it open. And oh my, what a sight awaited us as we opened first one door then another. We’ll leave you to read the blog and look at the photographs but suffice to say this spectacular and unique little church was thoroughly worth the trip. And of course, having forgotten what he’d had for breakfast this morning, Paul managed to also forget that he’d posted something on the Hidden Wiltshire Facebook page about a feature on Channel 5 about the church where Tony Robinson interviewed our favourite stonemason Andrew Ziminksi. It was broadcast on 8 October 2021.

From the church the walk took us to Buscot Weir via Buscot Wick before returning to Lechlade via the Thames path, criss-crossing counties as we went. We passed by the impressive Buscot Old Parsonage where American voices were to be heard. In the podcast Paul said he didn’t know who owned it after its previous owner, art collector Peter Francis Carew Stucley, died in 1964. Subsequent reading revealed it is now owned by the National Trust who also own nearby Buscot Park. Stucley’s will stated that the property should be rented furnished to American citizens actively pursuing literary, artistic or academic studies. And it clearly is to this day.

In all the walk was a flat and easy five miles, although at this time of year it may be boggy in places.

Then on to the wrap up:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading into our main subject today is called “Fragile” because it sounds as though it was performed on a church organ! As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

Don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. Both Hidden Wiltshire books can be purchased there. The second book is also available at Devizes Bookshop, Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and now Wiltshire’s libraries. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website. You can also subscribe to alerts about new Blogs.

Andrew Rumsey’s beautiful book, English Grounds – A Pastoral Journey, can be found here English Grounds and at other booksellers of course.

The Blog about the Aldbourne Circular Route can be found here Aldbourne Circular Route

The Blog about the Russian exile to Wiltshire Vladimir Artemovich Pasechnik can be found here Vladimir Artemovich Pasechnik

You can follow the walk in this episode of the podcast here Medieval Inglesham - Three Counties Walk

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 

and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

A slightly shorter episode this week, although not by much. Whilst we have plenty of subjects in the pipeline to talk about we’re beginning run out of ideas. It’s not that we’ve said everything there is to say about Wiltshire but that finding the time to get out and explore is increasingly difficult. So we’re contemplating recording the podcasts on a monthly basis rather than every two weeks, just to give us the time to visit more interesting locations. We’d really appreciate ideas about new locations from followers of the podcast.

In the two weeks since the last podcast Glyn has again been pretty much tied to his desk, although he did manage to do a muddy eight mile walk to Bincknoll Castle and the Broad Town White Horse near Wroughton. It sounded like the mud tempered his enthusiasm! 

Paul has done a few walks, albeit one was in Sussex on the border of the Surrey Hills. He walked to the top of the highest point in Sussex, which is not on the South Downs as he’d always thought, but on Black Down near to Haslemere. The hill was very reminiscent of the New Forest.

Inspired by Hidden Wiltshire contributor Elaine Perkins, Paul re-visited Newton Tony to look at its past role as a transport hub. It once had an important railway but long before that a Roman road passed nearby. There is a blog about the walk on the Hidden Wiltshire website and it’s linked on the Facebook pages but we will record a podcast about it sometime in the future. Elaine has also written her first Blog for the website. You’ll find a link below.

Another walk Paul did was in Bentley Wood, again with useful tips from Elaine Perkins. This was Paul’s first visit and he put together a route that also included Hound Wood and Blackmoor Copse. Whilst most of the route was in woodland the varied nature of the woods and copses was very noticeable. Probably not one for a podcast but a short blog and photos may follow soon.

Meanwhile, Glyn and Paul met with Tim Daw and recorded an interview with him at the modern day long barrow he built at All Cannings, something he has called a Novolithic long barrow. The perfect name we thought. We’ll be putting out a podcast with this fascinating interview soon.

Glyn has also received another hand written letter together with a book written by the grandfather of one of his Twitter followers Jonathan Steadman. The book, by A R Steadman (who was the head teacher of Marlborough Grammar School), is about the countryside around Marlborough from prehistoric times through to the 1960s. It would make an interesting comparison with the book The Land of Lettice Sweetapple which is about the history of the same area.

And finally Hidden Wiltshire has once again featured in another publication. Glyn wrote an article about Blind Houses for the March edition of the Wiltshire Buildings Record Newsletter. If you can get hold of a copy there are many hidden Wiltshire gems in there.

The main feature this week is Wiltshire’s Chalk Badges. The county’s military links are well known and long lasting. As far as we have been able to identify there are four locations where regimental badges can be found carved into chalk hillsides, albeit one is not strictly a regimental badge. 

Fovant is the most famous location where eight or nine badges can still be seen carved into the hillside next to the A30. Glyn wrote a blog about it on 18 October 2018 (see link below). Mostly carved by soldiers during the Fist World War (some are later) there would initially have been around 20 badges. Many are now overgrown. Just a little further along the valley there are two more badges at Sutton Mandeville. The final badge is called the Lamb Down Badge and can be seen by the A36 at Codford. This solitary badge was carved by soldiers of the 13th Training Battalion of the Australian Imperial Forces in 1917 as a form of punishment! Finally we have the famous giant Kiwi carved in 1919 by New Zealand soldiers. At 420 feet (130m) high it’s enormous and its construction was designed to distract riotous soldiers awaiting transit home to New Zealand.

Then on to the wrap up:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading into our main subject today is called “From the Edge of Grey to Green” because that’s what happens to the white/light grey of the chalk if it’s not regularly cleaned! As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

Don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. Both Hidden Wiltshire books can be purchased there. The second book is also available at Devizes Bookshop, Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and now Wiltshire’s libraries. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website. You can also subscribe to alerts about new Blogs.

Paul’s blog about Newton Tony and its role as a transport hub can be found here Newton Tony - its Railway and its Roman Road

Elaine Perkins’ first blog for Hidden Wiltshire can be found here Throope Down Walk

Glyn’s blog about the Fovant Badges and Chiselbury Camp can be found here Fovant Badges and Chiselbury Camp

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 

and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

Glyn was hoping for an easy edit for this episode of the podcast as he had less time than usual to do it. This was all the invitation Paul needed to say exactly what he wanted knowing that Glyn didn’t have the time to cut it out! But being responsible podcasters we stuck to the brief. The main feature was a glorious walk we put together for Wiltshire Museum based around Hippenscombe Bottom, so beautifully painted by Eric Ravilious in 1937. And there was a special announcement at the end of the podcast.

But first we discussed our news since the last podcast.

In that podcast Glyn talked briefly about his visit to Bincknoll Castle and Broad Town White Horse. Since then he has written and posted a blog to the website about it (see link below). But apparently Bincknoll is pronounced “Bynol’ in Wiltshire! Which begs the question “how do pronounce Long Knoll and Little Knoll”?

Meanwhile Paul has travelled to the far northwest of the county to the Cotswolds west of Malmesbury, for a walk around Brokenborough and Easton Grey. There’s a blog about this walk on the website (link below). He has also written a blog about his visit to Bentley Wood, a collaboration with Hidden Wiltshire contributor Elaine Perkins, who suggested the route and provided a number of the photographs. You’ll find a link below to that blog.

Elaine also posted a description of her recent visit to Sherrington and Boyton, off the beaten track in the beautiful Wylye Valley, where she found some fantastic hidden treasures. We’ll be pulling that together as a blog along with some of Elaine’s lovely photographs in due course.

And whilst on the subject of the Wylye Valley, we mention the café and gallery at Langford Lakes Nature Reserve run by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. The gallery and café is open from 10:00 to 16:00, Wednesday to Sunday. At the moment there is an exhibition there entitled “Woodlands” featuring art, photography and 3D work including the photographs of brilliant woodland photographers Stephen Davies and, a friend of Paul’s, Nigel Hudson. The exhibition is on from 2 April to 2 May 2022 and you’ll find a link below.

This podcast’s main feature is the stunning landscape and history of Hippenscombe Bottom. Paul wrote a blog which was an amalgam of some five visits to the area which he posted on the website on 21 January 2022. There’s a link to the blog below. This walk was put together at the request of David Dawson at Wiltshire Museum and we’ll be doing a guided walk with the museum there later in the year. There are many route options but the highlights of this walk are the tiny village of Tidcombe and its “humble” church, Tidcombe Long Barrow, Fosbury Camp (an optional extension but well worth the effort), Chute Causeway, the Devil’s Waistcoat and the glorious Hippenscombe Bottom itself. Paul discovered this bottom purely by chance following a momentary glimpse as he drove up Conholt Hill towards Chute Causeway a year ago. Screeching to a halt in the road above he grabbed a photo of the bottom that coincidently was from the exact location that Eric Ravilious painted it in 1937. Little has changed since 1937 although we suspect the shooting estate is now operating on a far more industrial scale.

Parking for this particular walk is a challenge. As shown the walk starts from the church in Tidcombe but at best it is only possible to park three cars here. Scot’s Poor is a slightly better option with parking on the wide verge on the byway. The route map has been amended in the blog to include this location in order to provide alternative parking options.

Then on to the wrap up:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading into our main subject today is called “Shadows Travel Fast” because that’s exactly what they do in this part of Wiltshire. As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

And so to the special announcement. Well you’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out what it is!

Don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. Both Hidden Wiltshire books can be purchased there. The second book is also available at Devizes Bookshop, Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and now Wiltshire’s libraries. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website. You can also subscribe to alerts about new Blogs.

Glyn’s blog about Bincknoll Castle and Broad Town White Horse can be found here: Bincknoll Castle and Broad Town White Horse

Paul’s blog about his walk round Brokenborough and Easton Grey can be found here: Brokenborough and Easton Grey

Paul’s blog about his walk in Bentley Wood can be found here Bentley Wood

WWT Langford Lakes Art Exhibition Langford Lakes Art Exhibition

Paul’s blog about Hippenscombe can be found here Tidcombe, Hippenscombe and the Devil's Waistcoat

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 

and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

In this episode of the Bluebell Podcast Glyn is joined by our French correspondent – Paul! And without any messing about we start the podcast with a mention of both bluebells and France, and Paul’s endless battle to stop his French ruin from crumbling around him (OK it’s not that bad but maintaining it is like painting the Forth Road Bridge. Or owning a yacht. Or a horse!)

Once again it’s bluebell season and regular followers of Hidden Wiltshire will know we like the odd bluebell (or clochette as they’re called in France). We’ve seen some nice bluebell photographs in the Facebook Group from both Elaine Perkins (Bentley Wood) and Glyn (Oakfrith Wood) and we’ve no doubt there will be a lot more to come! They are present in abundance in France (both blue and white) as well as early-purple and green-winged orchids but we won’t be sharing photographs of those as it’s not Wiltshire!

It’s been around three weeks since the last podcast now that we’ve moved to monthly broadcasts. But with Glyn’s week on Dartmoor and Paul having relocated to France for a while, we’ve not got a lot to report. But before he went Paul and his usual walking buddy Stu did manage a walk to Grovely Wood which began with sublime coffee and cake at the café at Langford Lakes. Whilst many people know of the Lakes it’s surprising how many have never visited, or at least haven’t been for years as was the case for Stu and Paul. It’s well worth the effort. Similarly, whilst most people are familiar with Grovely Wood, the guys had an amazing encounter there in a hidden part of the wood. You can read all about this in Paul’s blog on the website using the link below. This may well feature in a future podcast as this delivered one of life’s special and unexpected moments.

In conjunction with Wiltshire Museum we’ve put together a new programme of guided walks led by Glyn and Paul. These are ticket only events and Wiltshire Museum will be advertising them on their website soon. We will let Hidden Wiltshire followers know as soon as tickets become available but if you subscribe to alerts about new blogs on the website you won’t miss out.

The main feature of this episode of the podcast is an interview we did with farmer Tim Daw a few weeks ago. Tim has farmed in the Pewsey Vale for decades and is now semi-retired. (Do farmers ever retire?) But instead of buying a yacht or taking up golf, in 2014 he decided to build a long barrow which he calls a Novolithic Long Barrow. As his website says “It has internal chambers with niches and is used as a columbarium or place for cremated remains in urns to be kept.” And “The Long Barrow at All Cannings is a spiritual place where people of any or no faith can come to remember and give thanks for the lives of their loved ones.” 

It was a real privilege to interview Tim on a beautiful sunny day at the long barrow and to have a guided tour of the interior. Despite being surrounded by the remains of so many people it really was the most calming and spiritual of places. And like any good long barrow it is aligned to the sunrise of the winter solstice when the sun illuminates the internal stone passageway.

It is possible to book a tour of the interior of the long barrow at Tim’s website linked below. The entry fee goes towards the upkeep of the barrow, but you can visit the exterior for free at any time. However we think it’s worth every penny to see the interior which is a very special place indeed.

Our conversation with Tim was wide ranging and fascinating. Just like his near neighbour and farmer David Carson, Tim Daw has a keen interest in history and archaeology. How can you not living in Pewsey Vale? So apart from a conversation about the long barrow itself we also chatted about the wider area and in particular the mythical “white donkey”!

Then on to the wrap up:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading into our main subject today is called “Play Dead”. But there was no play acting in Tim’s long barrow! As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

Don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. Both Hidden Wiltshire books can be purchased there. The second book is also available at Devizes Bookshop, Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and now Wiltshire’s libraries. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website. You can also subscribe to alerts about new Blogs.

You can read Paul’s blog about Langford Lakes and Grovely Wood here Grovely Wood and the Woodsman

All Cannings Long Barrow All Cannings Long Barrow

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 

and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

In this episode of the Hidden Wiltshire Podcast we pack up the recording gear and head for the hills to record the whole podcast outside. You’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out where we were, but suffice to say it wasn’t Grovely Wood!

We begin with our usual canter through what we’ve been up to in Wiltshire since the last podcast. Since we’re now recording once a month you’d think we had loads to talk about but since Paul was in France for the entire time and Glyn has been exploring the Avebury landscape in depth there hasn’t been a huge amount of activity. But we still managed to post a couple of new walks on the website.

The first walk was described in a blog by Elaine Perkins who has rapidly become a popular and valued contributor to Hidden Wiltshire. Elaine did a shorter walk in the Vale of Wardour taking in the pretty villages of Teffont Magna and Teffont Evias. There is a link to her blog below.

Meanwhile Glyn did a seven mile walk from Calne to the Bowood Estate on which he photographed hidden corners of the estate and the wider landscape, including a length of the Wilts & Berks Canal. You will find a link to his blog below.

We also completed our first guided walk of the season for Wiltshire Museum, undertaking a shortened version of the walk around the Fonthill Estate that we posted on 9 April 2021. If you’d like to join us on future walks you’ll find a list on Wiltshire Museum’s website using the link below. Wiltshire Museum has also just launched a new exhibition entitled Hardy’s Wessex and again you’ll find details on their website. The exhibition is spread across four museums – Wiltshire Museum in Devizes, The Salisbury Museum, Poole Museum and Dorset Museum in Dorchester. It runs from 28 May to 30 October 2022.

The main subject of this episode of the Hidden Wiltshire podcast was the walk that Paul and his regular walking buddy Stu did to Grovely Wood. We mentioned it in the last episode but we have a longer discussion about it today. But not before we talk about the location for our recording which prompted a wide ranging discussion about the landscape in this part of Wiltshire and of course its prehistoric past! Francis Pryor’s fantastic book Scenes From Prehistoric Life has been a great source of information for both of us and we discuss the book in this episode of the podcast, hence the link to it below.

Then on to the wrap up:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading into our main subject today is called “Eyes Looking East”. We used this because of Grovely Wood’s role in the Second World War, as you’ll hear in the podcast.  As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

Don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. The first edition of the Hidden Wiltshire book has now sold out but the second edition is still available at a specially discounted price from the website. The book is also available at Devizes Bookshop, Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and now Wiltshire’s libraries. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website. You can also subscribe to alerts about new Blogs.

Glyn’s blog about his walk through the Bowood estate can be found here Bowood - a circular walk from Calne

You can read Elaine Perkins’ blog about her walk around the villages of Teffont Magna and Teffont Evias here A Short Walk in the Vale of Wardour

You can find a list of the guided walks we lead in conjunction with Wiltshire Museum here Wiltshire Museum Hidden Wiltshire Walks

You can read Paul’s blog about Langford Lakes and Grovely Wood here Grovely Wood and the Woodsman

Francis Pryor’s wonderful book Scenes From Prehistoric Life can be found here as well as many other good book sellers Scenes From Prehistoric Life

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 

and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

Another location recording this month where we pack up the equipment and take to the Wiltshire landscape. As with last month you’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out where we were, but it wasn’t Bincknoll Castle or Broad Town White Horse. As a clue – it was very windy!

Before we got onto the main topic, we did our usual review of activity and news since the last podcast, which was a whole month ago.

Regular contributor Elaine Perkins wrote an excellent blog for the website following her exploration of Clearbury Ring, and the villages of Odstock and Nunton. All of it new to us. Once again her photographs are superb. There is a link to her blog below.

After a long break Paul and his regular walking buddy Stu completed a superb walk on the border of Dorset starting at Win Green before exploring the Iron Age hill fort at Winkelbury Hill then on through the Rushmore Estate to Tollard Royal before returning to Win Green via Guy Ritchie’s Ashcombe Estate. This had the potential to be controversial due to a blocked Open Access area but had a happy ending. You’ll find a link to Paul’s blog below.

We have also undertaken a couple of guided walks for Wiltshire Museum since the last podcast – Hippenscombe and Folly Wood, both of which we have written blogs about in the past and for which you can find links below. Unless you listen to the podcast on a Sunday morning, by the time you hear this Glyn will have led another walk based on Castle Combe. It starts at 2:00pm on Sunday 3 July. Paul will be absent from this particular walk.

We then have a chat about our location for the recording before moving on to our main topic. - Bincknoll Castle and Broad Town White Horse. The strong wind at our location had the potential to disrupt our recording as Glyn wrestled with his notes to stop them blowing away. But our recording equipment seems to have done a great job of screening out the wind noise.

You can follow Glyn’s blog about his walk to using the link below. This was an eight mile walk that Glyn completed in March which meant it was boggy in places. The summer would be a great time to try it though. It starts and finishes at Wroughton, and being close to Swindon we couldn’t resist a few jokes about the town. But we love Swindon really. Maybe.

During the recording Glyn talks us through his best Tommy Cooper impression as he passes back and forth repeatedly through not one but two isolated gates that served no useful purpose other than to act as a comedic prop. We needed no further invitation as the podcast degenerated into farce.

Bincknoll Castle is best viewed from the air where its location can be appreciated, and Glyn has posted some drone shots in his blog. The same can be said of Broad Town White Horse where this almost childlike depiction of a horse is hidden by long grass from ground level. Again Glyn’s drone shots in the blog show it in all its simple glory.

Then on to the wrap up:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading into our main subject today is called “From the Edge of Grey to Green”. We tend to use this piece in podcasts that feature white horses.  As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”. The great news is that, whilst Steve has provided us with a sizable library of music, he has of late become enthused and promised us some new work.

Finally don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. The first Hidden Wiltshire book has now sold out but the second book is still available at a specially discounted price from the website. The book is also available at Devizes Bookshop, Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and now Wiltshire’s libraries. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website. You can also subscribe to alerts about new Blogs.

Elaine Perkin’s blog about Clearbury Ring can be found here Clearbury Ring, Odstock and Nunton

Paul’s blog about this walk from Win Green can be found here Win Green, Winkelbury Hill and the Rushmore Estate

The blog about the Hippenscombe walk can be found here Tidcombe, Hippenscombe and the Devil's Waistcoat

The blog about Folly Wood can be found here Folly Wood and the Tale of the Headless Horseman

And Glyn’s blog which is the main topic of today’s podcast can be found here Bincknoll Castle and Broad Town White Horse

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud. He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 

and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

We’re making the most of the weather again and recording the podcast outside on location. As before you’ll need to listen to find out where we were.

As ever we start with a chat about what’s been happening in the world of Hidden Wiltshire since the last podcast. And if it weren’t for one or two of our wonderful contributors the answer would be “not much”.

Elaine Perkins has “delivered” once again (this seems to be the word of the month at the moment)! She posted some great photos in the contributors' Facebook Group of a short evening walk she did taking in Old Sarum, Little Durnford and the Avon Trail. Elaine also ventured on an exploration of Amesbury and the surrounding area which we have now posted as a blog on the open Facebook site and the Hidden Wiltshire website. Amesbury may not be hidden but some of what Elaine found certainly was. You’ll find a link to her blog below.

Glyn managed to squeeze in one walk before he went on holiday, based around East and West Knoyle. There’s a link to his blog and photos below. This is a beautiful part of Wiltshire and well worth a visit.

Meanwhile Paul has once again deserted the county and undertaken walks in the New Forest (just over the Wiltshire border in Hampshire) and further afield on the stunning Dorset coast. But we can’t talk about those!

There have been a couple of Wiltshire Museum guided walks since the last podcast. A select few guests accompanied Glyn on a walk in the countryside around Castle Combe, an abbreviated version of the walk Paul did just after lockdown in July 2020. You’ll find a link to Paul’s walk below but Glyn managed to shorten this to a more manageable five miles. We’ve added a map of his walk to Paul’s original blog.

Glyn’s article about Wiltshire’s Blind Houses was featured in the August edition of Wiltshire Life. His original blog can be found below.

Glyn also attracted a lot of attention on Twitter when he posted some aerial photographs of the parched landscape around Rybury Camp in Pewsey Vale. Local farmer (and constructor of long barrows) Tim Daw had noticed some interesting crop marks in his fields and invited Glyn to photograph them with his drone. You can see the photographs on both Hidden Wiltshire Facebook pages and on Glyn’s Twitter feed. There appears to be a previously unknown enclosure and henge in the fields together with multiple possibly Iron Age storage pits. Whilst the hot dry weather creates many problems it does enable the land to reveal many of its hidden secrets.

Finally in our review we wanted to mention a couple of Hidden Wiltshire followers. Firstly Bill Parncutt,who emailed us with some very kind comments about the podcast, and secondly Simon Lovett and his dad John for whom Simon bought a copy of our book as a birthday present. Paul delivered the book personally to John but stupidly didn’t get the name of his lovely wife. But it was great to meet you Mrs Lovett!

Before we moved onto the main subject of the podcast we had a chat about our location for the recording so do have a listen.

The main subject in this episode was the walk Paul and his regular walking buddy Stu did in February 2022 starting in Lacock, their target being the Wilts & Berks Canal. Everyone knows Lacock so we didn’t dwell on that for too long. But the canal is something that many don’t know about. Completed in 1810 the canal stretches for 52 miles and its primary purpose was to carry coal. Ironically its heyday was the 1830s when it was used to carry the raw materials for the construction of the Great Western Railway which was to see its ultimate demise and abandonment in 1914. Then in 1977 a group of volunteers formed to begin the monumental task of restoring its entire length, a task that continues to this day under the auspices of the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust. If you want to support them in their endeavours, you’ll find a link to their excellent website below.

The rest of the walk takes in a number of fine Wiltshire houses including Ray Mill House, Pewsham House, Kilima Farm, Bowden Park and Bewley Court together with a rather pathetic looking Iron Age hillfort at Naish Hill and finally Lacock Abbey.

In all the walk was about seven miles and you will find a link to Paul’s blog with route map below.

Then on to the wrap up:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading into our main subject is called “Dark and Lonely Water”.  A rather depressing piece it includes the voiceover from a public information film from 1973 about the dangers of playing near water, narrated by Donald Pleasence! As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”. The great news is that, whilst Steve has provided us with a sizable library of music, he has of late become enthused and promised us some new work.

Finally, don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. The first Hidden Wiltshire book has now sold out but the second book is still available at a specially discounted price from the website. The book is also available at Devizes Bookshop, Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and now Wiltshire’s libraries. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website. You can also subscribe to alerts about new Blogs.


Links:

Glyn’s article about Blind Houses can be found on our website here Blind Houses

Elaine Perkins’ blog about hidden Amesbury can be found here Exploring Amesbury

Glyn’s blog about his walk around East Knoyle and West Knoyle can be found here East Knoyle and West Knoyle

Paul’s blog about the Castle Combe walk, amended to include a map of the shorter walk Glyn did, can be found here Castle Combe and a Hint of Ancient History


Paul’s blog about the Lacock and Wilts & Berks Canal walk can be found here  Lacock and The Wilts & Berks Canal

The Wilts & Berks Canal Trust website can be found here Wilts & Berks Canal Trust

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud
He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 
and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

This could be the last outside recording of the podcast this year, unless of course this crazy weather continues. We found a spectacular location to record with views of a stunning sunset as we chatted. As ever, you’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out where we were, a place so hidden even Glyn didn’t know it existed.

During our review of the last month in Wiltshire we talked about the walks and blogs that Glyn, Paul and star contributor Elaine Perkins have posted on the Hidden Wiltshire Facebook pages and website. These include a walk undertaken by Elaine in the Nadder Valley taking in Dinton and Compton Chamberlayne; visits to four churches by Paul in search of historic graffiti – the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary Old Dilton, St Mary’s Maddington, and the churches of St George and St Mary in Orcheston, each fascinating in their own way; two walks by Paul – one along Maud Heath’s Causeway and the other to Marden/Hatfield Henge, the largest henge in the British Isles. And last but not least Glyn’s walk which is the main subject of this month’s podcast. You’ll find links to these blogs below.

We also take the opportunity to name check a few people - Adrian the Brush and Ann who Paul and his walking buddy Stu met at the Moravian Church in East Tytherton; Hidden Wiltshire follower Mark Routledge of Gallybagger Learther in Devizes; and someone who has featured several times in the podcast and in blogs – sculpture, poet, wit and raconteur Mark Whelehan for whom Glyn and Paul were asked to write the blurb for the back of his new book of poems. Mark made an appearance in the Folly Wood blog and Paul’s photograph of him appears on the back of the book.

On the subject of ancient graffiti Tony Hack of the Wiltshire Medieval Graffiti Survey is doing a talk at the Bratton History Association on 18 September 2022. That should be a fascinating talk. You’ll find a link to the WMGS website below where it mentions some of the churches we’ve talked about in our blogs.

Finally in terms of links and mentions, Glyn talked about a book by Robert Twigger called Walking the Great North Line: Up England Another Way about the author’s walk from Stonehenge to Lindisfarne. Except Glyn could remember neither the name of the author nor the book whilst we were recording! You’ll find a link below.

Next we have a chat about our secret location for the recording and you’ll hear how our minds become increasingly blown by the sunset unfolding before our eyes.

So the main topic of this edition of the podcast is a walk Glyn did back in 2019. You’ll find his description, route map and YouTube video including his stunning aerial images on the website using the link below. Ludgershall Castle was the starting place for the walk. Dating back to the late 11th century it became a royal hunting lodge which was popular with Henry III who visited it at least 21 times. Collingbourne Wood is a substantial area of woodland and Glyn had it almost to himself during his first walk there and when he re-visited it recently. By following tracks through the wood you can connect with Chute Causeway at Scots Por from where you can drop into Hippenscombe. This is very much a place for peaceful contemplation and it is unusually under-utilised in comparison to Savernake Forest not so far away.

Then on to the wrap up for this episode:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading into our main subject is called “Canopy”.  As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”. By the way Steve, we’re still waiting for the new pieces you promised!

The next and final Wiltshire Museum walk for 2022 guided by Hidden Wiltshire is a repeat of the popular Devil’s Den walk we did last year. This is a ticket only event and you can get these from the Wiltshire Museum website at Wiltshire Museum Walk

Finally, don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. The first Hidden Wiltshire book has now sold out but the second book is still available at a specially discounted price from the website. The book is also available at Devizes Bookshop, Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and now Wiltshire’s libraries. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website. You can also subscribe to alerts about new Blogs.


Links:

Elaine’s blog about her walk in the Nadder Valley can be found here A Walk Around the Nadder Valley

Paul’s blog about Old Dilton Church can be found here Old Dilton Church

Paul’s blog about St Mary’s Maddington and its graffiti can be found here St Mary's Maddington

And Paul’s blog about Orcheston’s two churches can be found here Orcheston and the Tale of Two Churches

The blog about the Maud Heath’s Causeway walk can be found here Maud Heath's Causeway

The blog about the walk that takes in Marden/Hatfield Henge can be found here Britain's Largest Henge and the Hanging Stone

The blog starring Mark Whelehan can be found here Folly Wood and the Tale of the Headless Horseman

Glyn’s walk around Ludgershall Castle and Collingbourne Wood can be found here A Walk Around Collingbourne Wood, Ludgershall

Wiltshire Medieval Graffiti Survey Wiltshire Medieval Graffiti Survey

Robert Twigger’s book Walking the Great North Line: Up England Another Way Walking the Great North Line

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on this website and on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud
He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 
and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

Back to recording indoors this month, and back to recording from different countries. Whilst Glyn remains in Wiltshire Paul is once again doing battle with French rural internet which seems to be arriving by means of a telephone cable lying in a ditch outside the village. But it’s amazing what Glyn can do with his editing software so the audio was fine.

Bearing in mind Paul has been away for a few weeks and Glyn has been tied up with work, there was a surprising amount to report in terms of activity since last month’s podcast.

Once again Elaine Perkins has been busily producing some terrific blogs and Facebook posts including a little history and fascinating secrets to be found in Fisherton Anger in Salisbury (Facebook post); a blog about The Village of Alderbury on the website (link below); and a blog about The Borbach Chantry also on the website (link below). Elaine seemed to spend a lot of her time trying to link two sections of a right of way interrupted by a river!

Contributors to the Closed Facebook Group will have seen some stunning aerial shots by Hedley Thorne of Hippenscombe and Fosbury Camp, and Wansdyke. The latter was part of a collaboration with You Tubers Paul and Rebecca Whitewick who posted a fascinating video about Open Access areas. You can find a link to the video below.

Facebook Contributor Colin Fry posted some images of Stanley Bridge and nearby Tytherton Lucas which were in the area of Paul’s blog entitled Maud Heath’s Causeway.

Meanwhile Paul has gone all spiritual and posted a couple more blogs featuring churches on his doorstep – the two churches at Orcheston, and St Andrew’s Church, Orcheston. Links to the blogs can be found below. But it wasn’t all about churches. Paul and his walking buddy Stu undertook a long day’s walk from Shrewton to Stapleford and back to search for the end of the River Till where it joins the River Wylye. The walk was particularly long as it involved an hour or so in the pub! A link to this blog can be found below.

To be fair to Glyn he did actually manage to get out and led the final Wiltshire Museum Guided Walk on Fyfield Down taking in the Devil’s Den and the Polissoir Stone.

But before we moved onto this week’s main subject we talked about cats. Large black cats. Whilst reading Robert Macfarlane’s beautiful book The Old Ways – A Journey on Foot, Paul came across Macfarlane’s story about his encounter with what he was certain was a black panther on the Marlborough Downs. There have been many sightings of these big cats in Wiltshire including one by Paul outside Shrewton. So Glyn has decided to start a new thread about black panther sightings on Facebook. Meanwhile there’s a link to Robert Macfarlane’s superb book below.

Finally we got onto the main subject of this episode of the podcast. A walk Paul and Stu did in March 2022 starting from Aldbourne taking in Liddington Castle and the abandoned village of Snap. You can follow the map and walk description in Paul’s blog, linked below. This is a walk rich in history from the Bronze Age right up to World War II. Aldbourne was the base for the US Army’s 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, or Easy Company as they came to be known, and as featured in the film series Band of Brothers. And of course the walk was accompanied by some spectacular wide reaching views of Wiltshire.

In the discussion about the walk Paul mentioned a website containing some great historical facts about the history to be found along the way in this walk. The site in question was actually that for Aldbourne Heritage Centre and we’ve included a link below.


Then on to the wrap up for this episode:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading into our main subject is called “Round the Downs”.  As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”.

Finally, don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. The first Hidden Wiltshire book has now sold out but the second book is still available from the website. The book is also available at Devizes Bookshop, Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and now Wiltshire’s libraries. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website. You can also subscribe to alerts about new Blogs.


Links:

Elaine Perkins’ blog about Alderbury can be found here The Village of Alderbury

Elaine’s blog about The Borbach Chantry can be found here The Borbach Chantry and The Woods

Paul and Rebecca Whitewick’s video about Open Access areas with aerial footage by Hedley Thorne can be found here The UK's Mystery Inland Islands

Paul’s blog about Orcheston’s two churches can be found here Orcheston and the Tale of Two Churches

Paul’s blog about Rollestone St Andrew’s Church can be found here St Andrew's Church Rollestone

Paul’s blog about the River Till and where it joins the River Wylye can be found here Stapleford and the end of The River Till

Robert Macfarlane’s book  – The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot The Old Ways - Robert Macfarlane

Paul’s blog about the Aldbourne Circular Route and the Abandoned Village of Snap can be found here Aldbourne Circular Route

Aldbourne Heritage Centre’s website can be found here Aldbourne Heritage Centre

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud
He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 
and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

This episode is a bit of a special, as most of it was recorded outside over a year ago and it contains a special guest - David Carson MBE.

David's family have farmed the land around Milk Hill for over 100 years, and we recorded a video with him in 2021, where he took us through much of the local history around the villages of Alton Barnes, Alton Priors and the Pewsey Vale. The video can be found on YouTube (link here: Hidden Wiltshire video)

This podcast is the audio from that video, which it was always planned to release as a podcast special at some point !

But we also have an important announcement to make. After 41 episodes and almost two years, the Hidden Wiltshire podcast is coming to a pause. We will still be creating content for the website at www.hiddenwiltshire.com and we have plans to do more video so if you follow the website you can keep up to date with the latest information. We may be back in the future with some podcast specials.

Thanks for listening !

Links:

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud
He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop
and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

We’re back. After a break of what feels like years, but may only be about five months, we’re reinvigorated and ready to beguile our audience with more Hidden Wiltshire nonsense.

Towards the end of 2022 Glyn and Paul had reached burn out after 41 episodes. We needed a break to think about what to do and where to go next, whilst sticking firmly to Wiltshire. Whilst we were away from the podcast we continued to pepper the Facebook page and website with blogs. But if we’re honest our survival was mainly due to the new member of the Hidden Wiltshire family – Elaine Perkins. Elaine has been posting blogs for some time now and has brought fresh impetus to what we do. But we weren’t going to let her get away with just that!

So, please welcome Elaine to the podcast. This is her first and she took to it like a duck to water.

 We had planned to record this episode on location at Morgan’s Hill to the north of Devizes. But with winds of 60mph and heavy rain forecast we decided the top of a hill was not the most sensible place to be! As it was, despite being ensconced in a spare bedroom at home, Paul still sounds like he was recording in a wind tunnel.

 As usual we began this episode by looking back at what we’ve been doing since the previous episode. And since that was in November 2022 the answer is - quite a lot. So we had a not so quick run through the blogs. You’ll find links to them below.

 Firstly, Elaine revisited Vernditch Chase in an effort to find the mythical Kitt’s Grave (spoiler alert – she failed). Different maps show the grave in different places so is it any wonder it is so difficult to find? Folklore says it is the grave of a young woman who killed herself and, as was the custom, was buried on the parish boundary at a junction of tracks. Others say that it is a prehistoric long barrow, and one person at least claims to have found it in the adjacent wood. Will you find it?

 Next Elaine wrote about her visit to Great Durnford and Ogbury Camp, an Iron Age univallate hill fort south west of Amesbury located above the Woodford Valley. The manor of Great Durford has existed since the 11th century and whilst in the village church Elaine believes she may have found evidence of a 16th century murder!

 Then Elaine ventured to Clarendon Palace and the forest, which she visited shortly after Storm Eunice. A hunting ground for Saxon and later Norman kings, it would once have formed part of a much larger area of forest but it is now little more than a wood.

 Next it was Paul’s turn and in February he returned to Fisherton de la Mare for the first time in nearly 30 years, where he met the current owners of a house he so very nearly bought all those years ago. From here, it was a walk across the flood plain of the Wylye River, along the road then up to the small National Nature Reserve of Wylye Down.

 During Valentine’s week Elaine decided on a walk to Lover, Bohemia and Paradise all in one day! Lover is famous for its Valentine’s Day stamps that can be bought and posted from the village for those of a romantic disposition. It transpires that Paradise was misnamed, it being a wood plastered with “Private” signs.

 Then Paul (together with his trusted walking buddy Stu) undertook what turned into an epic walk taking in West Lavington, Market Lavington and the Wessex Ridgeway. In heavy snow it felt like an arctic expedition. Plans to visit the churches in both villages were thwarted as they were both locked. Which is a shame as All Saint’s Church in West Lavington contains a stunning engraved window, the work of Simon Whistler nephew of the artist Rex Whistler. It can though be seen from the A360 below as you sit in queues of traffic trying to squeeze through the narrow bends to the south of the village.

 Finally, Paul did the relatively short George Herbert Walk in Salisbury, following in the footsteps of poet, rector, writer and musician George Herbert who, in the early 1630s, walked twice a week from his parish in Bemerton to Evensong at Salisbury Cathedral. Modern development means it is impossible to follow what was his likely route precisely but on a warm dry day this is a delightful walk across the water meadows by the Nadder.

 Eventually we got on to the main subject of this episode of the podcast. Glyn, Elaine and Paul wrote a joint blog about some of their favourite Wiltshire nature reserves. It was neatly divided up according to the volunteering that three of us do. 

 Paul is a volunteer for Natural England who are responsible for six National Nature Reserves in Wiltshire. Paul focused on his three favourites, all of which he has worked at as part of his volunteering duties – Pewsey Downs, Prescombe Down and Parsonage Down.

 Glyn is a volunteer at Wiltshire Wildlife Trust who have nearly 40 reserves in the county. Glyn does livestock checks for them at Dunscombe Buttom but in the podcast (and in the blog) he focuses on Morgan’s Hill, Blakehill Farm and Stoke Common Meadows. 

Finally, Elaine takes a look at Wiltshire’s two RSPB reserves - Winterbourne Downs and Franchises Wood. Elaine is a volunteer at the beautiful Winterbourne Downs reserve outside Newton Tony and is also helping a PhD student at Southampton University who is doing a thesis about chalk streams. This involves Elaine visiting the River Bourne, a winterbourne that flows through Winterbourne Downs and Newton Tony, on a regular basis. Francises Wood is a relatively new and small reserve close to the New Forest. 

Then on to the wrap up for this episode: 

There are one or two copies of the first Hidden Wiltshire book together with a few more of the second book on the website. 

Thanks as always go to Steve Dixon for the music. As usual the piece at the beginning and the end of the podcast is called “The Holloway”, whilst the piece in the middle is a new one from Steve entitled “Wansdyke”. Because of course we had planned to record this episode on a hill looking down on Wansdyke! 

Links:

 Elaine’s blog about Kitt’s Grave can be found here Searching for Kitt's Grave Revisited

 Elaine’s blog about Great Durnford and Ogbury Camp can be found here Great Durnford, Ogbury and the Flood

 Elaine’s blog about Clarendon Palace is here Clarendon Place After Storm Eunice

 Paul’s return to a French outpost in Wiltshire (it isn’t) can be found here A French Enclave in Wiltshire?

 Elaine’s search for romanticism during Valentine’s week can be found here Lover, Bohemia and Paradise

 You can read about Paul’s arctic adventure on Salisbury Plain here The Lavingtons and the Wessex Ridgeway

 And finally, Paul’s attempt to retrace the steps of George Herbert can be found here George Herbert Walk

 If you are interested in becoming a volunteer for Wiltshire Wildlife Trust you can contact them here Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Volunteering

 If you are interested in becoming a volunteer for the RSPB you can contact them here RSPB Volunteering

 If you are interested in becoming a volunteer for Natural England they tend to do it on a reserve by reserve basis so we’d suggest contacting Paul via the Hidden Wiltshire Contact page on our website at Hidden Wiltshire Contact Us

 Glyn’s photographs can be seen  on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle

 Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

 Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

 And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop
and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

Glyn, Elaine and Paul are back with another episode of the Hidden Wiltshire podcast, and once again have returned to record outside at a mystery location. You’ll have to listen to find out where we were. There are lots of links to things we discussed in this episode in these show notes.

Before we moved onto the main topic we had the usual run down on what we’ve been up to since the last podcast. And there was an awful lot to talk about so some of it was consigned to the cutting room floor!

Glyn led a Wiltshire Museum walk with David Dawson which was timed to enable a visit to Oare House whose gardens were open to the public for the day. They took in some of the scenes for paintings by Eric Ravilious who was invited to stay there in 1932. The walk took in Gopher Wood, one of the most stunning sites for bluebells in the county.

Glyn also ventured north, not to Yorkshire but to Royal Wootton Bassett to deliver his Wiltshire Blind House talk at the library.

Meanwhile Elaine has been as busy as ever and has posted a few new blogs on the website including one based on the border of Hampshire where she followed the Shire Rack footpath and discovered connections with Jack the Ripper! You can read her blog here: The Borderlands, Shire Rack and Jack the Ripper

Elaine also touched the border of Dorset with a soggy but inspiring visit to Mere, a town worthy of an entire blog in itself. You can read about her visit on the Hidden Wiltshire Facebook page.

Glyn also finally wrote up his visit to another Wiltshire town, the beautiful and historic Malmesbury with tales of flying monks and tigers. You will find his blog on the website here Malmesbury - St Aldhelm, King Athelstan and Eilmer the Flying Monk

Paul has only recently returned from his Spring residency in France (complete with wife who broke her ankle there) so had little to share that was Wiltshire related. However, it was interesting to discover that on Wiltshire Day, 5 June, the Thames Path National Trail tweeted a recommendation of Paul’s walk around Inglesham Church and the Thames Path which you will find in his blog on the website here Medieval Inglesham - Three Counties Walk

Long term followers of Hidden Wiltshire may be familiar with the story of Alan Dodson who contacted us after our podcast about Imber, podcast number 2! Alan lived in Warminster for a few years as a child when his father was transferred here in the last war. Alan was trying to locate a cottage he used to visit somewhere on the Imber Range, long since demolished. Some people may be aware of the archaeological dig which is taking place at Imber at the moment led by Operation Nightingale, the veterans’ charity. Paul contacted them about Alan’s story and within a day or so two people both identified a possible location for the cottage. Paul has written to Alan to see if he thinks this is the place.

Finally in our round up we wanted to mention the work of some friends – Hedley Thorne (Hedley Thorne), and Paul and Rebecca Whitewick (Paul and Rebecca Whitewick). They are prolific bloggers, You Tubers and podcasters (Wessex Ways) writing and filming about ancient trails, railways and canals amongst other things, much of it in Wiltshire. We share a common passion about rights of ways and in particular blocked or lost footpaths and bridleways. In the podcast we had an extended chat about this, particularly as both Elaine and Glyn have had walks thwarted by blocked rights of ways recently. We mentioned the tool that has been developed by The Ramblers called Don’t Lose Your Way which seeks to save lost paths before the Government closes the book forever in 2031 on any chance of having them reinstated. You can read about the tool here Don't Lose Your Way.

We then began our discussion of some of our favourite woods in Wiltshire. Elaine chose the much loved Bentley Wood just to the south of Salisbury close to the border with Hampshire, a historic Royal hunting ground mentioned in the Domesday Book but which dates back even further. We mused over the origins of the name which Elaine subsequently established derives from the following – “the name Bentley comes from the Old English words beonet and leah, meaning "the clearing where bent grass grows". It was written in the past in various ways, such as Bentelwoda, and first recorded in the 13th century.” Elaine and Paul collaborated on a blog about Bentley which you will find here Bentley Wood.

Elaine shared her love of Chase Woods, also down in the borderlands, this time with Dorset. Chase Wood is part of the Rushmore Estate. It’s a fantastic place for wildlife and in particular for birds. Elaine and Paul are recent converts to the Merlin phone app from Cornell Lab which is very effective at identifying birdsong. Merlin

Next up was Paul and two of his favourite woods, or are they forests? Firstly we talked about Grovely Wood. Paul wrote a blog about it here Grovely Wood and the Woodsman.  Hardly hidden and well known to many but its huge scale and open access to much of it mean there are many hidden corners and opportunities to be completely alone. Its history dates back to the Romans and beyond, being the route for the Lead Road which enabled the Romans to transport lead from Mendip to the rest of southern England. It is also a place of great folklore and stories of murder and hauntings. The famous Witch Trees are to be found here and it is key to Great Wishford’s fabled Oak Apple Day which takes place each year on 29 May. We mentioned two books during our discussion - Wildwood - Roger Deakin and The House in the Woods - Mark Dawson. Grovely features in both. 

Paul’s other favourite wood is Great Ridge, which is even bigger than Grovely! Sadly access is restricted to designated rights of way but that if anything adds to its mystery. Little has been written about it but you can read about Paul’s 2020 walk through the wood here Great Ridge. It seems Wikipedia also struggled to find out anything about the wood as Paul’s blog is both referenced and a chunk quoted on its page about Great Ridge! However, the Lead Road also passes through here and later history features in W H Hudson’s marvellous book A Shepherd’s Life. A Shepherd's Life - W H Hudson. Hudson was a great lover of Great Ridge and frequent visitor. There are again stories of mystery and folklore surrounding the wood. And the newly established Stone Daisy Brewery located on the Fonthill Estate, owners of Great Ridge, have picked up on the significance of the wood naming one of its excellent beers Snail-creep Hanging after this bizarrely named location in the wood.

Finally Glyn talked about his favourites. Biss Wood is where Hidden Wiltshire began. Tipped off by someone about the simply stunning Autumn colours Glyn went for a walk in the wood in 2016. On a whim he put up his drone and was staggered by the rainbow of colours seen from above. His aerial photograph is now widely known and used, and features in both of the Hidden Wiltshire books. You can read about that first visit here Biss Wood. Once just a meadow it was re-planted with trees in the 1940s/50s and is now managed by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.

Not far from Biss Wood is Clanger Wood and Picket Wood, south east of Trowbridge. Glyn’s blog about it can be found here - Clanger Wood. Managed by the Woodland Trust these woods were once part of the ancient and vast Selwood Forest recorded in the Domesday Book. Little remains of Selwood but Clanger Wood is still large enough to find seclusion without becoming lost. It is listed as one of top 10 places in England for its display of bluebells, which may explain Glyn’s love of the place.

Finally Glyn wanted to add Southleigh Wood in view of its historical connections and its mystery. When King Alfred marched his troops to engage Guthrum and the Danes at the Battle of Ethandun (Eddington) in 878AD, the Saxon Chronicles say that Alfred assembled his men at Iley Oak the night before the battle. The location of Iley Oak is not known for sure but is thought to be in Southleigh Wood. The wood is now host to the mysterious and frankly creepy Robin Hood's Bower, about which Glyn wrote in 2019. The bower consists of monkey puzzle trees planted by Lord Bath in 1965-67. Here will be found many votives and tokens together with wicker circles. It is clearly a place of relevance to some!

Then on to the wrap up for this episode:

There are still copies of the second Hidden Wiltshire book available on the website. The first book has sold out.

The aforementioned Hedley Thorne and another friend of the podcast, artist Anna Dillon, have an exhibition of aerial photographs and paintings entitled “Wessex Airscapes: Elevating Wiltshire” which opens at Wiltshire Museum in Devizes on 8 July 2023. As part of this Glyn will be leading some walks visiting some of the locations portrayed by Hedley and Anna Wessex Airscapes: Elevating Wiltshire

Thanks as always go to Steve Dixon for the music. As usual the piece at the beginning and the end of the podcast is called “The Holloway”, whilst the piece in the middle is a new one from Steve entitled “Forgive”. 

 Other Links:

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on this website and on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop
and a link to Glyn’s blog about our latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

It only seemed like a few days since our last podcast recording – and that’s because it was! Glyn, Elaine and Paul assembled at a secret location to record our first podcast since June. There was much to catch up on and, though we say so ourselves, it went swimmingly with much hilarity and spontaneity. However, there was one small problem – the mics failed to record. Anything. Anything at all. So we reconvened three days later in the same outdoor location to do the whole thing again. You will have to take our word for it when we say that the loss of the original recording will forever be a loss to humanity! 

We’re not going to tell you where we recorded. You will have to listen to the podcast to find out. But it provided lots of wonderful ambient noise as we waffled on! 

But first we opened with a review of some of what has been going on in the Hidden Wiltshire world since June. And there was a surprising amount to talk about. So we picked out some of favourite moments. 

In what was a busy six months Elaine highlighted her blog entitled The Selwood Triangle, which you can find using this link - The Selwood Triangle. It had over 5,000 views in just four months and whilst the record is held by Glyn’s Boxhill Circular Walk blog with over 12,000 views that particular blog was published a few years ago. However, Elaine’s blog attracted a huge amount of attention on social media and sadly brought out some of the worst of the social media warriors with one or two particularly unpleasant comments. But the overwhelming number of people enjoyed it, understanding that it was just a bit of fun! 

Elaine also highlighted her Fisherton Anger blog which you can read here - The Lost Settlement of Fisherton Anger. A little known village whose name has long since been lost as it became subsumed by Salisbury. But some of its streets and monuments can still be found if you know where to look. Fortunately Elaine does as she used to live there. 

Paul had his usual sojourn across the Channel in the last couple of months so his activity was mainly confined to November with two longer walks - Egbert's Stone, The Harrow Way and a Splendid Bottom, and Tisbury and Oddford Vale. Both were suggested by Hidden Wiltshire follower Jill Caudle. The first provided a rather neat connection with the location for today’s recording. 

Meanwhile Glyn has been concentrating on his talks and delivered one at Royal Wootton Bassett Library and another at Salisbury Library. Glyn also led three walks for Wiltshire Museum in support of Anna Dillon and Hedley Thorne’s exhibition there entitled Wessex Airscapes, which was accompanied by a wonderful book – Elevating Wiltshire written by Anna’s father Patrick Dillon and illustrated with her paintings and Hedley’s aerial photography. Finally Glyn wrote an article on his Top Ten Secret Spots for Emma Heard’s Weird Wiltshire. 

Before moving onto our main theme we had a good old rant. We have been collaborating with the aforementioned Hedley Thorne and Paul Whitewick (of YouTube fame) to highlight the challenges the public have in accessing many of our green and blue spaces. In particular we talked again about the anomaly of Open Access areas in which there is a right to roam, but as an example of extreme irony cannot be reached without trespassing in so many cases. Paul Whitewick supported by Hedley Thorne recorded a great YouTube video about this which you can see here - How is it illegal to access public land. 

Our main theme in this podcast was a look at some of the 39 rivers that flow through Wiltshire, which include three River Avons and even the Thames! But it was also an opportunity to have a bit more of a rant – this time about the pollution of our rivers. However, on a more positive note we focused on some of our better known rivers including the Bourne and the Hampshire Avon. Of course Paul got in more than one mention of his beloved Till. And we couldn’t not mention the Wylye and in particular Steve Dewey’s blog The River Wylye and of course his blog about The Nine Mile River. Which isn’t. Nine Miles. Nine Mile River 

Then on to the wrap up for this episode: 

There are still a few copies of the Hidden Wiltshire books available on the website – link below. 

Thanks as always go to Steve Dixon for the music. As usual the piece at the beginning and the end of the podcast is called “The Holloway”, whilst the piece in the middle is a new one from Steve entitled, appropriately enough, “Sprung”.  

Other Links: 

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on this website and on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle 

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist 

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative 

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 

and a link to Glyn’s blog about our latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far

Another location recording and once again it didn’t quite go to plan. The never ending rain led to some of the worst flooding we’ve seen in years and when faced with the sight of a car marooned up to its windows in a flood we decided the sensible thing to do would be to turn round and find another location. But as ever you will have to listen to the podcast to find out where we were.

In this episode we welcomed a guest. Emma Heard runs the Weird Wiltshire website, and we asked Emma to join us to tell us some of the stories she’s gathered over the years about strange goings on in Wiltshire. 

But first we had a quick rundown of what the Hidden Wiltshire team have been doing since the last podcast. 

Glyn delivered a talk at Trowbridge Museum about all things hidden Wiltshire. He must have done something right as they’ve asked him to go back and do another one!

We wanted to congratulate our friend Paul Whitewick after he clocked up 100,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel. He began by making films about abandoned railway lines, canals and roads but this has evolved over time. Basically anything intriguing that Paul has discovered from looking at old maps is fair game. You’ll find a link to his channel in the links section below. 

Meanwhile our own Paul attended a public drowning in Salisbury. This was not some sort of gruesome form of Medieval torture but a demonstration of how drowners would have flooded meadows years ago in order to raise the temperature of the fields to promote earlier grass growth. The demonstration was at the water meadows in West Harnham and was attended by a couple hundred people. We’ve talked about this practice often at Hidden Wiltshire so it was fascinating to see it in action, and interesting to hear that the practice may be reintroduced in some places as a flood defence measure.  You can find out more at the Harnham Water Meadows Trust website using the link below. 

Glyn wrote a blog about Rybury Camp in the hills above Pewsey Vale after he was asked by local farmer Tim Daw to take some drone footage of the area. Tim is famous for building a modern day long barrow at All Cannings. (We interviewed Tim a couple of years ago in Podcast 35 – there’s a link to this below.) Glyn filmed the area in a time of drought when crop marks can reveal many previously hidden historical features. Tim had a theory that there may once have been a henge in the area. You can read Glyn’s blog using the link below. 

Next Elaine talked about her blog on the subject of the Knights Templar entitled Temple Bottom and of the Last Templar. She gave us a brief history lesson on the Knights Templar and their link to the Knights Hospitaler. You can read Elaine’s blog by using the link below. 

Finally Paul talked about his most recent walk in the countryside around Tisbury. You will find a link to the associated blog below. This walk included visits to three castles - two obvious ones (Old and New Wardour Castle) but also the lesser known Iron Age hillfort of Castle Ditches that commands the heights above Tisbury. 

We then moved onto the special topic of this episode of the podcast. Emma Heard began Weird Wiltshire as a lockdown project in 2020. Since then it has developed and grown, and despite having a day job Emma spends a lot of her time exploring and listening to stories of ghosts, spirits and strange goings around Wiltshire, thereby keeping alive a folklore tradition dating back many hundreds of years. She shared with us just a few of the stories she has come across, and we finished by sharing some of our own. 

Then on to the wrap up for this episode: 

There are still a few copies of the Hidden Wiltshire book available on the website – link below. 

Thanks as always go to Steve Dixon for the music. As usual the piece at the beginning and the end of the podcast is called “The Holloway”, whilst the piece in the middle is called appropriately enough, “Play Dead”. 

Podcast Specific Links: 

Paul Whitewick’s YouTube channel can be found here Paul Whitewick 

The Harnham Water Meadows Trust website can be found here Harnham Water Meadows Trust 

Our interview with Tim Daw can be heard here All Cannings Long Barrow - An Interview with Tim Daw 

Glyn’s blog about Rybury Camp can be found here Rybury Camp

Elaine’s blog, Temple Bottom and the Knights Templar can be found here Temple Bottom and the Last Templar 

You can read Paul’s blog about his most recent walk in the countryside around Tisbury here Tisbury and its Three Castles 

You can find Emma Heard’s Weird Wiltshire website here Weird Wiltshire. She is also on Twitter (or whatever it is called these days) where she is known as @WeirdWiltsBlog and Bluesky (whatever that is!) at Emma Heard Bluesky 

Other Links: 

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on this website and on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle 

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist 

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative 

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop