Day 11 A walk from Ham Hill to Montecute

The walk starts from one of the many car parks on top of Ham Hill and follows the Monarch's Way and the Liberty Trail south from the hill along easy walking tracks and a path through the wood alongside the fields of Butcher's Hill.


Hidden in the woods here is "Tinker's Bubble" a settlement for those seeking an alternative lifestyle.

Thus far the walk has been entirely downhill but here we leave the Liberty Trail and climb steadily through grassy fields with grazing sheep back to the ridge.  The path passes the site of the medieval village of Witcombe, now just mounds and terraced platforms, as we regain height. At the road we cross and join the path to the east of the aptly named Hollow Lane and turn into the woods at Park Covert.

This is a particularly lovely section of the walk and although not marked on maps as a public footpath it is  marked at both ends. There is also an information board and NT sign for "Ladies Walk" as the path descends into Montacute. The wind is strong and gusty as we approach the edge of the village and the children of the primary school are clearly affected by it! We hear them long before we reach them.

Views from this gently sloping path are of lovely old beech trees and beyond them the stone built houses of Montacute.

Montacute is perhaps best known for the fine Ham Stone built Elizabethan House which is now owned by the National Trust.  On this occasion we give the House a miss but do stop for a sandwich and a pint in the The Phelips Arms which is named after the builder of Montacute House.  We discover that Sir Edward Phelips was also Master of the Rolls and led the prosecution of the Gunpowder Treason Plotters in 1605.  His descendants lived here almost until it was passed to the National Trust in 1927.

As we prepare to continue our walk we are stopped by another visitor who looking at our very obvious walking attire introduces himself as the secretary of the local Ramblers Association.  We manage to escape without being signed up and head on through the village and on towards St Michael's Hill.

Finding the way to the top is a challenge and we only spot the official route over a stile after we have negotiated a barbed wire fence!  There is then a steep climb to St Michael's Tower on the top - good training for the ups and downs of Mary's Great Wall of China Challenge later this year.  There are wide views from inside the Tower over the surrounding countryside, but it really does need a warning sign of a low lintel (made of angle iron) as you reach the room at the top.

From here there is a descent and then a fresh climb to reach the ridge of Ham Hill.  This is through ancient woodland and, for the final stretch, open fields back to the car park.

5.7 miles