Wednesday 9 September 2015

The Wednesday Walk 9th September 2015



The Plan
A walk to Lamb’s Green

Who Turned Up
Wendy, Sue, Trudy B, Trudy H, Diane and Tony R, David

The Walk
Once again, the weather was perfect for walking: dry, not too warm and not at all cold. In other words, typical early autumn weather. We met at Diane and Tony’s house and began our walk from there, making our way through the estate to the Willett Arms pub.
          This pub is in the Oakley area of Wimborne, which is a conservation area because of the large number of Lady Wimborne Cottages here. Oakley Hill, Oakley Lane and Cruxton Farm are all listed as containing buildings of local importance. The cottages date back to the late nineteenth century when they were built by Lord Wimborne to house workers on his estate. They were called Lady Wimborne Cottages because of their attractive design. Today, many have been extended but they still keep to the original design and the extensions use appropriate building materials.
          The Willett Arms (I mention it only because it’s the largest landmark in Oakley. We did not visit it today) once served travellers on the Southampton and Dorchester Railway as well as travellers on the Poole Road. When the railway line closed, the pub lost a lot of trade. Today, the old railway track is rejuvenated as part of the Castleman Trailway and brings walkers and cyclists back to the pub.
          We crossed the main road in front of the pub and carried on walking along the Willett Road, which was the main road before the Wimborne by-pass was built. Today, it’s very quiet and, in places, a bit overgrown. We took a short detour through the woods before continued to the Lamb’s Green pub on the Wimborne Road.
          After lunch, we took the same route back until we came to the Willett Arms. There the group split into two. One group of four made their way straight back to Diane and Tony’s house and enjoyed cake and a welcome cup of tea. The other three walkers, took a more circuitous - somewhat curious - route arriving back half an hour after the others.
Many thanks, Diane, for the refreshments.

The Pub
The Lamb’s Green. We’ve eaten here before and always found the food well prepared. Today, they advertised a Pie Day. Only one walker ordered a pie and gave it a well-deserved 9 out of 10. He also benefitted from a £5 discount voucher, a reward to tackling the pub’s on-line survey.

Next Week
Meet at David’s at 0945 for a 10amon-the-road start. We shall be walking along the shore to Highcliffe.


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