The Plan
A guided
tour of Brownsea Island
Who Turned Up
Ros
(leader), Trisha, Wendy, Trudy B, Beatrice and Tony H, David
The Walk
As an
October day, it was ideal weather for a Brownsea walk. We parked near the ferry
at Sandbanks and caught the 1030 boat to Brownsea. Ros then led us on a walk
around the island, taking in places we had never seen before. That’s the beauty
of having a guide who knows the place back to front. We stopped in Heart Wood to
see how many hearts we could line up. The idea is to get two or three trees in alignment
from one precise spot to make the seemingly random markings come together as a
heart. We also walked through the children’s natural play area and then passed
the remains of the old vinery where a well has been recently discovered. We
continued on past the remains of Maryland village. It was established in the
mid-nineteenth century to house workers for a new pottery company, but the clay
proved to be unsuitable for porcelain. They turned to making drainage pipes,
but that was financially unviable so – to quote an expression – it all went to
pot. The villagers stayed on working the island’s estate but, when Mrs
Bonham-Christie bought the island in 1927, she closed down the local
employment. The workers moved to the mainland and the village was abandoned. In
WW2, decoy lights were set up here to lure German bombers away from Poole and
Bournemouth and, consequently, the village was destroyed.
We
walked on with the aim of having a picnic lunch near Pottery Pier. In the event
it was a bit breezy by the shore, so we found a nice sheltered spot a bit
farther on. After our al-fresco picnic lunch, we continued on through the scout
camp and ended up at the café near the visitor centre. Ros very kindly treated
us all to tea and cakes. Thank you, Ros, we hope you enjoyed your special
birthday this year.
It
was a very pleasant walk and we must thank Trudy once again for her
photographs.
Next Week
Meet at
David’s at 1015 for a Fordingbridge walk.
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