07/07/2026 - The Royal Oak, Charmouth

Golden Cap Views

Charmouth becomes the base of our latest dog sit. 5 days in heatwave number 3 of 2026. We are unsure how many of the planned walks we will manage to execute but we start with the shortest.

Charmouth is a picturesque coastal village in west Dorset, located on the Jurassic Coast between Lyme Regis and Bridport, where the River Char meets the sea. Famous for its fossil-rich cliffs and dramatic scenery, the village has a fascinating history, including visits from royalty. Catherine of Aragon is said to have stayed here in 1501 before her marriage to Prince Arthur, while the most famous visitor was the future Charles II, who hid in Charmouth in 1651 after defeat at the Battle of Worcester while attempting to escape to France. An Adventure Lab Cache points us to the Abbot's House, which has provided accommodation for both of these royal guests. And considering one was Charles II, it's no wonder the Monarch's Way LDP runs through it.

Royal Patronage at the Abbot's House

We've walked Golden Cap several times but never from this direction. Alas, due to the heat and the dog we are in charge of being 70 (dog years) we decide to shorten the walk a mile from the summit. There are plenty of escape routes to make this possible. The walk follows the Monarchs Way over cliffs before walking back to town via Stonebarrow Hill.

The footbridge across the river Char, where it meets the sea

Looking back from the Monarch's Way, over Lyme Regis

Mrs M and Bluebell agreeing Golden Cap is just too far.

Back into town, for a choice of refreshments. Charmouth hosts two pubs, the Royal Oak and George, one cafe and one chipper.

We were told the Royal Oak is the posher of the two. This is probably due to the prices, as it is a Palmers tied house. Less than two weeks since I paid the most for cask at another one of their outlets, the Ferry Inn, Salcombe.

Not quite needing a mortgage for a round today

Legendary pub crawler Alan Winfield declared this the best pub in Charmouth, and I intended to discover whether his judgement still held true before the end of the week. Admittedly, his review was from 2000, when Charmouth could probably boast another six other pubs. I only have the George to visit.

The Palmers 200 was certainly in good enough shape to earn an early vote of confidence. A happy blend of locals and visitors created the right atmosphere, with tourists doing what tourists do best: loudly debating the cost of car parking (a conversation I was so desperate to join with). Add in the friendly staff, and the signs were already pointing towards Alan having got this one right.

Walk Details

Distance - 4.5 miles

Geocaches - 5

Inspiration - 100 Walks In Dorset, Walk 16

14/04/26 - The Talbot, Chaddesley Corbett

Licenced Café Vibes

We are borrowing dogs again. The third time out with Ian and Sam (we don't name them). We are told that Sam is likely to chase deer on our planned walk on Clent, so re-arrange for Chaddesley Corbett.

Normally, the post walk refreshment would be Bathams at the Swan but the other pub, built in 1501, has re-opened. Looking at the opening hours, we are not 100% sure as what.

Good Beer Guide Pubs marked with a Star in my Google Maps!

The walk was perfect. Wide open spaces on agricultural fields. Some woodland walking along the Royal Foresters Way. And with two male labs, I am delighted to say that every potential stile has been replaced with a kissing gate. We could kiss the local Ramblers. Or Farmers. Whoever maintains them has made the walk very accessible.

Ian and Sam

Along the Royal Foresters Walk

Where the bluebells are out early

Perfect.

Back to the "pub".  Detailed in my 1960s Historic Inns of Interest Book - where it was run by Banks and catered for 60 diners in an upstairs room.

1960s proof-reader required... Chaddersely Indeed 

Only open to 1pm, it cannot be a pub in the truest sense of the word. The owners are going for a licenced café vibe, with more typical hours on the weekends and no end of social events - from book clubs to Thai Street food takeovers.

Outside - cottages from 1501 knocked together

Insider - other customers out of shot

An opportunity to test Mr Clarkson's brewing abilities or chance the cask with a Worcestershire Way. Both shunned for an Americano. 

It seemed more apt.

Walk Details

Distance - 5.5 Miles

Geocaches - 0

Walk Inspiration - 100 Walks in Hereford and Worcester, Walk 42

31/03/26 - A Tardebigge Circuit

Indecipherable Place Name

I knew that the latest West Midlands History Podcast would provide plenty of potential walk inspiration. Mike Jenkins talks about his new book - The History of Place Names in England and Worcestershire. A £5 visit to Amazon and my Kindle will now be able to bore blogfans through a whole new avenue. Skirting the book and listening to the Podcast, my mind was soon made up that the walk would be from Tardebigge.

Unique as the only village in the land that has belonged to three counties (Staffordshire, Warwickshire and now Worcestershire) its also the only place that Mike (and other experts) cannot decode it's naming roots.

After a long discussion of potential options, Mike concludes;

However, most toponymists seem to agree this this is one of those place names which remains obscure and has even been postulated to be related to a pre-Celtic, possibly an Old European (pre-Indo-European) language! If true, this would mean the name originates from at least 3,000 to 4,000 years ago!

We borrow a couple of dogs and park at the impressive church, situated on high ground. I couldn't even find the main door to tell you if its "Doors Open" or not.

Tardebigge Church

And its position on a high ridge

This circular walk is outbound on lanes, along the Monarch's Way. Not many cars to avoid but they are 100% Land Rovers. The Joneses' keep up with each other in these parts.

Borrowed dog, Sam, shows the way through Stoke Cross

Some empty agricultural fields to pick up the Birmingham-Worcester canal, following it up along the famous flight of locks back to the church.

Happy Mrs M and Sam with-guide-dog-in-training, Ian - we don't name them

Celebrating the end of the flight

A perfect walk for dogs - no stiles, off-lead frolicking and plenty of sniffing interest.

Less so for humans. No tea shops, let alone a pub.

Walk Details

Distance - 5 Miles

Geocaches - 0

Walk Inspiration - 100 Walks in Hereford and Worcestershire, Walk 61 

12/02/26 - The Sun and Slipper, Mamble

Are you questioning your life?

These are the words emblazoned outside Neen Sollars Church and my answer - quite frankly - is yes.

I need to get out of the house and the minute I arrive at Mamble, the heavens open. Another day in the rain. It's becoming biblical now. For future records, let it be known that Ashwood Bank in Worcestershire has now experienced 42 days of continuous rain.

What would have been a fine walk is a relentless slop-fest of mud and despite owning better waterproofs, I have misjudged.

At least there were a couple of interesting "doors open" churches to explore.

Mamble St John the Baptist

St John the Baptist, Mamble

Dating from 1200 - a handy sign tells the story of all the treasures available. An effigy of a recumbent, cross legged knight. C14th stained glass windows, hidden from the destruction of idolatry in a manure pit before being refitted. C16th brass, floor mounted memorials to John Blount. A bricked off Catholic chapel with a collapsed roof.

The internet suggests there is a memento mori skeleton in the South aisle. Indeed, there are pictures of it on the Internet. I must have been following the guide too closely, as there is no mention of it and I failed to notice it.

Instruction Manual for a Church

The Cross Legged Knight

Meet the Blounts

Only a couple of sections lost

One to find next time

Neen Sollars All Saints

Church Farm - looking at All Saints Church, Neen Sollars

Quite the treasure inside - a 1624 alabaster memorial to Humfrey Coningsby. A traveller "never seene by any of his acquaintance on this side, the seas, or beyond, not any certainty knowne of his death, where, when, or how from his first journey to his last was 16 yeares & 6 months"

A man after my own heart.

Quite something to stumble upon

Worthy of a Zoom

The Walk

North East from Mamble, where I got a little lost in Wissett's Wood before finding the forest ride to Neen Sollars. Crossing the River Rea before lanes back to Mamble.

Grim.

Day 42 of 2026 rain. And there have only been 43 days in 2026

The Sun and Slipper

The real reason I am here is to get another tick from my 1960s Historic Inns of Worcestershire Guide Book.

Uniquely Named

The first thing to note is there has been major modernisation, with the timber framing either removed or plastered over. 

Which one is preferred

The entrance is from the car park at the side, where the first door along the corridor is to a bar, where the only source of light is from the log fire. There is no way I am not sitting in front of that, even if I am in the dark.  

I can hear plenty of noise from the restaurant next door, so the place is surviving from food sales rather than beer sales.

That said, the Three Tuns Charter - Untappd has it as a best bitter, the pump clip advertises it as an amber mild - is wonderful. 

The Day Saver! (and the log fire)

Walk Details

Distance - 6 Miles

Walk Inspiration - 100 Walks in Hereford and Worcester, Walk 72

Geocaches - 4

01/06/25 - Robin Hood's Bay to Ravenscar

Sunday Lunch or Parmo?

Last time we walked these parts, we headed North on the Cleveland Way. It seems prudent to venture in the opposite direction on our revisit.

Mrs M, having studied Tripadvisor for hours, decides that the uniquely named Fylingdales Inn, just outside of Robin Hood's Bay, has one of the better Sunday lunches around. We remember the steepness of the road when dropping down to the bay, but no time to hang around, we are up and away on the Cleveland Way.

Team Photo

Regular Blogfans will notice two new members. A pair of Springer Spaniels who are my type of dog. Yesterday, they tried to drag me in the Little Angel in Whitby. When that failed, they tried again at the Grandby. I shall not forsake them a third time.

The Coast Path is grand, high and seemingly made of mud. Much is crumbling into the sea. With fences only on the inland side, the dogs remain on leads until whenever we drop down to a cove. The first, the Boggle Hole, does not pass the Mrs M sniff test. Having let them off for a splash, she quickly re-clips them saying it stinks. Of what I ask, only for another couple to answer "Shit". Northeners telling it like it is. 

I think I have deduced how the remote YHA plumbing works.

Looking backwards on the Cleveland Way to RHB

And forwards

There appears to be only a hotel at Ravenscar, so as soon as we can we pick up the Cinder Track, a wonderful disused railway that if we wanted, could take us all the way back. A mile can be saved by heading through sheep fields and picking it back up later. Dogs off leads, and great views of the coastal path we have just walked. Unlike Padstow, significantly less people on bikes dinging bells at us.

The Dog's Favourite Stretch

Finish at the pub, where I think the four of us deserve our refreshments. 

The Fylingdales is a solid Theakston house, doing a good trade in food. It is Sunday - the roasts are beef, pork or turkey - but a full menu is also available.

With six different types of Parmo on offer, I should have probably eaten a little more local.

But I don't regret the turkey - delivered quickly enough that most of the XB was still available to wash it down.

Parmo shunned

Walk Details

Distance - 8 Miles

Geocaches - 7

Walk Inspiration - 100 Walks in East Yorkshire, Walk 9

23/12/23 - The Chequers at Churchill, Oxfordshire

 Hunting for a ghost and finding Diddly Squat

A walk inspired by the Loremen Podcast. Series 1, Episode 1 told the tale of Poppa Bayliss at the turn of the 20th Century. A brewer who was seeing a girl in the Cotswold Village of Milton Under Wychwood. During his weekly 5 mile walk home, he passed Sarsden Pillars and would always see a ghostly stagecoach overtaking him. Scary enough, until the third week when he heard footsteps and turned around to see a man in Elizabethan dress, carrying his head under his arm.

The podcast puts two and two together and links the fact that he was a brewer meant he was on the pop and the ghostly stagecoach was probably a train on the newly created railway line.

Churchill has a pub, so I head down to Oxfordshire to investigate.

Initially, I find a few monuments.... a much maligned memorial fountain with a sign explaining that running water only came to the village in 1964. Described on wikipedia as;

Memorably ugly. A squat, square tower with obelisks and flying buttresses carrying a dumpy spire. The water drips from a rude spout at the side

Not that bad, as fountains go

Other monuments include a medieval Stone Cross at a junction to the south of the village and an obelisk dedicated to William Smith, the father of British Geology. Born in the village in 1769.

Heading North East out the village along a track marked as Besbury Lane, I find a place to stop for mid walk snacks. Clarkson's Diddly Squat Farm Shop is every bit as forlorn as it looks on the TV Programme. A small hut in a muddy field, although it does appear as though he received planning permission for the car park.

TV Filming Location

A sausage roll provides a break from the geocaching in nearby Chadlington. I should have spent more time on the research, as I am too early for an unexpected Good Beer Guide Tick at the Tite Inn.

Geocaching - and Lunch

Heading west from Chadlington, I come to the Ghostly Ground Zero - the Sarsden Pillars guarding the estate from the A361.  

The two pillars

And one up close

No sign of the ghost, so I asked AI to generate some artwork to represent what caused Brewer Bayliss so much grief.

Bing Image Creator not understanding the word "Headless"

Through the wrought iron gates of the Sarsden estate and down their impressive tree lined access road, back into Churchill.

The Church, from the front door of the pub

The Chequers is the most gastro of gastro pubs - all tables are laid with fine dining cutlery and wine glasses. Drinkers get a token six high stools to sit at the bar.  I was fortunate to make it in just before the local polo club entered. Had I been faced with such a crush on entry, I would have forsaken my post walk pint.

Which as it turned out, was much better than I had any right to expect. Four cask handpulls on - Hookey Bitter, TT Landlord and an unrecognised IPA vying for attention that was taken by an excellent Butcombe Rare Breed.

A thing of beauty

Walk Details

Distance - 9.5 Miles

Geocaches - 7

Walk Inspiration - 100 Walks in Oxfordshire and Berkshire, Walk 60

26/03/23 - The Anchor, Oldbury on Severn

 Pub Manifesto - A comedian stands up for pubs

Inspiration for today's walk came from a book. In 2018, Comedian James Dowdeswell lamented the decline of pubs, which were then closing at a rate of 18 a day. I cannot help but think we will be looking back on these times as the golden age. (Much) worse was to follow.

Inspiration for a walk

Using George Orwell's essay "the moon under water" he lists what he thinks makes a modern pub. His qualification?  His father is a publican and the book is a love letter to him. Michael Dowdeswell name is still above the door and in many ways, he seemed a visionary. Running a freehouse, so he would have control on the beers sold. From the signage, I would say he is a Bass fan. He also launched a range of whiskies from Gloucestershire - Sheep Dip and Pig's Nose. I saw no evidence of these for sale, but his son's beer - Lazy IPA - was spotted in cans behind the bar.

An entertaining read, emphasising the importance of the Local. Even one as remote as this has its stories. Steven Spielberg had a film idea pitched to him here. The inventor of Dr Who's K9 was a regular. 

Freehouse championing the Bass

The walk was a simple affair, head down Oldbury Pill to the Severn Estuary. Clamber up on the earth banks for an arrow straight walk downriver. Views of the Severn Bridge ahead, Oldbury power station behind.

Heading down to Severn Bridge

Rushden Lane takes me in-land through Littleton-upon-Severn. A small village that still has its pub, the White Hart. Unusually for this area, a Youngs house.

A muddy slop-fest through the fields to Cowhill, with Oldbury's Church the beacon. Standing proudly on a rare bit of raised ground.

Back into Oldbury-on-Severn

Post walk refreshment at the Anchor.... a decent selection of local ales and the last free table for a Sunday Lunch.  Like the full English, its the unexpected little extras that delight.  

Roast parsnips and cauliflower cheese. 

I went top right.  It must have been the external advertising

Walk Details

Walk Inspiration - 100 Walks in Somerset and Avon, Walk 81

Distance - 5.5 Miles

Geocaches - 6

18/03/23 - January Man - March on the West Mendip Way to Wells, Somerset

 

Walking the chapters of Christopher Somerville's The January Man, Month by Month

March's chapter throws up its first surprise. Three walking areas are detailed but I decide to ignore Worcestershire and Yorkshire and stick with the opening location, Somerset. The theme is new beginnings and birth, with more text dedicated to lambing in Nidderdale than to mating toads along the A371.

In Somerset, Somerville is scaling the heights of the Mendip hills, walking through the woodland of Stoke Woods Conservancy from Rodney Stoke. It doesn't take me long to plot a suitable route and it's my favourite type. Linear, using public transport to make the return.

All things are planned. I'll park at the Rodney Stoke in, walk 10 or so miles on the West Mendip Way and return on the 126 at 13:55 to pay for the parking through a lunch purchase. The landlord is even coming out of the pub at 8:50am for me to explain this plan to him as I pull up in the car park. His response? I'm welcome to park, but the pub is closed for a refit until April.

Rodney Stoke Inn

My path to the Mendips is Hill Lane - which lives up to its name in its steepness - to find the West Mendip Way at the top.  The climbing over, I get to know how a Cheltenham race horse feels. A straight path through fields, interrupted every quarter or mile or so by a huge stone stile that needs to be clambered over.

Bullocks in the mist, over the Somerset Plains

Two pubs in Priddy, walks-bys only at 10am. The Old New Inn, looking for purchasers but by the state of it, I can't see that happening. Their facebook page detailing a previous failed renovation, alongside the auctioning off of all furnishings of interest. Around the corner, the Victoria Inn, showing signs of how they beat the plague.

The Old New Inn - Ridiculously named - surely to be flattened

Oh I do like to be beside the pubside - Priddy's Victoria Inn and their beach huts

Into the National Trust owned Dursdon Wood estate, where the height is lost on a descent through Ebbor Gorge Valley to Wookey Hole. Glastonbury Tor reveals itself, through a gap in the clouds.

Glastonbury Tor, illuminated by a gap in the clouds

The top of Ebbor Gorge

Mud all the way back to Wells. I try to convince owners of impeccably clean dogs that perhaps another route would require less afternoon hose pipe action but they seem sanguine about the path states.

I have 90 minutes in Wells before the public transport. I can save money on organsised tours of Hot Fuzz locations by using an Adventure Lab Cache. Sites include the falling spire, the swan capture and of course, the "Battle of Sandford". Architectural sight-seeing also included.

Hot Fuzz

Bishops Palace, Wells

Wells Cathedral

Refreshments, are of course, also required.  Although not if you follow Somerville's Dads advice from the book. A keen walker himself, he had a very different outlook on life to most other ramblers.

Everything about his preparations was very sparse and frugal.  No pies, no pints, no pubs - God Forbid.  That sort of thing was for self indulgent chaps who were busy "digging their graves with their teeth"

Well I'm not having that - what a grump! Wells has two Good Beer Guide Ticks to aim for.

The Full Moon is the pick of the pair and one that I would be happy to call my local.  A genial Irish Landlord who when he bans mis-behavers, its not for life. A huge courtyard with the most permanent looking temporary structure ever found. Have you ever been in a gazebo with a pool table, table football, Chesterfields and a large screen for watching the seasonal egg-chasers?

Party Party at the Full Moon

Proper Job - Cheddar Ales Crown and Glory 

The age of The Crown can be determined by it's Wi-Fi code of 14501450.  The bible talks about a Quaker preaching to the masses in 1685.  In keeping with my ALC, it was the local in the 2006 Edgar Wright film.  Bistro all the way, but at least the pub bit was separate.  Even if every table was occupied by diners.

Interior shots were in the Royal Standard, Beaconsfield, Film (and pub) fans.

Walk Details

Distance - 9 miles

Geocaches - 5 and an Adventure Lab Cache

Previous Walks - January, February

Walk Inspiration - 100 Walks in Somerset and Avon, Walk 97 

Good Beer Guide Ticks  - #805 and #806