Dorset walk: Hazelbury Bryan and Fifehead Neville

This delightful walk, undulating between 220ft and 350ft above sea-level, is through ‘typical’ Blackmore Vale country. In fact, for anyone wishing to experience the Blackmore Vale on a single visit, this walk - over dairy farmland, along country lanes, crossing the stream which will become the River Divelish and through two historic villages - will live long in the memory.

Christopher Taylor said ‘the apparent formless pattern of Hazelbury Bryan consists of an incoherent sprawl of dwellings and roads scattered over an area of about three miles’. As a result, the Church of St. Mary and St. James, which lies some distance from some of the hamlets which together make up Hazelbury Bryan, serves ‘Hazelbury Bryan and the Hillside Parishes’ as stated on the sign by the lych-gate. The entire church dates from the second half of the 15th century and, only being restored in 1895, is a good example of 15th-century architecture, especially the original, richly decorated roofs.

All Saint’s Church at Fifehead Neville is a very unusual building. The church is barely 50ft long outside, including the chancel which was rebuilt in 1873. Internally, the 14th-century nave and the north aisle dating from around 1500 are both only 27ft long. In 1736, the porch was added, and the old tower was demolished. The huge, iron-fenced, ivy-clad mausoleum in the churchyard is the Brune family’s and inscriptions date from 1707 to 1760.

The Walk

1. From the lych-gate, walk up the lane, away from the T-junction, passing right stone Church Cottage. Continue to the first left avenue drive. Take the instant-left footpath-signed gate into the grass track, with hedge right and various bushes left. Walk down to the facing 1½ footpath-gates, go through into the field corner and turn right to the nearby 1½ gates. Through into the next field’s corner, walk up diagonally half-left, north (N), to the corner 1½ footpath-gates. Through into the high field, continue N, half-right, down to the footpath half-gate under trees in the bottom corner. Through, cross the footbridge to a second footpath half-gate.

2. Through, bear half-right N, aiming for the right of a few oaks in the right hedge. Through the gate by the first oak, continue N, half-left up to the fence footpath-stile. Over, cross half-right to the hedge’s footpath-signed stile. Over into the hedged lane, turn left and walk up to the T-junction. This is Kingston. Turn right. Pass left Wheat Close, right thatched cottage and workshops. Leaving ‘Hazelbury Bryan’ at the village sign, pass right Hazeldene Farm drive. Continue along the lane, out of the 30 zone and past left North Dorset Workshops. Reaching a left turning, go over the right hedge’s Hardy Way (HW) and footpath-stile. Into a large field with left barns, walk straight on, due east (E), under overhead wires, to a footpath half-gate under trees near the bottom left corner.

All Saints Church at Fifehead Neville. (Image: Edward Griffiths)

3. Through, and over two sleeper bridges, go through the HW half-gate into the long field. Cross the corner, half-right, to the hedge footpath-gate. Through, keep straight on across the field to the hedge gateway. Through this, cross to the hedge’s HW gateway. Through, go half-left NNE up to the top corner footpath-gate. Through this, continue half-left NNE up the field to the right of two gates, footpath arrowed. Through into the field corner, follow the left hedge and electricity wires to the corner gate. The footpath arrow on the approach’s electricity post points left but it means: ‘Go through the gate and follow the left hedge, or track, around the left bend’. Continue to the corner gate. Through, continue along the left hedge to the gate and footpath-signed stile. Over onto the road, turn right and walk down into ‘Fifehead Neville’ at the village sign. Pass left Belview and Stonewalls track, the right cemetery and Old Chapel. Past the right dairy farm on a left bend, the right signed Halter Path will be our route after visiting the village’s All Saints Church.

Ford and footbridge over River Divelish tributary. (Image: Edward Griffiths)

4. Just continue around the bend, and All Saints’ and the Manor House appear, partially hidden and shaded by huge trees, on your left. The Manor House dates from the late-17th century but most of the external features are from the 19th century. On leaving the church, Fifehead Farmhouse opposite dates from the late-17th to early-18th century. Now, return to the Halter Path (horses are allowed but must be led, not ridden). Pass left Plumber Cottage which dates from late-17th to early-18th century, the right farm and left cottages at ‘Green Lane’. Past a left footpath-signed gate, the path becomes hedged and reduces in size, heading basically due S, sometimes with views of Bulbarrow Hill masts ahead. Then becoming narrower still, the path descends to a ford and footbridge over an infant tributary of the River Divelish on its way to join the River Stour near Sturminster Newton. Over this, ascend a sunken, damp, shady narrow track up to a road bend with houses either side on the approach. Right is Wolfhanger Farm.

Ibberton Hill from the Hardy Way field. (Image: Edward Griffiths)

5. Turn right SW. First, pass a right timber-clad cottage, then settle in for a slow, gradually rising, 1½ miles stroll with views left to Ibberton Hill and Bulbarrow Hill. On the way, pass a right footpath-signed gate, then a left bridleway-signed gate and other gates with fine views. Eventually, the lane becomes level, then even descends, but it doesn’t last. Rising again, you arrive at a left unsigned turning. Turn left and walk SE, down past left Locketts Farm entrance, to the sign-posted T-junction on a road bend. Ahead is ‘Woolland, Ibberton, Okeford Fitzpaine’ but turn right for ‘Hazelbury Bryan’. Walk up the hedged road to the top, past the right tree-lined drive where you turned off earlier, and back to the church where you started.

Church of St Mary and St James in Hazelbury Bryan. (Image: Edward Griffiths)