Thursday, 28 May 2015

Steeple To Creech Barrow Hill Via Grange Arch & Stonehill Nature Reserve

Thursday 28th May 2015

We had planned out a walk from the National Trust car park at Corfe Castle taking in a circuit of geocaches, thinking this route wouldn't be a busy place in half term.  What we hadn't thought about was the number of visitors going to the castle and parking in the car park - there was absolutely no chance of a space in there.  We had a quick re-think and drove a couple of miles out of Corfe on a narrow lane to a car park at Creech that we have visited before with fantastic views across the countryside and in the distance out to sea.  It's a great place to watch birds of prey, mainly buzzards, and we also spotted alpacas in the valley below.

Everywhere is looking green and leafy now.

Grange Arch.

Grange Arch is a fantastic folly that was built in 1746 by Denis Bond, the owner of Creech Grange, to give the impression of the ruin of an ancient castle when viewed from the house below. The arch was given to the National Trust by the Bond family in 1942.    


With a fantastic view through the arch,

down to Creech Grange below.  

Purbeck views from Creech Barrow Hill,

with Poole Harbour in the distance.

The trig point with more fabulous views in the other direction.  

Walking down from the hill a few young oak trees looked like they were really struggling to survive, maybe because of how open and exposed it is here.  This little tree however stood out because of the many oak apples on it.

Rosebay willow herb.

No standing about allowed today!

We walked back along the same route but just after Grange Arch we stopped at a field containing hundreds of sheep.  A man on a quad bike was surveying the flock, making sure he made them all move, checking them over I suppose.  Every now and then he let his sheepdog off to go and move a sheep on but that dog seemed to be loving being driven at speed on the quad bike with the wind blowing through his fur.  

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