Wiltshire Blind House
It’s the eleventy seventh of January and we’re sick of the endless grey days but Spring is in the air. We’ve seen snow drops and crocuses, and the River Till behind my house has finally risen from its dry river bed. It won’t be (that long) before we’re out taking photos of bluebells again, although in an act of extreme provocation Glyn has already posted bluebell images on his Twitter feed.
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White Sheet Hill, Long Knoll and the surrounding landscape
The main subject in this episode of the podcast was Whitesheet Hill near Stourhead, and the surrounding area. We discuss the myriad prehistoric monuments on Whitesheet Hill, nearby Long Knoll, and Park Hill Camp at Stourton as well as medieval Mere Castle, and memories of the Second World War by way of Zeals aerodrome and the poignant Dakota Memorial close by Whitesheet at Beech Clump. As usual in our part of the world, there are immense views everywhere, including across Dorset and Somerset.
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Quaker's Walk, Oliver's Castle & The Battle of Roundway Down
The main subject of the podcast is our first walk involving the whole Hidden Wiltshire team. Glyn and I were joined by Steve Dixon and we recorded our exploits as we walked. We’d been planning to do the Quaker’s Walk in Devizes for a long time. Since this is Steve’s hometown and he spends so much time walking the area it was great to have him along to share his knowledge and wit!
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Christmas Special and Our First Anniversary
Episode 26 of a fortnightly podcast means we’ve made it to the end of our first year of podcasting. And with the dreaded COVID-19 rampaging through the country again we don’t seem to have come very far. But this episode is a Christmas Special and when we look back over the last year we realise just how much we’ve covered and how far we’ve come.
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Codford Down and Chitterne Brook
We’ve called this episode Codford Down and Chitterne Brook but it could equally have been called East Codford Down, Clay Pit Hill, Codford Circle or Oram’s Grave – all places that were visited on the way. Or maybe we could have called it “Bottoms” (listen to podcast to hear why)!
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The River Till
We then move on to the main subject – the River Till. This quintessential chalk winterbourne rises in Tilshead and flows all the way to Stapleford where it joins the Wylye. Many people quite understandably assume that Tilshead takes its name from the river. But this is not the case.
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Wiltshire Museum Special
A real treat in store in this episode as we interview David Dawson, Director of Wiltshire Museum in Devizes.
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Knapp Down and the Ebble Valley
The main subject this week was the walk that I did with my regular walking chum Stu at the end of August. In fact Stu was responsible for putting this route in the Ebble Valley together. But his long career in the army, where he was used to yomping long distances laden with huge loads, resulted in a slightly over-ambitious route of nearly 15 miles including a gruesome 4 miles along the old Salisbury – Shaftesbury turnpike.
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Erlestoke Wood and the 1917 Field
We then moved onto this episode’s main subject, a previous Hidden Wiltshire/Wiltshire Museum walk to Erlestoke Wood and the 1917 Field. You can follow the walk using the link on the Hidden Wiltshire website. The walk starts in the village of Erlestoke itself. The village has connections with the Special Operations Executive, the secret British organisation that was active during the Second World War. In the graveyard next to the car park where the walk began is the gravestone of Marie Louise Huntley Walker who died in 1980 and who was a member of the French Resistance. Surely a nod to Erlestoke’s SOE activities?
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Beckhampton Gallops and the Witch Plantation
The main subject of this episode was the walk that Glyn did in July around the Beckhampton Gallops. There’s a link to his blog about it with a map on the Hidden Wiltshire website.
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A Journey Through Shetland and Orkney in a Time of Pandemic
The pandemic that swept the globe in 2020 was a time of unimaginable suffering for so many. As if losing loved ones was not bad enough, millions lost their livelihoods and were condemned to months if not years of poverty and hardship. School children and university scholars lost some if not all of a year’s education, or lost opportunities they will never be able to reclaim. But for many people they were able to adapt their lives and experiment with different ways of living. For those of us in the “developed” world we had to get used to a more sustainable less hedonistic lifestyle less focused on consumption and self-gratification.
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The Coffin Trail from West Ashton to Steeple Ashton
This week’s podcast follows the coffin trail between West Ashton and Steeple Ashton, a walk that Glyn posted a blog about on the website on 9 July 2021. This was the route used to ferry coffins from the village of West Ashton, before its church was built in 1846, to the church at Steeple Ashton for burial.
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Eden’s Last Post
Then on to this week’s walk. This was a walk that I did in 2020 as described in his my on the Hidden Wiltshire website of 10 June 2020. The walk was of around 12 kms taking in the Ebble Valley villages of Ebbesbourne Wake and Alvediston before heading into the hills on the water shed above the valleys of the Ebble and the Nadder.
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Pewsey Downs - The East End
Then on to the main subject of this episode. This sort of follows a walk I did in March 2019 on the Pewsey Downs to the east of the Pewsey Downs car park between Walkers Hill and Knap Hill.
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Salisbury Plain - Black Heath and the Old Coach Road
In this episode we had our first guest – Hidden Wiltshire’s resident expert on Salisbury Plain, Steve Dewey.
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Sutton Veny and Tytherington
This episode is the second of our Hidden Wiltshire walks to include some location recording, which seemed be so popular (according to our poll of three listeners) following our first attempt two weeks ago. Between us Glyn and I have done this walk three times already this year. It was that good!
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The Valley of the Stones and Devil’s Den
In this episode we explore the expanse of Fyfield Down, searching out both hidden natural and human phenomena. There was so much to see and find that we went twice, and in the process recorded our first outside broadcast. You’ll find a link to the podcast below.
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Searching for Kitt’s Grave (In Memory of Kay Chalk 1929-2019)
This podcast involves a search for Kitt’s Grave in bandit country on the borders with Dorset and Hampshire. A story of historical fact or folklore? Or both?
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Folly Wood and The Headless Horseman
An episode of mystery, intrigue and colourful characters. After all it wouldn’t be Hidden Wiltshire without at least one of these elements and we have all three!
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Ranscombe Bottom and Morgan's Hill (and the naked highwaymen)
In this episode we explore the remarkable landscape of Ranscombe Bottom before travelling along the Roman road through Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman history. We discuss the grizzly past of Morgan’s Hill and Furze Knoll (some of it distressingly recent)…
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