March 2016

A Good Friday visit to Child Okeford for our first walk up Hambledon Hill.
Well known people who lived in Child Okeford nclude the composer Sir John Tavener, who lived in the village until his death in 2013, TV presenter Harry Corbett, originator of Sooty and Sweep
Hambledon Hill fort in was acquired by National Trust in 2014.
Hambledon Hill is a prehistoric hill fort, situated in the Blackmore Vale five miles northwest of Blandford Forum. The hill itself is a chalk outcrop, on the southwestern corner of Cranborne Chase, separated from the Dorset Downs by the River Stour. Its earliest occupation was in the Neolithic when a pair of causewayed enclosures were dug at the top of the hill

The old Dorset finger post sign giving the OS grid location for the village.

The complete sign showing the way to the adjacent villages and towns.

The village war memorial.

St Nicholas Church which is of the late 15th or early 16th century.

The approach to the Church.

The village pub, the Baker Arms.

Our first view of the top of the hill having climbed up the northern slopes.

You feel like you are on top of the world here. The northern range of the hill.

It is hard to imagine the amount of hard manual labour that went into creating the defenses.

The southern end of the hill.

A wide view of the hill from the south.

May 2016 - A return trip to the hill for a Friday lunchtime picnic. On the way up the hill we came across these rather unusual meadow saxifrage flowers.

May 2016 - A closer look at the five petaled flowers.

May 2016 - At first we thought it was an isolated escape. However, when we explored the northern slopes we came across carpets of them. They obviously like the colder northern slopes.