Sherborne St John

There are a few footpaths from Sherborne St John, and some convenient parking (always a bonus), so there might be a few walks from here.

Today we decided to go south. Starting near the village hall we spotted people inside and thought there might be a convenient cafe for a stop at the end. As we got closer we discovered it was in fact a nursery so thought it best we didn’t just pop in.

When we found the path we followed it diagonally across a farmer’s field (after checking it did cut across and didn’t go around the field). Then into the woods which, perhaps unsurprisingly, was muddier than expected. We’re definitely going to need more sticks at this rate.

We emerged into a housing estate. It’s only when walking that you realise how close the town had progressed towards some of the villages. In this case only a field, on one side, and the woods, on the other, separating the urban sprawl.

The public footpath continued through the new housing estate. We were joined on our travels by a friendly cat for a bit, although fortunately he didn’t follow us all the way back. We did consider a contingency plan to load him into the car and drive him back just in case.

One final field and we were back to the community centre. A few puddles in the carpark to wash off some of the mud from our boots, and a cycle rack which proved quite convenient as a boot scraper (they still had to be hosed down when I got home). Roll on the summer, or just some dry weather.