A gorgeous walk near Bruton which includes glorious open south Somerset countryside, a free surprise art trail, a 16th century royal librarian’s arrow-straight trail and a short but mildly lung-busting climb through a native pine forest to a spectacular view from underneath Alfred’s Tower.
To follow this route using the Outdooractive App, please find the route here.
The route is pretty well signed nearly the entire way round. One important caveat – the route crosses through the Bruton Flood Storage Reservoir – at times of heavy rainfall it WILL flood and cut off a section of the route, so do consider what the weather has been like before you start!
Keep an eye out for Jenny Holzer’s What Eyes sculpture which you pass lying in a seemingly-random field:
The Leland Trail section is a nice break from map-reading, it runs dead straight and is clearly marked for a long way, allowing a relaxed section of the walk just to enjoy the surroundings:
The start of the trail passes through Moorwood Art – a contemporary fine art gallery. Do appreciate the sculptures on display, but don’t stray from the public footpath. When we walked through we enjoyed some large steel fire sculptures by Aragorn Dick-Read.
The climb through the forest up Aaron’s Hill was possibly my favourite part of the walk – beautifully airy cathedral-high pines opened to allow glimpses of a stunning view.
There is a necessary small section of road as the public footpath which winds around the back across a property appears to be inaccesible. But the traffic was quiet and there is a verge you can escape to when necessary.
There is a small parking area in South Brewham by the cemetary – please park responsibly with consideration.
