Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The view from Dyrham Wood
With the entrance to the church on the right, the road passes some
lovely mellow cottages. Opposite these you head off to the right and along
a short, sunken track to follow the boundary wall of
Dyrham Park
. As you
wander alongside the wall views open out, and before long you will notice
a series of strip lynchets (marked as 'field system' on the 0S map). Bey-
ond these a clump of trees marks the site of
Hinton Hill Fort
where the
Saxons and Britons met in battle in
AD
577.
DYRHAM PARK
Dyrham Park covers an area of 264 acres (107 hectares), grazed by one of the coun-
try's oldest fallow deer herds. Within the grounds lies Dyrham House, an imposing
baroque pile built for William III's secretary of war, William Blathwayt, but now in the
care of the National Trust. The house is open to the public on set days between April
and November; the park itself is open throughout the year.
The wall eventually brings you to Field Lane, where you turn left. On
coming to a T-junction, cross ahead and maintain direction along the left-
hand edge of fields, passing beneath power lines and eventually coming to
a gap in the facing boundary hedge. Go through this and turn right along
the headland, soon with woods on your right. At the end of the field bear
left and continue along its boundary until directed by waymarks into a strip
of woodland and out at the other side by a car park and picnic area (with
public toilets and telephone box). Bear right on the approach road, so to
join the busy A46 at grid ref: 755776.
