Along the Stour to Fiddleford

Sturminster Newton consists of two separate entities linked in the 16th century by the Town Bridge. At its heart is the triangular marketplace, dominated by the Swan Inn. William Barnes, a prominent Dorset dialect poet, was born near here in 1801. A newly married Thomas Hardy wrote The Return of the Native (1878) during the two years that he lived here, in a house overlooking Newton Mill. In Hardy’s novel a despairing Eustacia Vye drowns herself in Shadwater weir. Hardy surely had in mind the thundering waters of the two mills on this walk, which dizzy the senses with their constant roar. Newton Mill, dating from the 17th century, has been restored and can be seen in operation four days a week between April and September.

The tawny buildings of Fiddleford Mill, set amid pollarded willows, poplars and tall reedbeds beside the curving River Stour, create quieter images reminiscent of a Constable painting. The Romans called this place Fitela’s Ford, and the mill gets a mention in the Domesday Book of 1086. The mill building itself is tiny compared with Newton Mill. One wall is largely taken up by an inscription from 1566. It exhorts the miller to welcome all comers and to be honest in his dealings. In the 18th century a notorious smuggler called Roger Ridout hid his contraband here.

However, Fiddleford’s real treasure lies on the other side of the handsome farmhouse: the remains of the much older and grander Fiddleford Manor, built around 1374 for William Latimer. It came into the family of Thomas White and his wife Ann, who undertook much rebuilding from 1539–55. Their initials are carved into the tops of the doorways in the passage. The east wing was demolished in the 18th century in favour of a new house, itself demolished in 1956. Abandoned and derelict, the medieval remainder – with its shortened hall – was given to the state and is now in the care of English Heritage. The remarkable little building you walk into today consists of a buttery and passage beside a high-roofed, timbered hall, with stairs leading up to a solar and gallery. The roof beams once supported a flat, moulded ceiling. Now the exposed oak timbers are revealed in all their glory. They are adorned with carved, curved wind braces that have cusps and clover-leaf holes, like the stonework of some sweeping Gothic cathedral. Viewed up close, you can see the paler timbers of restoration, inset in 1980. Work has revealed that the solar room was once painted, and you can see fragments of an angel.

Go down steps past the mill, over three bridges and into a field. Keep left up the edge (signed ‘Colber Bridge’), parallel with the Stour. Go through a kissing gate and up an avenue of trees marking the end of the playing field. Turn right onto a tarmac path and follow this into and along a lane (marked ‘Ricketts Lane’ at the far end). Cross the high street and turn right.

Turn left down Church Lane, to walk to the church. Keep to the right of the church, and at the end of the churchyard go through the gate to go down some steps and into a lane. This bends round to the left. Take the path on the right to Fiddleford Manor and Mill. Go through a kissing gate and bear slightly right over the field, above the river. Go through a kissing gate and bear left along a hedge. Continue straight ahead through another kissing gate. At the far righthand corner cross two footbridges in quick succession and the mill race, to bear right, past the mill. Go down the drive, turn right and right again through a car park to Fiddleford Manor. Return to the lane and turn right.

At the main road turn right then immediately cross to a bridleway, walking straight uphill into Piddles Wood. At the top turn right onto a track and follow it round the hill. Keep forward at two fingerposts and an unmarked crossroads. Take a gate and go through a car park, then go on left to the road.

Turn right and immediately left through a farmyard, signed ‘Broad Oak’. Go straight ahead through two fields into a lane. At the end turn right along the road, and left at the junction (ignoring Donkey Lane to the right). Follow this road down, soon bearing right. At the end of the road, take the path ahead, and after a footbridge turn left (signed ‘Gipsy’s Drove’) to a stile and along the bottom of a field to cross another stile into woodland.

Turn right on the unmade lane – Gipsy’s Drove. Follow this for 0.3 miles (480m). Turn right at the top of a rise on a track just before a farm. At the bottom go through a gate and straight over the field and through a solar farm. At the end, bear left then immediately right at a waymarker. Cross a stile, then go straight on along the right edge of the field. Soon cross a stile onto a path. Bear right along a high hedgerow. Continue along a fenced path to a lane.

Turn left and, once in Newton, turn left and soon right into Hillcrest Close. Where this bends right, go straight ahead down the lane, signed ‘Newton A357’. Climb the stile (by a yellow marker) and continue down the field, with a hedge to your right. Leave via a gate at the bottom, cross the A357 and turn right. After the town sign turn left on a path, signed ‘Newton Farm’. After 100yds (90m) bear left and immediately cross a stile on the right. Then bear right to cross another stile. Walk across the field to a stile to the right of a barn. Cross the stile and drop through the woods. Bear right on the road then soon left through a kissing gate. Cross the picnic area to return to the car park.