Dinton and the Nadder Valley

The Nadder Valley is quite unlike any of the other river valleys that radiate out from Salisbury, for it is not a distinct deep valley incised in the chalk strata as is evident in the neighbouring Ebble and Wylye river valleys. This anomalous character is due to the fact that the Nadder traverses a sequence of rock types, resulting in a landscape of scarp slopes and deep combes within its broad vale. In this well-watered valley, villages free from the need to be located on the banks of the Nadder are found scattered across the landscape, nestling among lush meadows, wooded hills and along gentle tributary streams. Your walk explores the heart of the Nadder Valley, its wooded slopes and two attractive villages, delightful Dinton and the charmingly named Compton Chamberlayne.

Famous families

The village of Dinton, built on a hillside north of the Nadder, is bordered by three beautifully landscaped houses, each associated with important Wiltshire families. Surprisingly for such a small village, the National Trust owns four properties here – Hyde's House, Lawes Cottage, Little Clarendon and Philipps House. The latter two are open to the public during the summer months. In the old part of the village, close to St Mary's Church, you will find Hyde's House, an elegant building with a Queen Anne facade masking 16th-century origins. It was here that Charles II's chancellor, Edward Hyde, was born in 1609. His daughter Anne married the future James II and was mother to Queen Anne and Queen Mary.

Lawes Cottage was the 17th-century home of the Lawes family. Henry Lawes (1596–1662) was a well-known musician and composer of the day. He became Master of the King's Musick, wrote the anthem for the Coronation of Charles II and, as a friend of poet John Milton, wrote the music for his Masque of Comus in 1634. Next door is Little Clarendon, a handsome, early Tudor manor house with a small 20th-century chapel in the garden. You can view three ground-floor rooms, each furnished with vernacular oak furniture. The grandest of all the houses is Philipps House, an imposing stone mansion with a neo-Grecian facade that dominates Dinton Park. Formerly called Dinton House, it was completed in 1820 by Jeffrey Wyatt for William Wyndham, the last of the three great families to reside in Dinton.

Overlooking a lovely lake in peaceful parkland, Compton Park (not open to the public) was the seat of the Penruddockes, an influential Wiltshire family for 300 years from 1550. The small 13th-century church contains the family vault and the remains of John Penruddocke, a gallant gentleman who was executed in 1655 following his efforts to raise support against Parliamentarian rule.

Leave the car park, cross and follow the lane to the B3089. Turn left, pass the village of Little Clarendon and continue for 0.25 miles (400m), passing The Wyndham Arms. After this, take the path right opposite a junction and alongside a thatched bus shelter.

Follow the track down to a kissing gate and cross the railway line to a further gate. Keep to the track and bear left alongside a stream to reach Dinton Mill. Swing right, passing in front of the mill, cross the footbridge over the River Nadder and follow the drive to a lane.

Turn right and follow the metalled lane into Compton Chamberlayne. Take the footpath right, opposite the entrance to Compton Park and the church. Ascend steadily. Continue along the track to Home Farm and a junction of tracks.

Turn right, follow the track left around farm buildings and remain on the track with views of the Fovant Badges. Walk beside woodland, then, on nearing the field corner, follow the narrow path into the trees and continue close to the woodland fringe. Pass a covered reservoir to reach a track.

Turn right and walk downhill to a road. Turn left, then, at the sharp left bend, take the path acutely right and enter a field by a gap (disused stile adjacent). Bear half right over the field to a stile. Cross a tree-lined track, pass through a kissing gate and walk across rough grassland. Within 75yds (69m) move left to another kissing gate.

Turn right along the field-edge, go through a kissing gate and bear left across the top of a field. About halfway along, turn left, downhill, to a waymarker in the lower hedge. Go through the hedge, towards Mill Farm, to a stile. Descend through scrub, cross a footbridge, then a stile and walk ahead to a further stile. Bear left along the riverbank, cross a stile and continue to a bridge over the mill stream.

Pass in front of Mill Farm on a permissive path. Cross a footbridge and stile and bear diagonally right towards the railway. Cross the line via the underpass and bear slightly right to reach woodland and a marker post. Walk through to a stile and keep ahead, across the rear corner of a barn, to a stile. Continue ahead to a stile, then cut across pasture, between the first and second telegraph poles, to a stile and road.

Cross the stile opposite into Dinton Park and turn right alongside the trees. Bear off left along a grassy path, pass the pond and head towards the church. Go through the first gate on your right and return to the car park.