This medium length walk visits the attractive hamlet of Lamyatt and its Church and returns via the crest of Creech Hill and Greenscombe. One very steep descent, and parts can be very muddy in wet weather. 5 miles (8 km), 225 m of ascent. Two hours to two hours 30 minutes. Moderate. Last checked December 2022.
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Route instructions (including map)
Start at Station Road car park
Turn right on leaving the car park and follow the road to reach Church Bridge. Cross the road, go up Patwell Street and left along the High Street. Turn up St Catherines Hill (first right). At the second small crossroads turn left downhill into Tolbury Lane. Just past Tolbury Farm turn right onto a track (a restricted byway) and follow it to reach a bridge by a ford.
2
Cross the bridge then a few metres further turn left along an enclosed and sometimes very muddy track (Huish Lane). Climb fairly steeply and continue to follow the lane as it doglegs several times, levels out and enters more open country, becoming a farm track. After passing a barn on the left reach a junction with metal gates to the right. Go over the way-marked stile on the right and follow an indistinct footpath diagonally across the field, through a metal gate at the opposite corner, into a small farmyard. Turn left through the farmyard to a small crossroads. [To avoid cows in the field, instead take the permissive track to the right of the stile, pass barns on the left then turn left along the side of the barn to reach the crossroads.]
3
Take the uphill right turn and continue along the narrow road until reaching a house on a sharp left-hand bend. Take the gate immediately to the right of the house, through the garden (this is a public footpath) to a second gate. Head steeply downhill making a beeline for Lamyatt church, visible beyond the trees below. Go through a metal gate into the wood and drop down to a concrete bridge. Go back uphill to reach the Church. Enter the churchyard by the stone stile.
4
Go through the churchyard to the road, turn right, uphill, and continue until the road bends sharply to the left. Take the bridleway through the gate on the right, and uphill through a further gate on a well-surfaced track. At the approach to the disused quarry at the top of the hill the bridleway turns left off the track (multiple waymarks leave little doubt that this is the way to go). The bridleway winds uphill through a small wood to eventually re-join the track at a gate. The onward bridleway running directly across the next field is usually very obvious, but occasionally it is completely obliterated by cultivation. If this is the case head straight for the bottom right-hand corner of the field, in the general direction of Alfred’s Tower on the horizon. Cross under the telegraph poles to reach a metal gate and the road.
5
Taking care of fast-moving but occasional traffic, go straight across and through the gate opposite, and continue along the fenced bridleway. This turns hard left and heads very steeply downhill to the bottom of the valley, across a stream and straight up to a gate and metalled drive. Turn right down the drive to a waymarked gate on the left. Go through the gate and follow the fenced bridleway. [DO NOT continue on the drive. There is no public right of way beyond the bridleway, and the drive leads onto a dangerous section of the B3081]. The bridleway turns right and drops downhill to reach a gate into woods at the bottom of the field. (This and the following sections of the route may be very muddy). Go through the gate onto an enclosed track. Follow this through trees, two further gates, and a field, to a gate onto the B3081.
6
Turn left and follow the road carefully – there’s no pavement or verge – until a drive on the right (to “On the Brook”). Just beyond the drive go through a way-marked gate on the right. Head diagonally left uphill along an indistinct footpath (following the line of the telegraph poles) to reach a gate, then continue downhill through a second gate, through a small estate, to reach a road (Higher Backway). Turn left and at the end of the road turn right (Coombe Street). Go downhill on a very narrow pavement to the junction. Turn left (into Quaperlake Street) and continue on the same side of the road till opposite an alleyway (Grove Alley). Cross here and follow the alley to reach Church Bridge and rejoin the outgoing route.
Explore Somerset references
Public roads to Tolbury Lane. WN 5/63, WN 5/41. Public road to start of SM 13/14. SM 13/14, SM 13/16, SM 13/15. Public road NE then SM 13/1 and SM 13/2 to B3081. SM 15/15A, SM 15/15 (SE), WN 5/64 then B3081 (S). WN 5/6 then public roads.