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Walks, Pubs and Places of Interest from Across Dorset
Walk
Evershot through Melbury Park Estate
...Starting in the chocolate box village of Evershot, an easy walk along paved road through the rolling hills of the Melbury Park estate and deer park, landscaped by Capability Brown, before returning by footpath through fields and forest
Distance:
Time:
Difficulty:
Start Point:
4.5 Miles
2 hrs
Easy
The Acorn Inn, Evershot, DT2 0JW
Pub/Restaurant:
1. Park on the road outside The Acorn Inn and, as if leaving the pub turn left out of the front door and walk downhill.
2. Where the road forks, keep left, heading into the Ilchester Estates. Continue on the paved road to Lion Gate, guarded by two giant stone cats, and climb over the stile on the right.
3. Follow the path through Melbury Park estate – look out for fallow, red and sika deer, as well as grazing sheep. Stay on the main paved road throughout the Estate, passing horse paddocks and the great house on your right to the far side of the park, eventually emerging at the bottom of the village of Melbury Osmond.
4. Continue briefly on the road past a couple of pretty thatched cottages to your right; here, turn right between the cottages along a partially hidden narrow bridleway. Overgrown with hanging foliage, this passage feels magical.
5. Where the path splits, take the right-hand path under the low stone bridge, and follow the route along and over a small wooden bridge.
6. After the bridge, the track climbs a bank and emerges in a field with five gates on the opposite side. Take the third gate from the left, the second marked with a blue arrow, and follow this path fringed by trees as it runs between fields.
7.Keep heading south along the path as it crosses over a paved road by Chetnole Lodge and through woodland and fields.
8. As you enter a field, keep right and take the gate on your right at the end, before immediately turning left through a second gate to stay on the bridleway.
9. The path bends around to the left alongside Lucerne Lake. Follow the path past the lake, through a gate and onwards until the road forks – here, take the right hand bridleway (still in the woods - if you leave the woods you have gone too far!) Continue a steady uphill climb alongside fence and fields to your left and down again until you rejoin the road that returns you to Evershot and the Acorn Inn.
