Browne’s Folly – 7.1.18

Browne’s Folly Revisited – 7.1.18

A cold but very sunny morning made the ideal conditions for this walk. Starting from Bathford, a steep climb led through woods to Browne’s Folly before descending through the reserve and heading back to Bathford. A slight variation in the route from the previous walk here avoided the very muddy bridleway and was a pleasant, shorter path. The clear skies gave excellent views.

The map below shows today’s route in blue including the shortcut – the extra red bit is the part of the original route that can be circumvented if the path is particularly muddy.  You can see details of the last time we did this walk here.

If you notice, like we did, the discrepancy in the spelling of Brown/Browne on the signage at the nature reserve then the following explanation from Avon Wildlife Trust may be of interest:

There’s been some debate about the spelling of the name over the years and up until a couple of years ago we stuck with the spelling that we’d always used.

However, a couple of years ago in consultation with the local Historical society we agreed that for the new signs we would use  “Browne” as Wade Browne esq. who the folly is name after spelt his name with an “e” – you can see this on the lease below and also on his memorial plaque which is in Monkton Farleigh church.

The local historical society have gone to the trouble of changing the name on the Ordnance Survey as well so going forward we’ll gradually change our signs when we renew them to include the “e”.

A very clear day meant views for miles

winter sunshine

A lovely gnarly old tree with an almost heart shaped hole in it’s trunk

tree fungus

This looks like ‘Jew’s Ear’ or ‘Wood Ear’ fungus which is apparantly delicious and nutritious – if you know differently we’d love your comments!  Click here for more info from Geoff the fungi expert.

Winter colour contrasts