Spring Country and Coastal Path Walk
Visit to Dyrham Park, near Chippenham
Visit to Salisbury and Mompesson House
Visit to the Abbey House Gardens, Malmesbury
A Day on the West Somerset Railway
Taunton Deane Lunch at the White Horse Inn
Visit to Brownsea Island, Poole Harbour
Visit to Pine Lodge Gardens, St Austell
Visit to Ugbrooke House, Chudleigh
Treasure Hunt Around Nether Stowey
Visit to Barrington Hill National Nature Reserve
An Afternoon at the Mount Somerset, Henlade
Visit to Barton House and Garden, Gloucestershire
60th Victory Anniversary Tea Party
Visit to Brecon Beacons And Wye Valley
Visit to Exbury Gardens, Hampshire
Visit to Aberglasney Garden, Wales
Visit to Kelways National Collection Of Peonies
Visit to The Royal Horticultural Partner College of Kingston Maurward, Dorchester
Visit to Stourhead House and Hadspen Garden, Wiltshire
Visit to Sudeley Castle And Gardens, near Cheltenham
Visit to Wilton House, Wiltshire
Visit to Hamptworth Lodge, Near Salisbury
Monday 4 April 2005
The route will proceed by field paths to Kilve Church and Chantry, following a minor road to Lilstock. The return will be via the coastal path. This five-mile walk will be on fairly level ground and taken at a moderate pace.
Friday 8 April 2005
Dyrham Park, near Chippenham, was built between 1692 and 1702 for William Blathwayt, Secretary of War during the reign of William III. The panelling, tapestries and furniture in the late-17th century rooms reflect the Dutch taste of the period as do the pictures, leather wall-hangings and Delft tulip-holders. The Victorian domestic rooms include kitchens, dairy and tenants' hall. The mansion is set in 274 acres of parkland, remarkable for its fallow deer and a fine garden.
Quantock Centre members are asked to take their National Trust membership cards.
Wednesday 13 April 2005
This is a date for you to enjoy discovering - or rediscovering - Salisbury, the Cathedral and Mompesson House. This Queen Anne house, built by Charles Mompesson in 1701, is notable for its splendid plasterwork.
Apart, of course, from the Cathedral with its unique spire, there are other places to visit. The Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum in the King's House, Cathedral Close, is especially recommended, both for its architecture and for the memorabilia of General Augustus Pitt Rivers, one of the leading anthropologists of the Victorian period and 'the father of scientific archaeology'.
Quantock Centre members are asked to take their National Trust membership cards.
Tuesday 19 April 2005
The Abbey House Gardens, extending to more than five acres, have been described as “one of the best gardens in the country”. A spectacular display of Spring bulbs, including more than 30,000 tulips, should be in bloom.
Climbers cling to walls and scramble through trees. You will marvel at the vast collection of colourful plants. Water is everywhere, from the knot garden, monastic fish ponds, waterfall and path to the river, amid fine mature trees.
Saturday 23 April 2005
A train is being chartered from the West Somerset Railway exclusively for the enjoyment of members of the Quantock Centre. The journey will cover the 20 miles of Somerset countryside and coastal scenery between Bishops Lydeard and Minehead.
Local naturalist David Bailey will describe, with the aid of sound equipment, the early Spring wildlife as it unfolds before us. For railway enthusiasts there will be an opportunity to visit the WSR workshops.
Monday 25 April 2005
Lunch at the White Horse Inn, Bradford-on-Tone, will be followed by a talk by the Mayor of Taunton, Councillor Jean Algrove, who is a member of the Quantock Centre. She will speak about her year in office.
Friday 29 April 2005
This visit is in support of Sea Britain 2005, a year-long celebration of the UK's maritime interests.
We shall sail from Poole to Brownsea Island, an atmospheric island of heath and woodland and a haven for red squirrels and a rich variety of sea birds. The island was acquired by the National Trust in 1962. China clay was mined in the 19th century. Lord Baden-Powell held the first Boy Scouts' camp there in 1907. There will be an optional guided tour of the nature reserve.
Quantock Centre members are asked to take their National Trust membership cards.
Wednesday 4 May 2005
Pine Lodge Gardens at St Austell, Cornwall, were started in 1976 and now extend to 30 acres with a collection of more than 6,000 plants, all labelled. The many features include a water garden, Japanese garden, cottage garden, sunken garden, lake, arboretum and camellia woodland.
Monday 9 May 2005
Ugbrooke House and Church, at Chudleigh, Devon, were built in the 13th century and re-designed by Robert Adam. The house, which has been the home of the Cliffords of Chudleigh for 300 years, contains fine furniture, paintings, embroideries, porcelain and a military collection. The park, landscaped by Capability Brown, has lakes, majestic trees and views to Dartmoor.
Tuesday 17 May 2005
Ornithologist Stuart Holdsworth will take us around this area of flooded peat digging in the Somerset Levels, stretching west from Glastonbury Tor. The marshes have been acquired by several conservation bodies and are being developed to regenerate the large reed beds of long ago. Otters are now seen regularly, and the area is particularly good for reed-bed birds such as herons, egrets and various birds of prey.
Wednesday 11 May 2005
Clues will enable you to wander around and explore the streets of this old village. The trail will end with supper.
Friday 13 May 2005
This reserve represents one of the once characteristic but now very rare sites of Somerset -- rich hay meadows with an abundance of wild flowers. We shall see a spectacular display of green-winged orchids. The visit will be guided by Dr Flemming Ulf-Hansen, a representative from English Nature.
Monday 16 May 2005
The Mount Somerset at Henlade, near Taunton, is an elegant Regency country house with spectacular views of the Quantock Hills. Built in 1805, it has the feel of a delightful private home rather than an hotel. We shall be given a guided tour of the reception rooms and the beautifully proportioned bedrooms, all furnished to a very high standard. There will be time to explore the gardens.
Wednesday 18 May 2005 Barton House, at Barton-on-the-Heath in the Cotswolds, the home of Mr and Mrs Hamish Bewley Cathie, was built around 1550. Inigo Jones remodelled the Great Hall to Palladian proportions and created the panelling in the Oak Room, described as the finest in Gloucestershire.
The gardens contain an outstanding collection of trees, shrubs and plants, many of them rare. This visit has been scheduled to enable us to see the gardens at their most colourful time of the year.
Saturday 21 May 2005
To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II and the victory celebrations that followed, a tea party, reminiscent of the street parties of 1945, will be held in Cheddon Fitzpaine Village Hall, near Taunton.
It is hoped to recreate the street party atmosphere of that era, with decorations and music from the 1940s. There will be a competition for the most interesting memento from the war years.
Wednesday 25 May 2005
We shall travel through some of the most beautiful countryside in Wales. The journey will take us along the M4 through Newport to join the A467, the start of the Welsh Valleys, for Risca and Newbridge. There, we take the A4046 for Ebbw Vale and the head of the valleys road A465.
Turning west as far as Merthyr Tydfil, then north on the A470, we start to climb over the Brecon Beacons to Brecon. We continue north-east towards Bronllys, turning right on the A479 to Talgarth and south to join the A40 to Abergavenny and on to Monmouth, passing Raglan Castle. We continue south, cross the River Wye and follow the Wye Valley to Tintern.
We continue through the Wye Valley, passing Chepstow Racecourse, and cross the Rivers Wye and Severn via the old Severn Bridge before heading home.
Thursday 26 May 2005
Natural beauty is in abundance in this 200-acre garden on the bank of the River Beaulieu in Hampshire. "Exbury Gardens are paradise regained," says the guidebook. The garden is a feast of visual delights, from fine landscapes to rock garden, and the world-famous displays of rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias are especially remarkable. We shall see many exotic plants, some brought back by explorers of earlier days.
Wednesday 1 June 2005
It is thought that Aberglasney, in the Towy Valley, Wales, originated in the 1470s and was sold to the Bishop of St Davids around 1600. After a succession of owners it was neglected for many years until 1995 when it was purchased by the Aberglasney Restoration Trust which has transformed the area into one of the country's most fascinating gardens.
Friday 3 June 2005
James Kelway started collecting herbaceous peonies in 1851. We shall visit the peony fields to see what has now become the national collection and to learn the history of their planting. The fields should be a mass of colour.
Tuesday 7 June 2005
The lovely 35-acre formal gardens at Kingston Maurward College are set in an existing Capability Brown framework of parkland in Thomas Hardy countryside. There is also a walled demonstration garden and a national collection of penstemon cultivars and salvias. A guided tour of the gardens will be available.
Friday 10 June 2005
There will be an opportunity to visit the House or walk in the gardens before moving on to Hadspen Garden at Castle Cary. There are five acres of very special garden, originally designed by Penelope Hobhouse and restored since 1987 by Nori and Sandra Pope with a more modern planting. There will also be time to visit the nursery garden and the tea house.
Quantock Centre members are asked to take their National Trust membership cards.
Monday 20 June 2005
Set against a backdrop of the Cotswold Hills, Sudeley Castle, at Winchcombe, near Cheltenham, is steeped in history. It was home to Queen Katherine Parr and visited by Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I
Bought after years of neglect by the Dent glove-making family, there followed an ambitious programme of restoration. Today it is the home of Lord and Lady Ashcombe who are dedicated to Sudeley's conservation and sustainability.
Friday 24 June 2005
Wilton House, home of the Earl of Pembroke, was started in 1543. It was remodelled by Inigo Jones in 1630 and further changes were made in the 19th century. The house contains important paintings and furniture as well as a fine collection of sculpture. The gardens were designed in the style of Capability Brown.
Tuesday 28 June and Wednesday 29 June 2005
Hamptworth Lodge, a few miles from Salisbury, was bought in 1910 by the wealthy Harold Moffatt. He demolished it and built a new mansion in the style of late Tudor and early Jacobean. The many rooms in the house are full with period furniture and other furniture made by Moffatt himself. The house is surrounded by formal gardens, with views towards the parkland.