"A gentle, secluded ramble around the fields and fragrant apple orchards of central Somerset."
Walk directions
From the village centre crossroads, head south, signposted 'South Petherton', past the Rose & Crown and the renowned and lovely East Lambrook Manor gardens, then turn left on a track. After one field a track leads left to a lane (Hawthorn Hill). Turn right to The Cottage, where a gate with a stile leads into an orchard on the left. Follow its left edge and the following field. Cross the next field, keeping 70yds (64m) from its left edge, to a gate. Bear right to a stile-with-footbridge and the left edge of another orchard, then take a gateway to follow a hedge between two more orchards. At the end a gate leads on to Stockditch Road.
Turn left for 40yds (37m), on to an overgrown track. From its end the edge of another orchard leads to two stiles and a footbridge. Follow the left-hand edges of two fields to a road, and turn right for 220yds (201m) to the Rusty Axe pub.
Keep ahead, on a track that's tarred at first, past houses. After crossing the crest, the main track turns left. As it bends left again, keep ahead along the field-top hedge (ignoring a waymarker for a different path). Half-way along the hedge, cross two stiles (can be very muddy) into a long field. At its far end, stiles and small gates lead to the left of a house to join a quiet country lane. Turn left a couple of steps to a T-junction then turn right to pass houses.
Follow the lane to Lower Burrow Farm, and skirt around the farm buildings to the right. Once through a gate to the right of a large grey shed, bear left, slanting uphill, to a gateway. Contour across the next field to a double stile. In the next field bear right across it to a gate. Burrow Hill Farm is now just one field ahead. Turn left, up the side of this field and across its top to a gate. Go up the field to the top left corner gate and then immediately left over a double stile into an orchard. Keeping a row of poplars to your right, continue to the summit of Burrow Hill.
Drop down and through a gate into a lane, and then turn left past Pass Vale Farm for 0.3 mile (482m) to a waymarked field gate on the right. (A stile is in the hedge opposite this gate.) Follow the left edges of two fields to a gateway and stile on the left. Over stile follow stream for about 80yds (73m) then cross stream and stile on right and follow field hedge straight on to gate onto lane.
Turn left to a double metal gate on the right, opposite a school sign. Follow the left edges of three fields, then bear left over a stile and footbridge to a second bridge just beyond. In the next large field, head straight on, crossing the field diagonally to the furthest corner. Ignoring a track on the right, take the hedged path ahead, to arrive in a grassy area scattered with ancient apple trees. Don't take the obvious gate ahead, heading out of the orchard, but turn right, to its far end, where a lane leads back into East Lambrook.
Apples were brought to Somerset by the Romans and caught on immediately. As early as the Arthur legends, Isle Avalon (Glastonbury) is the place of apples. Ten centuries later, the Normans brought the cider idea from northern France. However, even the most traditional of Somerset ciders isn't at all... like the light, sparkling drink of Normandy. The real Somerset cider, known as 'scrumpy', is dark and even yeasty, lacks bubbles, and takes a bit of time to get to know. (In this it may perhaps resemble the Somerset cider drinker…) Sheep's Nose and Brown Snout Grape juice is already a balanced food for the yeasts of fermentation, and so is the boiled malt extract that makes beer. Squashed apples, however, are not. Sugar is needed for fermentation; tannin gives the sharpness that distinguishes real drinks from alco-pops. Sugar and tannin aren't found in the same apple, so a mixture of sweet, bitter-sweet and bitter-sour varieties is required. As many as 40 different apple varieties can go into the recipe for just one cider. Wonderful names have been given to these ancient cider apples: Tom Putt and Sheep's Nose have been recovered by the National Trust, while varieties such as Kingston Black, Yarlington Mill and Brown Snout have never gone out of favour. Dead rat trick And then, the yeast needs nitrogen, and apples don't have it. An early trick was to drop a dead rat into the cider barrel – when the rat had completely dissolved, the cider was fit to drink. (Well, obviously not fit to drink before the rat had gone…) Producers of 'real cider' won't stoop to the chemical equivalent of a rat – ammonium sulphate – so fermentation is always chancy. Even so, in spring the orchards are white with blossom from Porlock to Glastonbury. And autumn sees trailer-loads of Stokes Red and Taunton Black holding up the A303 on their way to the cider works at Shepton Mallet. Like many in this part of the county, the view from Burrow Hill belies its low altitude – a mere 252ft (77m). To the south you look across a patchwork of orchards and pasture. Northwards the land drops away suddenly to the Somerset Levels. Sunset gleams in ripe-apple colours in a hundred rhynes and bits of river – even more spectacular in winter, when much of the country is flooded. Beyond the Levels, the Currys ridge rises – and here too we're looking at cider. The monument at Curry Rivel commemorates some parliamentary lobbying by the apple-squashers. The distillers had less reason to be grateful. The industry was taxed to death in the 18th century for the benefit of the London gin trade. The cider trade has recently been reborn – sample the goods at Burrow Hill.
Somerset remains rural and unspoiled, and ever popular areas to visit are the limestone and red sandstone Mendip Hills rising to over 1,000 feet, and by complete contrast, to the south and southwest, the flat landscape of the Somerset Levels. Another popular spot, the Quantocks, once the haunt of poets Coleridge and Wordsworth, are noted for their gentle slopes, heather-covered moorland expanses and red deer.
"A gentle, secluded ramble around the fields and fragrant apple orchards of central Somerset."
Walk details
2hrs 30min
Difficulty:
Medium
Gradient:
Gentle
Distance:
4.75 miles (7.7kms)
Ascent:
350ft (107m)
Walk directions
From the village centre crossroads, head south, signposted 'South Petherton', past the Rose & Crown and the renowned and lovely East Lambrook Manor gardens, then turn left on a track. After one field a track leads left to a lane (Hawthorn Hill). Turn right to The Cottage, where a gate with a stile leads into an orchard on the left. Follow its left edge and the following field. Cross the next field, keeping 70yds (64m) from its left edge, to a gate. Bear right to a stile-with-footbridge and the left edge of another orchard, then take a gateway to follow a hedge between two more orchards. At the end a gate leads on to Stockditch Road.
1 of 6
Turn left for 40yds (37m), on to an overgrown track. From its end the edge of another orchard leads to two stiles and a footbridge. Follow the left-hand edges of two fields to a road, and turn right for 220yds (201m) to the Rusty Axe pub.
2 of 6
Keep ahead, on a track that's tarred at first, past houses. After crossing the crest, the main track turns left. As it bends left again, keep ahead along the field-top hedge (ignoring a waymarker for a different path). Half-way along the hedge, cross two stiles (can be very muddy) into a long field. At its far end, stiles and small gates lead to the left of a house to join a quiet country lane. Turn left a couple of steps to a T-junction then turn right to pass houses.
3 of 6
Follow the lane to Lower Burrow Farm, and skirt around the farm buildings to the right. Once through a gate to the right of a large grey shed, bear left, slanting uphill, to a gateway. Contour across the next field to a double stile. In the next field bear right across it to a gate. Burrow Hill Farm is now just one field ahead. Turn left, up the side of this field and across its top to a gate. Go up the field to the top left corner gate and then immediately left over a double stile into an orchard. Keeping a row of poplars to your right, continue to the summit of Burrow Hill.
4 of 6
Drop down and through a gate into a lane, and then turn left past Pass Vale Farm for 0.3 mile (482m) to a waymarked field gate on the right. (A stile is in the hedge opposite this gate.) Follow the left edges of two fields to a gateway and stile on the left. Over stile follow stream for about 80yds (73m) then cross stream and stile on right and follow field hedge straight on to gate onto lane.
5 of 6
Turn left to a double metal gate on the right, opposite a school sign. Follow the left edges of three fields, then bear left over a stile and footbridge to a second bridge just beyond. In the next large field, head straight on, crossing the field diagonally to the furthest corner. Ignoring a track on the right, take the hedged path ahead, to arrive in a grassy area scattered with ancient apple trees. Don't take the obvious gate ahead, heading out of the orchard, but turn right, to its far end, where a lane leads back into East Lambrook.
Apples were brought to Somerset by the Romans and caught on immediately. As early as the Arthur legends, Isle Avalon (Glastonbury) is the place of apples. Ten centuries later, the Normans brought the cider idea from northern France. However, even the most traditional of Somerset ciders isn't at all... like the light, sparkling drink of Normandy. The real Somerset cider, known as 'scrumpy', is dark and even yeasty, lacks bubbles, and takes a bit of time to get to know. (In this it may perhaps resemble the Somerset cider drinker…) Sheep's Nose and Brown Snout Grape juice is already a balanced food for the yeasts of fermentation, and so is the boiled malt extract that makes beer. Squashed apples, however, are not. Sugar is needed for fermentation; tannin gives the sharpness that distinguishes real drinks from alco-pops. Sugar and tannin aren't found in the same apple, so a mixture of sweet, bitter-sweet and bitter-sour varieties is required. As many as 40 different apple varieties can go into the recipe for just one cider. Wonderful names have been given to these ancient cider apples: Tom Putt and Sheep's Nose have been recovered by the National Trust, while varieties such as Kingston Black, Yarlington Mill and Brown Snout have never gone out of favour. Dead rat trick And then, the yeast needs nitrogen, and apples don't have it. An early trick was to drop a dead rat into the cider barrel – when the rat had completely dissolved, the cider was fit to drink. (Well, obviously not fit to drink before the rat had gone…) Producers of 'real cider' won't stoop to the chemical equivalent of a rat – ammonium sulphate – so fermentation is always chancy. Even so, in spring the orchards are white with blossom from Porlock to Glastonbury. And autumn sees trailer-loads of Stokes Red and Taunton Black holding up the A303 on their way to the cider works at Shepton Mallet. Like many in this part of the county, the view from Burrow Hill belies its low altitude – a mere 252ft (77m). To the south you look across a patchwork of orchards and pasture. Northwards the land drops away suddenly to the Somerset Levels. Sunset gleams in ripe-apple colours in a hundred rhynes and bits of river – even more spectacular in winter, when much of the country is flooded. Beyond the Levels, the Currys ridge rises – and here too we're looking at cider. The monument at Curry Rivel commemorates some parliamentary lobbying by the apple-squashers. The distillers had less reason to be grateful. The industry was taxed to death in the 18th century for the benefit of the London gin trade. The cider trade has recently been reborn – sample the goods at Burrow Hill.
Somerset remains rural and unspoiled, and ever popular areas to visit are the limestone and red sandstone Mendip Hills rising to over 1,000 feet, and by complete contrast, to the south and southwest, the flat landscape of the Somerset Levels. Another popular spot, the Quantocks, once the haunt of poets Coleridge and Wordsworth, are noted for their gentle slopes, heather-covered moorland expanses and red deer.
