A TOUR of our ENGLISH Country ESTATE (on a bike!)

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I’ve been really excited about today because I’m heading off on my bike for a tour of the estate I’ve got various places to see I’ve got a couple of things that I need to check out and we’re going to go off on this extraordinary ebike which is made by

Himay it’s a himay zebra Fat Bike and I’ve had it now for a few months and I have to say it’s become an absolutely essential piece of equipment here at mapon for getting around and the reason for that is it just goes anywhere I can head off straight across a field through

A stream up a muddy Bank um it just plows through it all and in addition to that it’s got this incredibly long range it lasts something like 80 miles which I’ve never managed to do the battery has never run out on me so um it’s a real

Workhorse it’s um really good for all the cross country work that we’ve got to do here and uh him away are our sponsor for to today so if you like the bike and you’re interested in finding out more please do see the link in the description down below right time to get

On my bike we’re going to first of all head off to the far west side of the estate where I’m going to go and have a look at a new deer exclosure where we’re doing some tree planting we are turning left along the road at the top of mapon you

Can see the Jacob sheep to my left and to the right here we have the Village right I’m cycling on here through the gallops gallops is one of the most important fields on the estate because it’s part of the rewilding project and this was a field that at one stage was an arable field with winter Bley was the last crop but now it’s

Reverting to becoming part of our nature recovery project so I’ve parked up and I’ve come over to a field on the way to M um this field actually last had maze in it but uh again this is now part of the rewinding project and this is the very

First field where we are putting in a deer exclosure and the idea behind a deer exclosure is that it keeps the deer out because we’re going to be planting in the middle of this we’re going to be planting probably a mix of species here um maybe some Maple some Oak perhaps

Some lime and you can see this Extraordinary Machine has the ability to carry all of the staks put the staks in the ground and then wire up around found the exclosure itself and this is the very first one that has gone in I think we’ve got something like over a hundred

Of these to go across the estate so it’s really exciting from here we are looking east across the estate and you can possibly just pick out the old rectory on the left side of the picture as we move on down um H ler is just about visible and

As we come across you can see the Iron Age Fort that sits in the middle there and just below that we have HOA and then to the right we have a wood which we call 10 acres all right we’re going to come off here for our next stop

And this is known as the lime kill field now one of the things about this part of the estate is that there’s quite a lot of Old Stone Wall you can see the wall along the side here and it extends all the way down this field you can see the limestone in

The edges over here and this contains valuable fertilizer so you can see how this area in here is much lower we’re also at the Western extent of the estate so this field here is part of mapon and the one on the other side which has been very neatly Moan by sheep

Is not but here it is what a magnificent structure and walking into it here which is probably the first time I’ve been able to do this properly um you can see that they would have had an enormous fire and um that would have been baking the lime which was then extracted and ground

Up and uh as I say put on the fields I’m standing at a very important place at mapon this is known as the posie tree and it was planted after a much older Sycamore died and had to be removed from this spot the reason that it’s known as the posie tree is that

This is supposedly where villagers were buried after the plague struck the UK in the 1660s and the story is told that villagers couldn’t be buried at mitton because the ground is so Rocky uh we know that and it meant that they were going to be buried all the way down to

Melplash down the road this way unfortunately the melplash residents didn’t want the mapan bodies and so a decision was made to bury them here I suppose that was because of the risk of infection right we are now heading off towards Marsh Farm on the second leg of this tour

Marsh Farm is one of the five Farms here at maon and it’s the one furthest to the north wonderful Marsh Farm with these lovely Cottages thatch Cottages we just in the last couple of years redid the thatch on those and then it’s got this extraordinary Long Barn at the

Back rather ruined by This breeze block Barn that was put in the middle and then there is a much larger Barn over on this side now Marsh Farm is a farm that no longer fully functions with all its buildings indeed you can see over here that this part of the barn which

Was a lean to has almost completely collapsed and I’m afraid this is a reflection of the changes in agricultural use over the last decades now one of the reasons I’m here today is to look at the ivy because we really do not want all of this Ivy getting in under the

Mortar because that’s the first step for the destruction of these walls you can see that actually this lean to is in relatively good shape but over here look at this we’ve got a whole lot of Ivy that needs pulling off that’s going to be quite quite a big

Job and as you pull it off you can see how it’s got into the mortar and so as you pull it off out come bits of stone as well but if we don’t we’ll be very sorry in a few years when things start crumbling

OA Farm you can see has some of the best views on the estate because it looks down the valley all the way to the Sea which you can just see in the very far Distance right we’ve just got to the the top of the culty road and you can see we have a big problem and the reason for this is the geology this hill is on green sand which means that it’s very unstable because it is slowly slipping

Down the valley look at that that is a mighty crass and um I don’t think the whole thing is going to fall away but it’s been relatively recently fixed and you can see there’s some new topmac here and uh what has happened is that with all of the tremendous rainfall that

We’ve had the land has started slipping down and this is going to need a really big Job this is the field at the top of wash Hills where the pigs are at least they they’re supposed to be here well I have to say I’m really enjoying my ride around the estate not only is it great exercise but sometimes you can find yourself at mapon stuck indoors with the

Endless list of office things that there are to do so just being out in the fresh air and appreciating this wonderful Countryside which we are so lucky to to be looking after even if I didn’t find the pigs I’m really glad I came up

Here and we are now going to go to the south of the estate right I’m coming past the glamping field here the most extraordinary parts of the estate in terms of the view and this is where we put our tents up we’re hoping to be able to do it this coming summer

And it’s just a beautiful place to wake up and enjoy the peace and quiet of West Dorset we’re in what’s called an a an area of an outstanding natural beauty and you can see why Cy Farm is another of the five Farms here at mapon and uh I’m here because I’ve

Got a couple of things to do I need to inspect these buildings because the roofs are really coming off and there’s a new piece of roof that has come off and I can hear it clanging in the background this is the main Barn here occultly and you can see that

The roof has almost entirely fallen in in fact I think one of these days the whole structure is just simply going to collapse inwards there’s not much we can do about it again it’s all built on green sand so it’s slowly slowly sliding down into the valley below now the place I’ve actually

Come to see is on the other side of the farm over here where you can see that um we have some other buildings also not in a great state of repair there you go look at that this is a concrete surface and the water has just found its

Way and is now pouring out of there and going down into the stream Beyond Now this Barn used to be a barn for animals but it was then used as storage when we used to have pheasant shooting here you can see all of these different feeders and Hoppers and we’ve got some big water tanks over here but recently the roof has come off Harrah Harrah yet

Another big job here at maon these sorts of small farms is they’ve just got these wonderful Stone buildings which have no agricultural purpose anymore and the only real way that they’re going to survive is if we can convert them into an alternative use if if I was an Iron Age

Chieftain I think I would definitely have built my fort somewhere here because I can see all the way around the only problem with that argument of course is that there is an R AG Fort just over there and so good as this place is and you can imagine battling Invaders off the

Ramparts I think that that is actually a superior place and look what I’ve just spotted in the distance you can see the aible ponies there they are all of them right we’re getting close that was just pure carelessness on my part I’m absolutely fine the bike is fine I just had an Almighty

Skid we’re stopping here because I think I deserve a bit of a rest and I found somewhere rather wonderful you can see that this is a part of the estate That Time Forgot there are these extraordinary gullies very slippery I hasten to say I don’t have boots on I have got

Walking shoes but they’re not really gripping and you can see how this extraordinary stream has carved its way down through into to the banks of the Hillside and Beyond and in here we can see a certain amount of birch and we’ve got a tree that’s actually Fallen quite recently I

Can tell that it’s Fallen recently because the soil looks quite fresh as do the ends of the roots this was not brought down by a beaver I hasten to add And here we are at the edge of the an age for you can see the Sheep gently grazing the grass and uh this is as far as we’re going to make it today the fort you can see has this extended Mound that reaches all the way back this would have been the way

In and down the bottom there you can see a small cottage called burkham with hook behind and then over the top here is Porton and Mana farm and Chandler Valley and all sorts of other wonderful places that we’re going to have to visit on the next tour

Of maon estate thank thanks for coming out today please remember to like And subscribe and do also consider becoming a patron where you can help support the many restoration projects and repairs that we have here at mitton both to the buildings the chattles and the collection but also the countryside

Itself today to we are finishing the tour here at M now M has featured before on maon live it’s the Lost Village that is down to the south of the main house and it’s hidden in this extraordinary Valley there was once a village and the

Village might have had as many as 40 50 60 people in fact people were living here through until the middle of the last century and you can see why I mean it’s staggeringly peaceful and quiet m means the Confluence of two streams and that is what’s Happening Here you’ve got

Two streams meeting each other and that provided enough water for a mill so they were able to grind grain make bread do all the things that were needed to create a Community And here is one of the streams as it heads down and you can hear the water flowing because there’s a drop here where we have matin’s largest waterfall I know it’s hardly the Niagara Falls and yet you can see that there’s enough water here to have turned a Wheel right we are nearly home we are just passing what we call Homewood which is the wood just to the south of the main house and uh coming down the hill to the bottom of the garden now this is actually one of the muddiest bits of the whole Trail so I’m

Rather hoping I don’t fall over oh my goodness wish me luck here we go straight Through we did it we did it we did it yes oh my goodness I’m getting soaked no near ah oh okay that was a proper slalom I don’t know how that came across on camera but hi I am I didn’t know this was going to be here this is cycling through water

Thank heavens I’m in a fat bike that can do this because any other bike I would be in real Trouble I’ve actually made it back to maon there were moments there when I wasn’t sure that was going to be the case I’m um exhilarated it was a just a brilliant ride round the estate and uh I’m soaked I’m exhausted but I’ve had fantastic time and it has to be said that it

Wouldn’t have been possible without my trusty Steed the himmer zebra fat bike so once again if you are interested in getting one of these have a look in the description down below and don’t forget to like And subscribe our video please also make sure that if you want to carry

On supporting mapon you check out our patreon page at patreon.com mapon live right it’s uh time for a hot Bath