What’s the North Dorset Trailway like?

Hi friends! Want to see a stunning part of England?

We’re excited to show you what it’s like to cycle from Frome down to the northern end of the North Dorset Trailway, and then throught to the very end of this beautiful trailway route!

The North Dorset Trailway is a walking, cycling, horse-riding route. It runs from the town of Sturminster Newton to the village of Spetisbury. The rail trail is largely made up of sections of the old Somerset and Dorset Railway which linked Bristol and Bournemouth until the 1960s, making it a great cycle route as it’s a mainly flat, off road, tarmac and gravel track.

Highlights of this adventure include the historic buildings of Stourhead and Fiddleford Manor. Plus, we enjoyed the little side quest to historic bike-friendly accommodation in Iwerne Minster.

What do you think of the North Dorset Trailway? Do you want to visit? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.

xox
Charles “The Fat Man” and PJ “The Kraken”

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Music:

Filmed in June

[Music] Good morning. We are cycling from Froom to Gillingham today. It’s not very far, but we’re on a deliberate path uh sort of mediated by accommodation to do the North Dorset Trailway. So, that’s a little highlight in this part of England. We’ll take you with us and show you what we see on the way. Here’s the Mighty Bikes. Prim was a beautiful stop. I really liked it. If you ever go there, go to the cinema. It’s wonderful community cinema.4 pound tickets. You know, cycling in England, you’re just spoiled because you got these quiet lanes, hedge rows, you know, it’s just lovely. I’ve cycled in other countries. I’m cycling in Japan right now as I write this and we were so spoiled. You know, it’s hard to when you’re there, you think, “Oh, well, you know, this is just the way it is.” But this is just so lovely. Not carree, but almost carfree, just quiet, good surfaces, lovely. Not that I would complain about it, but the hedros make it hard to see the surrounding countryside. And also when you’re on the single row hedge rows, you have to look on for oncoming cars just to uh make sure they can get past. This was an unplanned stop. And this is one of the National Trust properties called Ster Head, named after the river that goes through it. And you know, it was great. The Kraken, it was hard to get her out of the cafe cuz they had vegan muffins there, but we paid to go in and we were there for the majority of the day. So these are the um sort of walled gardens as you go in and they were lovely. They were a mixture of decorative plants and also kitchen plants. You know, this was the stables and the gardener sort of area as well. And you could sort of wander through all the outbuildings. [Music] [Music] There’s also areas for the children to play. They’ve got lots of activities for kids, including this adorable tractor circuit. So, they’re pedal powered. Oh, they’re so cute. And then this is a little push one so the littlest ones don’t miss out. Here’s the stables. Golly coming. Coming. [Laughter] Charlie’s found a hobby horse. What else is in here? Hobby horses. Hobby horses. Oh my goodness. Look, that’s so cute. They’ve got little I got to film this for Karen. Oh, [Music] this was the main house. So, the middle of this was the actual the original house and then the two wings were put on later. One of the wings was a library and one was a gallery. And uh yeah, you could wander through. It was part of the had a beautiful vista out the front and it’s sort of a oneway. You could only go on the bottom floor and you couldn’t go to the kitchens or anything. Mainly just the the receiving rooms cuz as they explained to us these houses were sort of like you know people would come and visit all the time and then you would show off all your stuff. So these were the sort of grand rooms that the family would entertain people in and you know the servants would be living in the ceiling and then the the kitchens and stuff like that were not things that were really opened to the public. So this was the library. This was the add-on edition. And you know you can imagine sitting in here reading all the books. It was lovely. This house was donated to the National Trust in 1947. But upstairs there’s still apartments that the family occupy. So the the last you know, the the main trunk of the family, it ended in 1947 when the lady died. Her son was killed in World War I. So she she left no heirs, but you know, obviously they’re still family and they have apartments upstairs. This looks very Lady D, but some of this is pulp. These are gentleman’s magazines. [Music] This was the gallery. This was the other add-on section. And this was like one of the things that the house was known for. It’s just a box with all different stones and made out of um but every come and look at it. So the gallery had lots of paintings on it and obviously people came and looked at the paintings. They really starve for entertainment back then. No telly, no movies. The gardens were beautiful and around the house itself there was a lot of these open grass areas. This is the back of the house. And if if you looked to the back, there’s that big obisk as well. We went on a free tour which was run by um a volunteer who took us all around the gardens, a 600y old chestnut tree. And when I say all around the gardens, he took us around the main part of the gardens cuz really these are very extensive gardens. Like if you walk to the end, they were like 5 mi long and there was follys that were 5 mi walk away. So that was still part of the garden. That’s the ice house. This was known for the ice house. So they’d store ice there. And this is one of the largest ice houses in England. 800y old tree. They had these view lines that were opened up so you get these beautiful classical views and they had to be maintained as they part of the heritage. More beautiful hedros, more quiet lines. Well, what about yesterday? First of all, we’re only planning on riding 30 well 25 km yesterday. We ended up around 29. And we we never assumed that we were going to go directly to the accommodation and we ended up going to this historic home called I can’t remember it’s called it’s here there’s the name which was a national trust property now national trust is scattered everywhere and next time we come back we’re going to plan our trip better and we’re going to stay mainly at these weather stone Weather Spoons, Weatherspoon pubs, and make the trip about going to Weatherspoon, staying at Weather Spoons, and also go to National Trust properties. But if you’re just going for one off, the tickets are quite expensive, but you can get a a a pass that gets you into all of the National Trust properties and it’s a lot better. But we spent the entire day wandering around this. PJ got out and so she had to have a little sit down. But it, you know, you could spend days there if you really want. Vegan’s gone. Yeah, Vegan’s gone. So, so we left around 10:00. We got to accommodation around 6:00. It was a full day. We rode 29 km. And I think it was excellent. And today we’ve got a little bit further to ride planned, but we already have three attractions booked in to go to. So, one’s a working mill. So, it’s a it’s an old water mill and it’s still going today. One’s a museum uh which also owns and operates the mill, but they’re separate locations. And another issa house that just is near the path and looks really good and is operated by Heritage Britain which is another place that sort of works with the National Trust but their properties are free to go into Heritage um Britain. Okay. So that’s it. Hi. Hello. You slowly. Oh, you rough, [Music] very idyllic. This was in a building um the community building and it was the railway model railway enthusiasts. So this town used to be um a marshalling yard for the railway and obviously the railway had gone away and this is where the trail the rail trail was going to start and they had this display on of what it used to look like and the community center was really good. There was art for sale on the walls. There was a theater and you can see this beautiful rot iron ballastrade and there’s quite a lot of the old railway paraphernalia also in there. It was a very good community center right next to the little shopping center and everything. We thought this town was going to be horrible, but it was really lovely actually and there was a lot of the old buildings that had been repurposed into knickknack shops and secondhand stores and things like that that was great to wander through. Because we spent so much time at the model railway and the community center, we managed to get to the museum just as it closed. But we went into this a lot of the uh old built shops, so it was great. Look at this mill pond. It was so lovely. Now, this mill was like over a,000 years old. It was in the Doomsday Book. You pay £5 to go through and a guy takes you through for as long as you like. So, one side of it is a grain mill and the other side’s a stamping mill. And it doesn’t have a water wheel. What it has is a turbine inside. And it’s the original turbine, so it’s never been changed. And it drives a vertical shaft that goes up and there’s a like a dog clutch where you can drive both sides of the mill all together or you could just have one side of the mill going. And they still grind flour here. And it’s very interesting. is all run by leather belts. This is one of the old leather belts that you can see. And I found it awful interesting. You know, they had hoppers and they had conveyors and all this sort of stuff. And this is a chaft sorder, you know, to thresh part of the threshing of the grain. And uh you know, it was amazing. It was really good. And there used to be thousands of these mills and there’s very few of them left and definitely hardly any of them are still working. And the amazing thing, the reason there’s no audio is because the mill was going when we were in there and it’s making a lot of noise. like it’s uh you know the the wood and teeth on the on on the gears and everything are really clacking away. So, uh the audio was not usable, but I found it very interesting. The hammermill doesn’t go anymore only because, you know, they don’t have a lot of felt to make. They could get it going, but they just don’t. But the surrounding ponds were just lovely as well. And they had all these signs up no fishing and there’s quite a few people fishing. So, you know, there you go. There’s all these signs, but the man did take us through and explained everything to us. Okay. So, we rode from where we stayed last night to uh Sturmster Newton, which used to be a big railway station and a marshalling yard. So, we’re in a car park that used to be the marshalling yard. And we went to the model train uh society and they had a mockup of the railway station. And there’s one of the buildings, one of the store buildings still standing over there being used as a carpet showroom, but you can tell it’s used to be an old railway uh building. So, that was interesting. So, now they’ve turned the old railway line into uh a trailway. So, we’re going to ride down that. Now, it says it’s only 3.4 miles long, and we’re not going to the end today, but we we’re assuming it’s longer. This has been done several times. So, we think the sign hasn’t been updated and it’s actually longer than that. So, uh but today we’re going to do about half of it and then we’re going to go off and go to our accommodation for the night. And we’re also going to stop at an English heritage building uh and we look at a medieval manor. So, we’re looking forward to that as well. And we just come from the mill. So there was a mill down on the river that was still operating and it was fantastic. I really enjoyed it. You know, you could see the hoppers up in the attic and you know, you could see the mill and you could see the the turbine and it was very very good and run by volunteers and just a lovely idyllic place on the river. So, and this town is nice as well. We thought it was going to be a bit of a lackluster stopover and the food certainly was, but the town itself is very interesting. The rail trail is really good and it definitely does go longer than the 3.4 K miles. It probably goes for like 25 miles in in total, maybe a bit further. And the infrastructure is quite good. So, this is me turning off to go to the mana. When we were going there, we thought there’d be people there, you know, like and they’d let you in and they would explain everything to you. But no, you just turn up it. It’s all opened. Half of it’s missing. So that part only half of it still there. And the reason this bit survived was it was actually turned into a mill. So, and then there’s another half on the other end which is still a house and people live in it. That’s charming. So, you know, Wow. One/3 is missing and been demolished. one/3 is still a house and then this one/3 is open and you can just wander around inside. That’s the original ceiling, the original beams and you know the original stonework [Music] [Music] [Music] Coming through here. You see all the dowels, the wooden dowels. So, Charlie, tell us what do you think about this? Well, I think it’s amazing that not only is it free to get into, there’s absolutely nobody here. So, you’re just trusted not to do the wrong thing and we’re just wandering around. And it’s amazing. This is in the Doomsday Book, this place. So, the mill we went to just previous to this was also in the Doomsday Book. So, it’s almost a thousand years old. I really like the woodwork and the the sense of place here. This is a really solid building and it used to be larger. So, what’s left is only part of what the mana used to be, but you can really get a sense of how they were made and the sort of space inside. And there’s lots of beautiful fireplaces and things. It’s great. And as it’s a mill, there’s a beautiful little stream just outside where you can go swimming and fishing. You can see the stone roof there, you know, with the slate roof. We think of slate is like these little tiny things, but let me tell you, the big slate roofs, they’re about a meter across. Now, the the night’s accommodation was a lot further off the the trail than we rode on the trail. So the Kraken had booked us into this beautiful pub that was 600 years old and run by South Africans and we’re in this beautiful room in a tuda pub. It was really lovely but it was quite far from the actual trail itself. And as you can see, the bathroom was quite grand and the room was had this elegance about it that you know, a lot of the budget accommodation that we stay in doesn’t look like this. But this was lovely and and very spacious. Good morning. Poor Charlie woke up with a flat tire. So, we’re kind of ruining the vibe out the front here in this beautiful place. Uh, fixing the tires. And here’s my beast this morning. I have way too much on the top, but um I’m ready to go. We had to ride back to the trail again. So, we just reverse what we did the day before. We’re continuing on the trailway. Here’s the entry point here. And just a fun fact, there’s a car park next to it. I guess that’s for pedestrians. So, here we go. They had um a railway museum stuck in the middle. And you know, they had these hand cuts that you could go up and down like 200 m of train track. [Music] There’s so many kids. Yeah, it’s it’s it’s used this this rail path. It was it was really lovely and bucolic. All the views around it and and and really just we were very spoiled, you know, peaceful, lovely, carfree, everything that you could want on a idyllic ride. And also it’s dead flat as well by the way. So we went through some villages like where this village churches. It’s just beautiful. England really manages their green spaces well and their heritage well. [Music] [Music] She’ll [Music] feel [Music] down. [Music] We stop at all the shopping centers. There’s Charlie’s bike. He’s on a folding Dhon smooth hound. Look at the mighty steeds. As you start, you can see the tent gear and everything. And there’s mine. I’m also on a folding bike. It’s a helix. That’s my setup. [Music] Happy. [Music] [Music] This is still the rail trial. And you can see the infrastructure that they put in and the expense they’ve gone to to make an asset for the community. [Music] Up [Music] [Music] up. [Music] And then there’s the Charlie. So we finished the Dorset cycle way and trailway cycle trail and there’s, you know, it was an old railway line and it would take a morning to ride easily, you know, like from start to finish. The surface is dirt, uh, hard packed dirt and there’s not many road crossings, so it’s good. And some of the old railway stations are still there. And it goes through enough places that you can get cafe. Yeah. Cups of tea and stuff like that. Woohoo. So, it was all very nice. It’s all carfree and it was all very nice. And this is right near the end. And this is lovely, too. Okay. Go. My opinion on the North Dorset Trailway is that you should give it a go. um tire widths. It’s actually really quite a reasonable surface for most of it. We did it on folding bikes. I don’t know if you could get away with it on a like full carbon fiber narrow tide bike. However, it’s actually pretty good condition most of the way through. And we’ve done uh quite a longer section than it shows on the sign. So, I’ll put a link in the description to more information about this cool little trip. We have one and a quarter inch tires. Yeah, we have one and a no problem at all. It was really good. And the tree canopy going through is lovely. So even if it’s quite a hot day, um you’ve got lots of shade.