walk at Wimpole

Instead of going to the farm as we always do, today we decided to walk to the folly. We went through the black gate opposite the stable block and followed the pathway to the front of Wimpole Hall. Then we walked on the path around the house until there was a gate. We could see ridges and furrows in the field opposite, evidence of the plough pulled by oxen used on Wimpole’s medieval farmland.Then we turned right and went through a gate. We followed a footpath away from the Hall across the field (grazed by sheep and cows), walking until we reached the ha-ha and iron bridge. We bore left, towards the lakes reaching the Chinese bridge. We crossed over the bridge and kept going up the hill until we reached the folly. These Gothic ruins, also known as sham ruins, were made purposefully to create a spectacular view from the Hall in 1768. We then followed the path past the ruins and back down the hill crossing over a different bridge.
The girls loved the walk because there were animals to spot, poo to notice, feathers to collect and bridges and fences to climb. Husband was happy because he could collect walking data with his new GPS device (a Garmin 450) - it is quite cool (although you do need to invest in maps).  According to it we walked 3.35km, in 58min plus 38min stopping time (waiting for E)! You can't actually get right to the folly but it was nice to look back to the house. There were some lovely wild flowers and grasses to look at and we saw a rabbit!