From the (77) Bus Stop Walks – Walk 11 Yeovil (Combe Street Lane)
A rural walk near Somerset’s second largest town.
Plenty of ups and downs on minor roads but not strenuous.
Distance 11.5km/7.1miles
Total ascent/descent 126m
Note. This walk involves quite a lot of road walking. Whilst the roads are not busy, they are narrow and twisting in places, so take care to make yourself visible to other road users, particularly near bends.
1 From the bus-stop near the eastern end of Combe Street Lane walk east to the road junction at the top of Stone Lane (GR556177). Turn L down Stone Lane (SP Limington) descending gently for 1.6km(1mile). There are pleasant views as you descend to a junction.
2 (GR556190) Ignore the L turn, but continue ahead (SP Limington) for 200m(220yds) to another junction. Turn R (SP Mudford Sock) and follow as the road winds past farms and fields for 1.4km(nearly 1mile) to reach a sharp R bend and then the junction with the busy A359 with a post box opposite. Go L for 100m (110yds) and just beyond end of lay-by, cross with care to go over stile opposite (SP Public Footpath). Go over wooden fence and go ahead with hedge on L. Follow the hedge as it starts to bear L then R to reach a hedge gap with a red metal post. Go through gap and go round edge of field keeping hedge on R to reach a metal gate and road.
3 (GR573187) Do not go R, but continue ahead through the hamlet of Up Mudford for 400m(¼mile) to junction by post box. Go ahead for a further 500m(550yds) with views of Manor Farm (1) to the R, and beyond the first row of houses go R along Hales Meadow. At the end, go through the waymarked fence gap (SP Public Footpath) and cross to the far L corner of the field, passing the playground and skate park. Go L along a short track and through a car park to emerge on a road opposite the Mudford Memorial Hall (2).
4 (GR574198) Cross using the pedestrian crossing and turn R for 150m(170yds) passing the Half Moon Inn on the R and turn L (SP Limington). Note the high banks behind which is the R Yeo (3) (and note the depth gauges!) Pass the church of St Mary (4) and continue for 500m (550yds) to the hamlet of West Mudford. Bear R and go for 1.2Km (¾ mile) to a junction.
5 (GR562209) Go L (SP Yeovil) and follow the road for 2Km (1¼ miles), passing Ashington Wood on the R to a junction. Ignore the turn on the L to Mudford Sock and after a further 200m(220yds) at another road junction turn R (SP Yeovil Marsh).
6 (GR556190) Follow the road for 900m (½mile) to a junction beyond large farmhouse of Marsh Farm and go L (SP Yeovil) and ascend gently for 1km(⅔mile) to reach Combe St Lane. Go L for 700m (800yds) to reach the bus-stop for Yeovil, across the road for Somerton and Wells
FOR A SHORTER WALK
Distance 4.0km/2.5 miles
Follow to the end of point 1. Turn L at junction (SP Yeovil Marsh) and continue from the start of point 6.
For car travellers, park with care and consideration in Stone Lane (point 1)
1 Manor Farm House in Up Mudford was built in 1630 on the site of an earlier building destroyed by fire.
2 Mudford Village Hall was built as a single-roomed village school in 1847 and was extended about 50 years later to make separate classrooms for boys and girls. The partly glazed doors separating the rooms are still in use. The school closed in 1947 and later purchased by the village as a centre for ex-servicemen and war memorial
3 R Yeo is a 24km tributary of the R Parrett, which it joins at Langport. In part it forms the boundary between Somerset and Dorset.
4 The Church of St Mary dates from the 14th century and has been designated as a Grade I listed building. The church was granted by Montacute Priory to the Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1339. It has a three-stage tower, which dates from around 1498. It contains five bells of 17th century from nearby Closworth.
Refreshments: Half Moon Inn, Mudford