Despite a week of wet, unsettled weather, it was luckily dry and sunny for the 16 of us to commence our 7 mile hike from the village of Broadmayne, 3 miles east of the county town of Dorchester. Taking partly wooded lanes north eastwards through gentle, partly arable farmland, we arrived at an extensive watercress farm, with an impressive old but dilapidated building in the central yard.

Then skirting abandoned gravel pits, now the home of the 'Silver Lakes' luxury property development, we stopped for a break near an abandoned barn. Continuing through an extensive area of newly planted trees, we crossed the south Western railway line, saw fleeting deer racing across a nearby field before we arrived at the Wise Man Inn for our lunch break at the village of West Stafford, home to Julian Fellowes.

Once refreshed, with threatening rain, we set off on lanes across more gentle arable, but very muddy farmland, reaching once again Broadmayne where our leader Andrew invited everyone for a cream tea at his house, before the heavens finally opened yet again! A very successful day despite the weather!