Emma's Safaris

“I want a walk” Bentley pleaded this morning at 6am. He didn’t really whine or howl or do anything particularly troublesome but he made his presence felt by turning over loudly in his crate and occasionally showing his impatience with long and low sighs. It was then that my day commenced.

Staying at my parents house in Somerset is always lovely as it is always nice to spend time with family and this includes of course the lovely Bentley who is still very young and always up for a walk.

After the morning short walk I headed out for an afternoon walk..with Bentley there is no such thing as a wildlife safari as animals were fleeing quickly into the hedgerow but we did encounter the most stunning English Countryside.

Once we had found a way off the road we were literally surrounded by fields and this got me to thinking how extremely lucky we are to have public footpaths. What would my walks be without these ? Well..most likely there would be a lot of accidental trespassing. But, what is a footpath actually?

Footpaths have been used by humans since around 5000BC at least. They would have been well worn and used to link Neolithic , Bronze and Iron Age settlements.

Of course, the Romans had other ideas and noticed that it would be far more beneficial to have beautifully long and straight roads to transport humans and goods across the country and really over the years that followed as humans became more advanced the roads really started to dominate the Country. I have always felt that if you own a car you pretty much seem to have dominance over the landscape so when I find these beautiful little country paths it makes my heart sing.

It was however the Rights of Way act 1932 where walkers, riders and cyclists (to an extent) were really rewarded with the allowance of public paths to be claimed over privately owned land. This is either upon mutual agreement with the landowner or they can be established with evidence that this path has been in use for at least 20 years without interruption or challenge.

Somerset County actually has over 9000 public rights of way and this particular area is surrounded by them. It really is lovely to walk down into fields lined with delicate Bluebells reminding me that Spring is here watching Bentley trot through knee length grass and darting in and out of nearby streams.

It is always important however to remember that despite the access you are on someone else’s property and so care must always be taken especially when livestock is near. Always remember to check that gates are securely fastened behind you (as the image above reminds us!) .

The blog Cambridgeshire Walks is absolutely fascinating in terms of describing the different types of footpaths and how to date them so if you are sitting with a cup of tea I would strongly recommend giving this a read.

The walk looped round and emerged almost precisely where we started and gave Bentley the opportunity to of course completely disappear into a stream onto private property, the allure of the forbidden simply too strong to ignore! However the promise of a few bits of sausage was enough to send him leaping back across the fields .

This was an absolutely lovely walk and it allowed me a good hour of thought and tranquillity. A walk in the beautiful English Countryside is always healing for the body and mind.

I strongly recommend that you have a look at the site Mapometer because this is so helpful finding little paths and trails not on Google Maps because quite honestly they are all around you and you never know what hidden gems you might find.

Anyway, that is it from me today. A little history lesson I hope is accurate! Do let me know if not or if you have any interesting facts to add.

Thank you for reading. Have a beautiful day everyone x