Walderton walk on the 28th June 2023

The gathering assembled in the car park of The Barley Mow for a quick photo opportunity before Denis lead us westwards to overcome the long gradient of Woodlands Lane/Monarchs Way where a select competition commenced for a pair of rubbish collection athletes, the winner to be determined by the quality of rubbish collected rather than volume or weight. We took a path that lead us closest to Stansted House, which has Carolean revival decor and is listed Grade II*. The site has been visited by Monarchs Henry II, Richard I, John, Edward VI and Elizabeth I who all were keen hunters, luckily, peasants are no longer on the menu so we were safe. After a debate on whether to visit their café for coffee we turned east and found a comfortable log to while away our coffee break. Our excursion for this trip was to Racton Monument, built between 1766 and 1775 for George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, either as a summerhouse for Stansted House or so he could watch his merchant ships dock at the nearby port, Emsworth. According to Country Life, "it has seen illegal raves, ghost hunts, occultists and graffiti, and was, reputedly, a 19th-century brothel". Local lore suggests "spectral sightings that include flying bricks, faces in windows and a ghost tractor that drives up behind you, then disappears. Needless to say, we were spectrally disappointed! However, the rubbish pickings were extensive. The return to Walderton took us past Lordington House and a swing, through parched fields so we arrived back in the Barley Mow in a matched state where we slaked our thirsts and thoroughly enjoyed our lunches. Lindsay was deemed to have collected the best possible quality detritus and was awarded a suitable prize.