37: Bincknoll Castle and Broad Town White Horse

Another location recording this month where we pack up the equipment and take to the Wiltshire landscape. As with last month you’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out where we were, but it wasn’t Bincknoll Castle or Broad Town White Horse. As a clue – it was very windy!

Before we got onto the main topic, we did our usual review of activity and news since the last podcast, which was a whole month ago.

Regular contributor Elaine Perkins wrote an excellent blog for the website following her exploration of Clearbury Ring, and the villages of Odstock and Nunton. All of it new to us. Once again her photographs are superb. There is a link to her blog below.

After a long break Paul and his regular walking buddy Stu completed a superb walk on the border of Dorset starting at Win Green before exploring the Iron Age hill fort at Winkelbury Hill then on through the Rushmore Estate to Tollard Royal before returning to Win Green via Guy Ritchie’s Ashcombe Estate. This had the potential to be controversial due to a blocked Open Access area but had a happy ending. You’ll find a link to Paul’s blog below.

We have also undertaken a couple of guided walks for Wiltshire Museum since the last podcast – Hippenscombe and Folly Wood, both of which we have written blogs about in the past and for which you can find links below. Unless you listen to the podcast on a Sunday morning, by the time you hear this Glyn will have led another walk based on Castle Combe. It starts at 2:00pm on Sunday 3 July. Paul will be absent from this particular walk.

We then have a chat about our location for the recording before moving on to our main topic. - Bincknoll Castle and Broad Town White Horse. The strong wind at our location had the potential to disrupt our recording as Glyn wrestled with his notes to stop them blowing away. But our recording equipment seems to have done a great job of screening out the wind noise.

You can follow Glyn’s blog about his walk to using the link below. This was an eight mile walk that Glyn completed in March which meant it was boggy in places. The summer would be a great time to try it though. It starts and finishes at Wroughton, and being close to Swindon we couldn’t resist a few jokes about the town. But we love Swindon really. Maybe.

During the recording Glyn talks us through his best Tommy Cooper impression as he passes back and forth repeatedly through not one but two isolated gates that served no useful purpose other than to act as a comedic prop. We needed no further invitation as the podcast degenerated into farce.

Bincknoll Castle is best viewed from the air where its location can be appreciated, and Glyn has posted some drone shots in his blog. The same can be said of Broad Town White Horse where this almost childlike depiction of a horse is hidden by long grass from ground level. Again Glyn’s drone shots in the blog show it in all its simple glory.

Then on to the wrap up:

Steve Dixon’s piece leading into our main subject today is called “From the Edge of Grey to Green”. We tend to use this piece in podcasts that feature white horses.  As ever the piece in the introduction and at the end of the podcast is entitled “The Holloway”. The great news is that, whilst Steve has provided us with a sizable library of music, he has of late become enthused and promised us some new work.

Finally don’t forget to check out the Hidden Wiltshire online shop on the website if you’d like to help us keep the lights on. The first Hidden Wiltshire book has now sold out but the second book is still available at a specially discounted price from the website. The book is also available at Devizes Bookshop, Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and now Wiltshire’s libraries. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Hidden Wiltshire Newsletter from the website. You can also subscribe to alerts about new Blogs.

Elaine Perkin’s blog about Clearbury Ring can be found here Clearbury Ring, Odstock and Nunton

Paul’s blog about this walk from Win Green can be found here Win Green, Winkelbury Hill and the Rushmore Estate

The blog about the Hippenscombe walk can be found here Tidcombe, Hippenscombe and the Devil's Waistcoat

The blog about Folly Wood can be found here Folly Wood and the Tale of the Headless Horseman

And Glyn’s blog which is the main topic of today’s podcast can be found here Bincknoll Castle and Broad Town White Horse

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud. He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle

Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop 

and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far