Dorsington & Cleeve

The village of Dorsington (SP 131496) lies between Stratford and Evesham.  We walked westwards from it as far as Icknield St seven years ago, but I never put the walk up on the site because I hadn’t found the route all that interesting (#1).  But we did find The Welshmans (119498), a house at the top right-hand corner of the fox covert (#2).  The owner had no idea about the origin of the name, but I think we do… It had a small field around it on the old map and the house must have looked very different 200 years ago.  Did it serve ale under the counter, I wonder?

Nonetheless, dismissed as boring – till I was told about the ford across the Avon at Cleeve Prior and suddenly it all made sense.  I even found a picture of the ford, which I have been kindly given permission to reproduce here (#3).  So far, so good.  Now to take the path past Cleeve Prior church to the Avon.

The path started like a highway (#4) and ended two hundred yards later, as an impenetrable bramble bush (#5).  What a disappointment.  If only we had thick gloves and shears with us – well, perhaps those are extras we should put in the back of the car from now on.  Meanwhile, folk of the area or local council, please keep up your footpaths, because it’s History you’re destroying if you don’t.