Beech Avenue

Originally there were over 730 beech trees in the Avenue created to flank the new toll road built in 1835 and leading towards Kingston Lacy House. Time and disease may have done for over a quarter of the trees, single missing trees or spaces created by two or more trees succumbing have left noticeable gaps, although the Avenue's remains an impressive feature in the landscape, a straight feature extending over two miles. I've mentioned before the layers of history in  Dorset's landscape cover most of human history, and today’s walk took in many of them. As I walked along the 19th century Beech Avenue I passed Bronze Age burials, Badbury Rings Iron Age hillfort, I crossed Roman Roads, and a forgotten Roman town I had the opportunity to dig on some years back, on past medieval farming landscapes and over Tarrant Rushton's taxiways which saw the Horsa Gliders take for the assault on Pegasus Bridge on the dawn of DDay.  I recommend Dorset if you want to walk through time.