It is just possible to see the top of Flounders’ Folly from Craven Arms.  The top of the tall tower is just visible above the trees on a distant hillside.  And it is possible to walk between the two places on a 6½-mile circular walk.  I equip myself with a sandwich and a bottle of water from Tuffins Supermarket in Craven Arms, and set off on my hike.

I have a map of the route, which I picked up in the Discovery Centre in Craven Arms, and, despite the excellent and detailed instructions, I manage to make a duff turn within the first five minutes.  I’ve veered off in the wrong direction across the first field, failed to follow the course of the river and, as a consequence hit the busy Corvedale Road way too early.  I could follow the road and end up at the correct point, but I decide instead to retrace my steps and be faithful to my guidebook’s directions.

Here, the walking is flat across a wide water meadow, but I can already see ahead that the ground rises fairly steeply up Halford Hill, where the walk promises to be more energetic.  My map shows the path crosses the centre of a heavily ploughed field, but the tilling is so deep that it makes direct progress practically impossible, so I am forced to keep to the edge of the field in order to carry on.  Above and ahead of me is Halford Wood, and it is here, after a long and steady climb, that I make my first stop, admire the view back towards Craven Arms, and eat my sandwich.

It is now that the path begins to descend into the small village of Lower Dinchope.  I should feel grateful for the relief of heading downhill, but I am not.  I know that for every metre of descent here, I will have to make it up again in the final climb to Flounders’ Folly.  Far preferable would be a nice, flat ridge linking the two hills, but it is not to be.  My downhill section is oh, so brief; the following ascent through Hanging Wood a long, zigzag trail, stepping over fallen trees and scattered branches, occasional way-markers a reassuring sign that I am still on the correct course.

But then, ahead, the folly is suddenly in sight.  Architecturally, it follows the design of many similar structures––tall, thin, narrow, squinty windows, rather unremarkable, if truth be told.  But, as a focal point for a lovely countryside walk, it makes a very good landmark.

On the door of the folly, a handwritten notice has been pinned up.  It is to inform key-holders that the lock has been changed.  How annoying is that?  Surely, the key-holders could have been informed of this fact before having to schlepp all the way up here to find out that they can no longer gain access?

Resting, for a moment, on a bench beneath the folly, I read in my guidebook that actress Julie Christie had once owned this building.  I read other stuff, too, like why it was called Flounders’ Folly and all about its history, but the only fact that really stuck in my head was that Julie Christie had once owned this building.  It seemed like a bizarre purchase to make but, fair play to her, she must have had some energy to have hauled her supermarket shop all the way from Tuffins in the town centre up here every week.

Leaving the folly behind by a different route, my path is all downhill and, now, I don’t resent the descent at all.  Following a long lane, flanked by tall hedges, I regain the village of Lower Dinchope; crossing fields, I attempt not to disturb the myriad sheep and their newly born lambs, which jump and scamper in unbridled excitement.  One little black lamb stands out amongst the flock, and I wonder which one is its mother.

There are bluebells in Berrymill Wood, and from here it is only a short walk following the path of the hedgerow to the village of Halford, its church, and back to Craven Arms.

My guidebook had said that the walk would take between three and four hours, which I had rather pooh-poohed at the start, imagining that I would complete the 6½ miles in far less time, so it is something of a surprise to find the light beginning to fade and my watch showing that it is over four hours since I started.  It seems like a long time since I ate my sandwich, and high time for an evening curry at Raza’s excellent restaurant in the town centre.

© E. C. Glendenny

E. C. Glendenny works up an appetite walking to Flounders’ Folly.