A lovely 17 miles from The Stocks Inn at Furzehill to Manswood, Horton Tower and up to Chalbury along quiet roads, bridleways and narrow forest tracks. Manswood reputedly has the longest thatched building in Britain comprising eleven estate cottages and an ex-post office although this is disputed because of a similar set of buildings in Suffolk. Cut the long grass alongside the meadowstrip hedging, some of the wild flowers which have now set seed were taller than the plants. The intention is to mulch with donkey manure to give the hedge a feed before winter and that means digging out the compost heap. A warm and sunny start to the day with rain later, picked and ate the runner beans.
