Bonham Wood walk
Explore Bonham wood on this short, circular walk which takes you behind the Temple of Apollo through picturesque woodland, returning along the disused airfield that formed part of RAF Zeals during the Second World War. Look out for wild daffodils and bluebells throughout the woodland during spring.
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Map
Start:
Stourhead visitor reception, grid ref: ST778340
1
From the main car park, go through visitor reception. Take the zig zag path toward the walled garden. Where the path splits into four, take a sharp left on to a grass track. Follow this track with the field and St Peter’s Church on your right.
2
Continue on the track through the woodland. Go past a green barrier and turn left where the track forks uphill and then turn right once you’ve reached the top. The Temple of Apollo and views of the garden can be seen to the right. Keep straight on this track dropping down into the woodland, past another green barrier, leaving the garden behind and to your right. Continue on the main track through Bonham Wood for about ½ a mile.
Hazel dormice at Stourhead
This woodland is home to the hazel dormouse, which is honey coloured, with a furry tail and native to Britain. Active at night, the dormice spend their days in the hedgerows and tree canopies and hibernate during the winter months. Dormice are vulnerable to woodland and hedgerow management operations and numbers have declined by half over the last hundred years. The National Trust team manage Stourhead woodland in such a way as to encourage dormice and still enable sustainable timber production. The hazel dormouse is strictly protected by UK and European law. A license is needed to check nesting boxes and handle them. If you come across a box, please do not open it.
3
Follow the track around to the left as it ascends to join the road. Being mindful of traffic turn left and walk along the road. You will see Bonham manor and cottages on your left, along with Bonham Garden of Remembrance. This garden was established to commemorate those members of the community whose gravestones had been moved when the manor gardens were re-laid. Continue for another 300 yards, then turn left and onto the disused airfield which once formed part of RAF Zeals.
4
Walk along the airfield for approximately ½ a mile. About 100 yards before the airfield reaches the road turn left onto a hard surfaced path. Follow this until you reach a T-junction, turn left and after about 100 yards turn right, back into the main visitor car park.
History
During the Second World War Henry Hoare allowed an airfield to be built on the estate. The site began as a Royal Air Force base for Hurricanes and Spitfires in 1942. It was taken over by the United States Army Air Force a year later, and returned to the RAF in 1944. Following D-Day the airfield was used for glider training in preparation for attacks against Japan. In 1945 the Royal Navy commissioned the airfield for aircraft carrier training. At the start of 1946 the airfield was closed down and returned to farmland that summer.
End:
Stourhead visitor reception, grid ref: ST778340
