A while back, the Romans built a road from Charterhouse in Mendip to their settlement at what we know as Old Sarum just north of modern Salisbury. Part of its purpose would have been to transport minerals. The road ran for part of its way over high ground across what is now the northern part of Cranbourne Chase and its line still exists through the Great Ridge and Grovely Wood before dropping down to where the Nadder and Wylye meet at Wilton. The line roughly parallels the much older (and less clear on the ground) Grim's Ditch across this commanding land.
OS maps and apps show the line of the Roman road as wooded and so we thought that a morning walk under tree cover would be just the thing on what promised to be a hot, airless day. Already knowing Grovely, we headed for Great Ridge. What began as a dappled avenue of wonderful oaks on one side and tall conifers on the other, where dark green fritillaries danced around us, soon gave way to open ground and we were glad it was only eleven in the morning and not mid afternoon.
Thinking that an alternative return route through Longdean Bottom might provide more shade, we were disappointed again, but rewarded with open country that had been cleared a while back but not replanted. It was quite unlike the Wiltshire we know, and so like a savannah that seeing a herd of wildebeest would have come as little surprise. We had, however, to make do with a pair of startled jays. The walk culminated in a track with an unexpected and glorious wild flower meadow on one side and a wheat field on the other; each contributing in their different way to human well-being. We ended up having lunch in a pub as the Wylie flowed rather urgently past, fed by recent rains.
Just another point, then, to add to the long list of things the Romans did for us: opening up space for the dance of the dark green fritillary butterfly high above the modern road network and the frenzy of life.
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