Run 785 - Brush Off

Hare: Brush off Hounds: Big Bird, Tom Tom, Gentleman Caller, Grass hopper, Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Phantom, P2L, Tenzing, Ditw, Why Bother, Colin and Dog Plucker

The meeting point was The Monk, West Monkton, where we all gathered and took our instructions from our hare, two and on and the normal animals in fields etc. Then off we set up Noah’s Hill and passed the ponds and left up a footpath and across the field back towards West Monkton and onto Church Hill, we then tool a path taking us to the old Manor. This was part of the old Abbey of Glastonbury estate, one of the only estates west of the river Parrett, which is where the name West Monkton derived from.The path came back out onto a road, we turned left back down the road towards the village (well some of us did?). At the crossroads we went back up Church Hill and turned into the footpath running pass the old quarry. Quarrying stopped here over 100 years ago, the stones from this quarry is made of mud and sandstone and was used mainly in the West Monkton area to build walling and barns.This footpath brings us out above Gotton, where we turned left then right, passed Somerset yurts at Hill farm. Now the word yurt, most people believe that this means trellis tent that was used by the herdsmen from Asia. The Russian original yurt is a misapplication of the Turkic Yurt meaning territory or campsite. So if you are one of those people that like to stay in a yurt for week you are still just camping!We then found our way across more fields to the back of Hestercombe gardens and house, where the hare put in a sneaky loop around the back of the house thought the car park and up the zig zag path and back around again to the front of the house and our regroup looking over the formal gardens. Hestercombe has a unique combination of three centuries of garden design: Coplestone Warre Bampfylde's Georgian landscape garden, the Victorian terrace and shrubbery and the Edwardian garden design by Sir Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll.After the regroup we are taken back up though blue bell woods passed Gotton house and across the fields back to the pub.A very well executed run. Thank you Brush Off/Simon.