Weekend Walks

A Memory of Shepton Mallet.

As a young lad, living in Shepton Mallet, I used to eagerly await my older brother's visits at weekends. Saturdays would often involve a walk to Wells & a matinee at the Regal. If there wasn't a film on we wanted - or I was old enough to see - we'd usually go for a long walk.
I was tremendously excited to hear we were going to see a real castle!
At my young age I imagined something like the medieval ones you'd see in films...so Maesbury Castle, essentially a large field with built up edges was a big disappointment. As, later, was Cadbury Castle. Of more interest were the tumuli, (burial mounds) & long barrows we walked to - one could imagine buried treasure mere feet away!
Many of our walks were along the old railway lines that had been left after the 'Beeching axe' of the mid '60's. These had become wildlife refuges, full of butterflies, Burnett moths & grasshoppers.