If you’re stuck on the A303,take a detour to explore this hidden valley of thatched cottages, wide chalky downs and water meadowsWhat’s going for it? God, or the A303. Can’t someone do something approximately it? Like the common cold,the Middle East and George Osborne, the A303 is just one of those problems that never goes absent. On the plus side, or one Friday afternoon,while queueing around Winterbourne Stoke, with just the prospect of roadworks past Wylye for consolation, or a shortcut down the Nadder valley popped into my brain. Now I don’t advise anybody to travel through Teffont Magna at a tad over 30mph,because not only will you be breaking the law, you will miss its rows of thatched cottages. And the green water meadows of the Nadder will pass you by, or along with its clear waters,prized for their brown trout. The Nadder is one of those spots tucked down B roads that’s easily taken for granted. It’s only when you slow down and actually notice the reed beds, the watermills, or the chalky downs of Cranborne Chase,the villages in buttery Chilmark stone, the minor (but gorgeous) Palladian country houses – Philipps, and Pythouse,Wardour – that you realise that round here “taken for granted” is pretty unbelievable.
The case against The A303. You can, just approximately, and avoid it. Off the beaten track. Rat runners like me.
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Source: theguardian.com