Packhorse travels through Dorset’s past and present

Roger Sewill is on a 200-mile journey around Dorset with his ten-year-old Dales pony, Scarlet. Rachael Rowe caught up with them nine days into their adventure

There’s a gentle clip-clop in the air as Roger Sewill and Scarlet walk up Peaceful Lane towards Woodbridge Farm at Stock Gaylard. Bluebells and wild garlic line the route on a beautiful spring day, and a magnificent ploughman’s lunch, with freshly baked still-warm Blue Vinny scones, awaits. Roger deliberately included the famous cheesemaker in his journey, ‘as it’s so Dorset.’
It’s just one stage on his 200-mile route around the county, taking in its 30 ancient hillforts.
After carefully inspecting Roger’s plate of cheese and scones, Scarlet dives into her lunch of apples, carrots and hay while Roger describes his journey so far.
‘The hillforts were my plan. Initially, I thought there were about ten – but there are a lot more. My interest is in taking Scarlet between two historical points of interest, to find out more about the countryside and communities in between. So when I discovered there were actually about 30 hillforts, I wondered how I would track between them. Then I realised that, since ancient times, people have always tracked between them. That’s how our journey found its route.’
This isn’t Roger and Scarlet’s first journey together: in October 2024 they completed a three-week, 200-mile route from Roger’s childhood home in Surrey, passing through the Surrey farm he worked on as an agricultural student, and continuing through Sussex, Hampshire and Wiltshire before returning home to Dorset.

Everything slows
Roger and Scarlet started at Lyscombe, Dorset Wildlife Trust’s newest nature reserve near Dorchester, and have been slowly weaving through the county’s hillforts, including Maiden Castle and Hambledon Hill. Their journey will finish beneath the sycamore tree where the Tolpuddle Martyrs first met. Roger is fundraising for DWT, and will also include several nature reserves on the route. Dales ponies were used in the First World War, and there is a nod to their wartime service with a visit to the Tank Museum at Bovington.
‘I have lived in Dorset for about 14 years, but travelling with Scarlet you see the countryside from a different angle, and at such a slower pace. I have had Scarlet for four years and this is my second longest trip with her. Dales ponies were bred as pack animals, to carry loads across the Pennines. She’s very sturdy, and though she may look heavily laden, the total weight is under 20kg. We average around 12 miles a day – I’m trying not to make this an endurance test, I want to see things as I travel.
‘I try and use bridleways and tracks as much as possible. We get going about 8.30 in the morning, and Scarlet walks a lot slower than I do – about two and a half miles an hour. We spend the day walking peacefully through the countryside, stopping off whenever we need to for grazing. Everything slows up. Horses tend to see everything in the present, and so I get to see the world through her eyes.’

The kindness of strangers
During the journey, Roger will cross several packhorse bridges. They include the mediaeval bridge with its pointed arches, over the Divelish at Fifehead Neville. It was constructed without a parapet to avoid side-packs hitting as the animals crossed. The bridges were used to transport wool, grain and other commodities across waterways.

‘ I’ve realised on this journey that the packhorse people would have been the conduit between communities. They travelled from one village to another and would have brought news too. It shows how important horses were in people’s lives – they connected communities.’

Sometimes not everything goes to plan. Roger told me about his first day on the trek: ‘There was a howling gale, and I went down the Dorset Gap.I did what every rider is warned about – I didn’t tighten the girth enough. Everything came off and I spent two hours getting the packs back on. Then later in the day I found I had lost a bridle and a water bucket. Thankfully, later, someone on Facebook said they had found them.’
Accompanying Roger to record some of the journey is a team of three Masters students from Bournemouth University (George, George and Victor). George (the one from Greece) said: ‘This is our second day and it has been brilliant. Today we had the long walk, and what has been amazing is how we connected with the horse. We love Scarlet – she’s so gentle. I never thought there was a way of living like this.’
Victor admitted Scarlet had helped him: ‘I was scared of horses, but she was so gentle with us.’
Roger’s notes on the lunch hosted by Emily and Richard at Woodbridge Farm included that it was ‘a reminder that the real riches of this journey are the kindness of strangers and the stories shared along the way.’
Follow Roger and Scarlet’s journey via Instagram
@a_country_journey, and Roger’s JustGiving page is The Dorset Horse Hike

by Rachael Rowe