Our verdict
The shady chapter of a Ham Hill day and the quietest way up from Stoke. While the crowds cluster round the war memorial and the pub, the quarry-pocked woods down this end keep their dells to themselves. Bluebells do well in the hollows.
The wooded western end of the Ham Hill ridge above Stoke-sub-Hamdon — hamstone quarry hollows under an oak and ash canopy, linking the country park's open rampart tops to the village below.
Woodland on the western spur of Ham Hill Country Park, open at all times.