Our walks
Someone described these walks as ‘rewilding the body and brain’. Walking puts you back in touch, not just with nature and natural processes, it also rebalances your personal ecosystem. Walking clears out the noise of modern life and lets your own landscape emerge. Findlater & Sisters’ walks are designed for a range of abilities and distances. Before each walk you will receive detailed instructions for accessing the start point. Our preferred location finder is What Three Words. Click on the dates below to book a walk with us soon. Our walks are free.
Sherborne, Suffragettes, and Sapphic love
BOOK NOW: Sunday 26th July
(7.5 miles. Some mild ascents)
10.00am - 2.00pm
Evelina Haverfield was a fearless suffragette who not only championed women’s rights, but challenged the heteronormativity of Edwardian life. Evelina’s childhood home was a Scottish castle, she married well and lived the life of a privileged Edwardian society lady at West Hall, near Sherborne. But it was the fight for women’s rights that became her passion. In 1909 she held the inaugural meeting of the Sherborne branch of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies in the Digby Hotel. Impatient, however, with their peaceful approach to securing change, she joined Emeline Pankhurst’s WPSU and embraced the direct action of the militant suffragists. It was in London that she met Vera ‘Jack’ Holmes, an actress, suffragette and chauffeur for Emmeline Pankhurst. Turning her back on her marriage Eveline, Eve, became Vera’s lover and they were together for the rest of Eve’s life. United in their determination that women should get the vote, they both went to Holloway prison for their actions. Eve was arrested for hitting a policeman. Her response: ‘I didn’t hit him hard enough, I’ll bring my revolver next time.’ The outbreak of World War One meant that many suffragettes were deployed in munitions and as nurses to support the war effort. Jack and Eve played their part too. They ran field hospitals and drove ambulances near the front line of war in Russia and Serbia where Eve died in 1920 of pneumonia.
Join us on circular walk of Sherborne exploring Eve and Jack’s life together.
Women of Tyneham
BOOK NOW: new dates soon
(7 miles. Some short steep ascents – worth it for the views)
10.00am - 2.30pm
Tyneham village was evacuated by the Ministry of Defence in 1943, so that the land could be used for the ‘war effort’. Villagers were forced to leave their homes and were relocated to nearby towns, never to return. The tragic story of the ghost village of Tyneham is well recorded, but this walk focuses on two women who stand out in this story of displaced community. Campaigner Monica Hutchings and seamstress Helen Taylor. Monica was a prolific author of books about Dorset. Helen Taylor was the last villager to leave, and her final gesture has been remembered to this day. On this wonderful walk we will hear the stories of these two women whose actions ensured that Tyneham is remembered for us and for future generations.
