The Temple at Weston Rhyn

Hello again people and pooches. Joe the Cocker here after a short walk of discovery. Me and my human live only a short distance from Weston Rhyn, a small village just over the border into England. While he was scouring the Internet for inspiration for nearby ancient standing stones and stone circles, he came across this curious construction. The Temple isn’t ancient but is almost two centuries old. It is a folly. A scaled down version of Stonehenge.

We parked up in the village of Weston Rhyn and headed along High Street. As we left the houses behind us, the lane narrowed without pavements. We were careful as the odd car rushed past us on this bendy road.

My human said that he could see the folly hiding in Temple Woods over the freshly cut six feet tall hedgerows.

We found the gate to the fields on our left after a few minutes of walking. The footpath is waymarked, and after taking a left fork, we entered Temple Woods. I had to be manhandled over a couple of wooden stiles before we came across a small tunnel.

It was dark, and my human said it was a bit eerie. Wimp!

After a good sniff around and almost tripping Mr. Clumsy up, we were back in the daylight. After one more stile we entered a small field with two fenced coppices of young trees. The footpath is waymarked away from the folly, so we headed left to where my human had seen it.

The guardians of the Temple were waiting for us in the field. My human said that they looked like Shetland Sheep. He was probably wrong!

On our left and partly hidden by young trees was the folly. I had to endure my human’s annoying singing as per usual. The Flintstones theme tune was the song of the day. It was quite apt really as the big feller and Fred have similar builds!

The folly was built from limestone around 1840 by Major Richard West, who lived in the nearby Quinta Hall. It is roughly based on the design of Stonehenge and is about half the size.

The big feller was impressed with the structure. He loved the idea of being eccentric and wealthy enough to build something like that. It is somewhat off the beaten track and free to visit. Well played Major West.

Even though the replica of Stonehenge was erected around 5000 years after the original and is only half the size, it is still quite an achievement. Those lintel stones must weigh a fair amount.

We were alone, and my human said that it was an eerie spot. I think that with it being almost Halloween, he was letting his imagination run wild. It’s a load of stones in the woods. What’s eerie about that? Maybe under a full moon on a chilly autumn night. ‘Dad, can we go now before it gets dark?’

My human continued to take photographs while I continued to mooch and sniff. Those sheep don’t half leave a lot of poop!

‘Dad, one more photo, and then can we go?’

While my human mooched around imagining that he was an archaeologist, I was munching on the sweet wet grass still.

At this stage, I was starting to pull on my lead. It was time to move on.

‘OK, Joe, after just one more pic’

On the way back, I spotted some perfect branches that needed chewing and breaking into smaller pieces. Now, it was my human’s turn to wait for me!

The stiles in the woods were a pain in the butt. I had to wait for the big feller to launch me over the obstacles.

Then I had to wait for him to clamber over. He is so slow. It’s fortunate that I have lots of patience. It’s also fortunate that he can’t read my mind!

We had to return to the car by retracing our steps, which meant going through the tunnel again.

My human insisted on making ‘dayo’ noises in the tunnel to hear his echo. Grow up, please!

So, after one final haul over a stile, we were back in the field that led to the road. It’s a good job that he is my dad because his lifting method involved some rather worrying familiarity.

We were soon back on the lane and into the village to the comfort of my transport. It was a nice little trip even though I didn’t get to run off-lead.

Till next time!