Wimpole Wander... Oh, the folly of it! Multi-cache

The 'Folly' in question is situated at the northern end of Wimpole Hall Estate in Cambridgeshire. It was built in the mid 1770's by that noted architect of follies, Mr Sanderson Miller. He was instructed to do so by the Lord Chancellor, Phillip Yorke - 1st Earl of Hardwick, who owned Wimpole hall at that time.

Wimpole Hall is now owned by the National Trust. It was bequeathed to the Nation by Mrs Elsie Bambridge, the last owner, when she died. She and her husband, Captain George Bambridge, had owned it since 1938. When they purchased the Hall, it was totally devoid of any furnishings or paintings. Elsie devoted her life to recovering the original furnishings and what you see (if you go into the Hall) is the result. There is no charge for parking or for entrance to the park, which is open daily from dawn to dusk (Sorry, NO night caching), although you are expected to make a donation. There is a collection box attached to the gate at the entrance to the park. If you want to look round the Hall, the Wimpole Gallery or the formal gardens then there is an admission charge. Full details can be found on their web site.

During the Second World War, Bassingbourn Airbase, just across the road, was home to the American 323rd Bomber Squadron (91st Bomber Group). The lower half of the avenue that stretches south from Wimpole Hall was requisitioned by the government (much to Elsie's annoyance, apparently) and used for parking nine of the squadron's B-17 bombers. They were dispersed amongst the double rows of elm trees that lined the avenue. Sadly, Dutch Elm Disease destroyed the trees in 1975. When operational, the bombers would taxi down the avenue, across the A14 main road and onto the airbase to take off. If you're interested, do a search for "Wimpole Hall" on the the 91st Bomber Group website.

Wimpole Hall Park is big... It's 3.1/4 miles north to south, 1 mile east to west and it covers 2500 acres. If you're reasonably fit and don't dawdle, you should be able to complete the cache and get back to your car in under an hour and a half. All the major trees on the estate are numbered. The number is stamped onto a small, oval aluminium plate which is nailed somewhere on the tree's trunk. You will be visiting quite a few of them (among other things). You can hug them if you like, no one will mind.
Please note... Since this cache was set, a new red/brown plastic number tag has been attached to all the trees. Please ignore that one, it's the oval, aluminium one that you're looking for.

The quoted co-ordinates are for the car park. This is accessed from the 'yellow' road to the east of the estate. Just follow the brown tourist road signs. Once you've parked up, walk through the 'staff & disabled' car park, then down alongside the stable block and turn right. You'll see the black iron gate, which is the entrance to the Park. Be good, guys and leave a donation in the collection box, please. Good luck and enjoy the hunt.
PLEASE NOTE: The National Trust are now charging £2 to use their car park. Sorry about that.

Location 1 - N52° 08.436' W000° 02.886' - The Churchyard Gates.
It wouldn't be right for me to have you to walk past a churchyard without sending you in for at least one barely legible number on some obscure tombstone, now would it?. So... in you go... up to the left of the church. It the big affair with the little hedge round it, just to the right of the gate into Wimpole Hall. No obscure gravestone this time, though. You're looking at the monument to "Elsie... Daughter of Rudyard Kipling and Benefactress to the Nation". She was born on '2 FEB 18D6' and died '23 MAY 197K'. The words and dates are a bit obscure so you may need to get 'up close and personal' to read it.

Location 2 - N52° 08.400' W000° 03.466' - The Lime Grove.
Situated on the top of what is possibly the highest hill in the park you will find a group of six Lime (or Linden) trees. They are numbered sequentially from 13F3 to 13F8. I've taken the co-ordinates from number 4 but you can take your information from any of them. It was a bit hazy when I set the cache but on a clear day, you can see for miles. Aren't you glad you climbed up here?

Location 3 - N52° 08.485' W000° 03.138' - The West Avenue.
According to a plaque (now, sadly, missing), the row of young trees stretching west from here was dedicated in January 1986 to all those people who were organ donors. It's not all that exciting but I wanted to get you in the right starting place for the next location. This is the only gate through the fence into the northern part of the park for miles. Good of me, huh? There's a notice on the wall just below the statue of two little boys wrestling... at least, I hope they're wrestling! The second word on the notice is J letters long.

Location 4 - N52° 08.591' W000° 02.845' - The "Lonesome" Oak.
This big ol' fella is all on its own in the middle of the park. Its number is 164B. It also conceals another piece of information that you will need (It's NOT another tree number). It will be very difficult and time consuming for you to complete the cache without it. You are very exposed here.... Please be discreet.

Location 5 - N52° 08.685' W000° 03.204' - The "Not So Lonesome" Oak. (Oh, alright, Sycamore if you're going to be pikky about it.)
Two Sycamore trees that are reasonably close together. Make sure you get the right one. Its number is 171G. Between you and your destination lie a river and a lake. The bridge is the only sensible way across. That's were you're heading next.

Location 6 - N52° 08.876' W000° 03.121' - The Bridge of Spheres.
As you can see, this bridge is a load of old balls. How many, exactly? There's one on each post, the total number = 2C.

Location 7 - N52° 09.023' W000° 03.051' - The Oak Triplets. (To those that are not aware of the sad story, these may appear to be one oak tree and two horse-chestnut trees... Long ago, two little conkers were not impressed by the thought of growing up into 'spreading chestnut trees'. They wanted to be 'mighty oaks' so to keep them happy, their mum told them a little 'porky'. They still believe that they will grow up to be Mighty Oaks. Let's not disillusion them, eh.)
Three trees in close company and numbered sequentially. I took my co-ordinates from the one with the highest number and that's the one you want. Its number is 19EA. While you're here, have a good look at the Folly. You can't (officially) get too close but it's quite impressive and with 230 years of 'natural ageing', it really does look like a ruined castle.

Location 8 - N52° 09.029' W000° 02.947' - The Final Oak.
This is your final waypoint. The number on this Oak tree is 1H72. You now have all the numbers you need to complete your task. You did get the 'extra' information at Location 4, didn't you? Your path lies through the gate a few yards to your right as you face the Folly.

I had no problem with obtaining a good satellite lock at the cache location but at the time of setting, the trees were still bare. In summer you may experience some difficulty. On the other hand, the location is pretty obvious so I'm not going to worry too much about it. Enjoy....

Please don't leave food stuff or sharp, pointy things in the cache.

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