The Sydling Water is an long

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

, England, which flows from north to south from Up Sydling until it joins the River Frome near Grimstone. The

source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute o ...

of the river is a

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

at Up Sydling. It passes the deserted mediaeval village of Elston and is then crossed at a

ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

by the road from Marrs Cross to

Cerne Abbas Cerne Abbas () is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England. It lies in the Dorset Council administrative area in the Cerne Valley in the Dorset Downs. The village lies just east of the A352 road north of Dorchest ...

. It then flows through the village of

Sydling St Nicholas Sydling St Nicholas is a village and civil parish in Dorset within southwest England. The parish is northwest of the county town Dorchester and covers most of the valley of the small Sydling Water in the chalk hills of the Dorset Downs. The ...

and through rural countryside until it goes under

Grimstone Viaduct The Grimstone Viaduct is a railway bridge on the Castle Cary- Weymouth "Heart of Wessex" line in Dorset, England. It is directly north of the site of Grimstone and Frampton railway station, in the hamlet of Grimstone at the western edge of th ...

and soon afterwards into the River Frome near Grimstone. The 'valley road' south of the village of Sydling St Nicholas closely follows the river until it reaches Grimstone. The river is known for its

watercress Watercress or yellowcress (''Nasturtium officinale'') is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae. Watercress is a rapidly growing perennial plant native to Europe and Asia. It is one of the oldest known leaf ve ...

farms and

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...

Grey heron The grey heron (''Ardea cinerea'') is a long-legged wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia and also parts of Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more northern ...

s and little egrets are common sights.

References

Sydling Water 2Sydling {{England-river-stub