Coppett Hill

In fact, Coppett Hill is one of the most important features of that view. Part of the hill has long been managed as a common but it was a privately owned common until 1985, when it was bought by a group of local residents with assistance from Goodrich and Welsh Bicknor parish councils and the county council.

The new owners set up Coppett Hill Common Trust to manage the common both for nature and for public access. One of their first tasks was to open up permissive paths to complement the rather sparse network of public paths.

A booklet featuring suggested walks is available from the village shop at Goodrich or from the visitor centre at Goodrich Castle.

The best path on the common is the one that runs its full length, from north to south along the spine of the hill.It provides a link with several other paths, including a newly created permissive route to Baynhams and Park Wood.

In the walk described here, however, it’s combined with the riverside path to Welsh Bicknor. A short uphill climb then allows you to visit Courtfield, before dropping down to the river again.

However, you could choose to return directly to Goodrich along the road instead. This is a shorter, easier route which also has the advantage of avoiding the traffic noise which blights the riverside footpath between Welsh Bicknor and Kerne Bridge.

As you approach Welsh Bicknor, you’ll pass under a disused railway bridge which spans the river.

Attached to it is a footbridge carrying the Wye Valley Walk.

The railway bridge carried the Ross to Monmouth line, built in 1873 and closed in 1965, and it’s worth going up the bank to the bridge to see the southern portal of Lydbrook Tunnel, which took the railway through Coppett Hill to Kerne Bridge.

Welsh Bicknor consists of a church and a YHA hostel, set among snowdrops and wild daffodils close to the Wye. St Margaret’s Church was built in 1858 in a Victorian pastiche of Norman and Early English styles.

There was originally a real Norman church on this site and its successor contains one ancient monument, an effigy which is said to represent a 14th-century Countess of Salisbury.

She lived at Courtfield and was put in charge of Henry of Monmouth, the future Henry V, after the death of his mother when he was eight years old. Henry is believed to have lived with her at Courtfield for a few years but we don’t know for sure and nothing obvious survives from that time.

From the track past Courtfield you do get glimpses of what appears to be a Gothic ruin, a monastic building perhaps. But the mundane truth is that this is a 19th-century folly.

Goodrich Castle (English Heritage) is a short walk north of the village, perched on a wooded bluff overlooking the Wye.

Originally Godric’s Castle,it was first documented in1101, but the earliest part of the present structure was built nearly a century after that. Much of the fabric survives,including a barbican, gatehouse, great hall, keep, curtain walls and several towers,from whichthere are fine views.

FACTFILE

Start: Goodrich, off the A40 south of Ross-on-Wye, grid ref SO575195.

Length: 8¾ miles/14km (or 6½ miles/10.5km).

Maps: OS Explorer OL14, OS Landranger 162.

Terrain: Woodland, open common, riverside pastures; two short but fairly steep ascents and descents.

Footpaths: Excellent.

Stiles: Two.

Parking: Goodrich Castle picnic place (check seasonal closing times – it may be 4pm in March).

Public transport: Goodrich is served by Ross-Monmouth buses – H&H Coaches 34 and Stagecoach 35, Mon-Sat only; you can go via Hereford and Monmouth, Hereford and Ross or Ledbury and Ross; the 34 stops in Goodrich village and the 35 at Kerne Bridge (Goodrich turn) which is five to 10 minutes’ walk; see hereford bus.info or the Herefordshire Council timetable booklet.

Refreshments: Pub and shop in Goodrich, tea room at Goodrich Castle.

DIRECTIONS

1 From Goodrich village take a ‘no through road’ signed to Courtfield and Welsh Bicknor.

Walk to a junction at a grassy triangle and climb steeply up on to Coppett Hill Common. When you reach a trig point, select the middle path of three and keep climbing (the trig is below the summit). A few more paces brings you to the top and the path continues across the hill, to the right of woods, before descending eventually to meet the river Wye opposite the towering cliffs of Coldwell Rocks.

2 Turn left and follow the Wye to St Margaret’s Church at Welsh Bicknor. Turn left past a YHA hostel then shortly turn right on a path which climbs steeply through woodland to meet a road at a junction at the top of the hill. This is the road from Goodrich which you used earlier so turn left if you wish to do the shorter version of the walk and return directly to Goodrich. For the longer version, turn right towards Home Farm and Glen Wye.

3 At Courtfield you’ll see a notice about a proposed path diversion – if it has been confirmed (which is unlikely)it should be waymarked. If there is no new waymarking just keep straight on a long the track, descending to the river Wye again and then turning left. Soon after passing a canoe launch site look for a fingerpost pointing the way to Goodrich. Climb straight up hill for a little way before turning right to follow a gently rising pathback to the junctionby the gras