Little Witley

In global terms, fruit cultivation has a long history. It was first practised in Iran and Turkey about 5,000 years ago, but it was unknown in the British Isles until it was introduced by the Romans.

When the legions left the British Isles in 410, the country slipped into decline and fruit growing was just one of the skills lost.

It was not until the establishment of the monasteries during the seventh and eighth centuries that fruit was grown here again.

The earliest pictorial record of apple trees dates from c1165 and depicts trees in a monastery garden at Canterbury. Fruit growing flourished until the 14th century when the Black Death led to widespread agricultural depression and it was nearly 200 years before home-grown fruit became important again, after Henry VIII commissioned the planting of experimental orchards in Kent in 1533, using grafts from France and the Netherlands.

They proved successful and English orchards were soon producing large quantities of apples, pears and plums.

There were occasional periods of low production, but overall English orchards flourished, peaking in the 1950s, after which a steady decline set in. Almost 90 per cent of those 1950s orchards have gone, but the last few years have seen a renewed interest in growing apples both for eating and for cider making.

Many of the apple trees you will see on this walk have been planted very recently, indicating some confidence in the future.

DIRECTIONS1 Walk along the lane towards the village, going straight on at a junction. Turn left at a second junction, on Church Lane. Walk to the end of the lane then take a footpath past the church. Turn left on Bank Road, then take a footpath on the right, signed to Martley Hillside. Turn left along a field edge to a waymarked post then cross the field to a similar post at the far side. Turn left to find a stile and cross to a large pasture. Walk straight across, passing to the right of a farm. Ignore a misleading waymark and continue across the field to the far side. After this point the path is well waymarked and easily followed through several fields to Park Farm.

2 Turn left on a track until you see a small gate on your left. Turn right across a patch of garden to find a stile to a field. Ahead of you now, four fields away, you can see a yellow-painted tollhouse (Fetterlocks Lodge) at a road junction. Head directly towards this. Make sure you don't stray from the path (indistinct though it is in places) and keep children and dogs under tight control, because men with guns roam these fields, according to a notice which is posted at the far side of the second field. At the road, keep straight on past Fetterlocks Lodge, up Fetterlocks Lane.

3 Take a footpath on the left just after The Cart House. Walk straight across two fields then turn left in a third. Go straight on in the corner, past a pool, and then turn right. Keep straight on past another pool, ignoring a path branching left. Go through a hedge gap and walk straight on uphill, to the right of a hedge. Climb to the top of the ridge (Rodge Hill) and turn left on the Worcestershire Way. Keep straight on at a junction marked by a large signpost, climbing over the highest part of the ridge then descending slightly to another junction.

4 Turn left and walk towards a bridle gate. Turn right just before you reach the gate and you'll soon find a stile giving access to woodland. Go diagonally right downhill. Cross a stile then turn left and cross another. Follow a field edge down to meet a track. Turn left and follow it to the road, ignoring branching paths. Cross the road to a bridleway which runs through trees before entering a field. Go to the far left corner, as indicated by a fingerpost, then follow the waymarked route through pasture and orchard to a junction by Prickley Green Farm. Keep straight on, passing to the right of the farm to meet a lane. Turn right then take a path on the left after about 100m.

5 Walk straight through an orchard then turn right for a few metres. Cross Laughern Brook and turn right along the edge of another orchard until two stiles give access to a small field. Cross the field to a lane, turn left and then take another path on the left after a few metres. Keep left through two fields to a path junction at a hedge corner then carry straight on across the field to the far side. Cross a lane to a bridleway opposite, by the right-hand edge of a field. Follow it to another lane.

6 Turn right for a few metres then go through a gate into an orchard belonging to Woodbury Farm. Two paths are waymarked: take the left-hand one and follow it along the edge of the orchard to meet a bridleway at Bank Farm. Turn right, join Bank Road and follow it to Little Witley.

PLEASE NOTE: This walk has been carefully checked and the directions are believed to be accurate at the time of publication. No responsibility is accepted by either the author or publisher for errors or omissions, or for any loss, accident or injury, however caused.