Cradley

Though there has been much modern development, the ancient centre of the village survives as a mostly unspoilt cluster of buildings on and around Rectory Lane.

St James' Church was rebuilt in 1868 but it does retain some Norman features, and even a piece of Anglo-Saxon carved frieze which is inserted in the north wall of the tower.

The church's neighbours include two attractive houses and a charming timber-framed building with an overhanging upper storey.

This was formerly a school but now serves as the village hall.

In 1932 the Royal Commission on Historic Monuments described the building as partly 15th-century in origin, but nobody knows what its purpose was at that time; it may have been a school even then, but it has been suggested that it was more likely to have been a parsonage, a church alehouse or possibly a courthouse.

However, it is thought that it was almost certainly already established as a school by 1667, when James Turner of Vinesend bequeathed £20 a year to fund free schooling for the village boys, and a further £10 a year for the repair and maintenance of their schoolhouse.

The building was extended in 1674 and restored in the 19th century.

By 1874 it was attended by as many as 140 boys (many of whom must have come from neighbouring villages) but in 1910 it ceased to function as a school when the boys moved to join the girls at the National School which had been established in 1856 on glebe land made available by the rector.

The former school was restored again in 2005.

There are several other attractive timber-framed buildings in Cradley, and you will also pass a particularly notable one at nearby Bearswood Common. This is Barrow Mill, which has a rare Jacobean porch.

Look out for an interesting cast-iron milepost at Suckley, almost opposite the Nelson Inn. It gives the distance to Worcester Cross as nine miles and the distance to Stocks as a very precise half a mile and 176 yards.

FACTFILEStart: Cradley, grid ref SO735471 (alternatively, Storridge church).

Length: Six miles/9.6km.

Maps: OS Explorers 190 and 204, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: Farmland and woodland, no real hills.

Footpaths: Excellent.

Stiles: Nine.

Parking: Near the war memorial at Cradley (or near Storridge church).

Buses: 417 Worcester to Ledbury service, Monday-Saturday only, via both Cradley and Storridge; if starting at Cradley, get off at Buryfields and walk back a few metres to the road junction mentioned in point one; www.herefordbus.info or Traveline 0871 200 2233.

Refreshments: Village shops at Cradley and Suckley, Nelson Inn at Suckley, Red Lion Inn and Prancing Pony at Stifford's Bridge, farm shop at Batchcombe.

DIRECTIONS1 Walk along Rectory Lane, past the church and village hall, then cross a stile into a field to take the left-hand one of three adjacent footpaths. It's easily followed down a field edge, across a brook and up through another field to meet the road at Buryfields. Turn right, walk to a junction and fork right. Follow a narrow lane to a T-junction and turn right again.

2 Take the first footpath on the left, at a sign for Storridge. Keep to the right when the path forks, walking to the right of a fence. Turn left when the path is crossed by a bridleway. Cross a sheep pasture to a gate at the far side and enter Whitman's Hill Coppice. Follow the bridleway straight through the wood to the main road, ignoring all branching paths. Turn right to Storridge.

3 Take a lane on the left, opposite Storridge church. Shortly turn left again, on a no through road' which eventually becomes a footpath. Keep straight on at all junctions, passing through Batchcombe Fruit Farm and continuing along the valley to meet a road at Longley Green, Suckley. Turn left, briefly joining the Worcestershire Way. Keep straight on at a road junction. Soon after passing the Nelson Inn, as you approach a bus shelter and another road junction, you'll see two footpath signs next to each other on the left. Take the left-hand path.

4 Walk along the left edge of a field then turn left in the corner, through two gates. Turn right in the adjacent field, pass through another gate and go straight on down the next field. Climb a stile to another field and go diagonally left to reach a complicated path junction marked by a post covered in waymarks. Turn left to a gate, cross Cradley Brook at a footbridge, pass to the left of Barrow Mill then turn right, past the front of the building, and walk along the access track. After passing another house you'll see an unfenced wooded slope on your left - this is Bearswood Common, which is access land, open to the public.

5 The track meets a lane by Harrells Cottage. Turn left here, then take the first path on the right, after about 100m. Go obliquely left across two arable fields to a stile into sheep pasture. Ignoring a cross-path, continue in the same direction to a gate in the far right corner. Keep straight on to meet the road at Stifford's Bridge.

6 Cross to a path opposite, to the left of Cradley Brook. Follow it through three fields, ignoring a path branching left in the third field. Proceed along a driveway, keep straight on at a junction with another driveway and turn right when you reach the road at Cradley.

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.