Ombersley

On this walk you have the chance to visit another notable timberframed building, tucked away in the hamlet of Hawford. This is a 16thcentury dovecote, which belongs to the National Trust. It stands on private property but is accessible, on foot only, along a private road, from 9am to 6pm, or sunset if earlier.

The dovecote is one of the oldest examples of its type in the West Midlands and is the sole surviving building of a group that made up a grange, or monastic farm.

Another particularly attractive place on the route is the woodland just to the west of the fish pond in Ombersley Park. It clings to crumbling cliffs of red sandstone and has created a sheltered environment in which mosses, lichens and the lovely birds-nest fern can flourish, giving an overwhelmingly green and almost jungle feel to this otherwise small and unremarkable wood.

The fish pond provided carp for Ombersley Manor in the Middle Ages and was later the site of Turn Mill, a corn mill that was dismantled in the 1930s.

The pond is fringed by reedbeds, which provide a valuable wildlife habitat.

FACTFILE:

Start: Ombersley, grid ref SO844633.

Length: Six miles/9.5km.

Maps: OS Explorer 204, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: Mostly farmland; flat, apart from one short, steepish descent.

Footpaths: Mixed – most actually range from adequate to excellent, but the overall impression is poor due to a minority of very seriously neglected paths. Expect to battle with nettles, brambles and thistles, as well as spiky hedges of hawthorn and blackthorn encroaching across stiles. Waymarking is mostly lacking altogether or intermittent, and is confusing at times and wrong at one point.

Some stiles are dilapidated, with steps missing.

Stiles: 13.

Parking: Ombersley.

Public transport: Worcester-Kidderminster 303 on weekdays, 300 on Sundays and bank holidays, worcestershire.gov.uk/ bustimetables or Worcestershire Hub 01905 765765.

Refreshments: Ombersley.

DIRECTIONS:

1 Walk west beside the A4133, turn right on Parsonage Lane then go left along a track. Cross the A4133 and go down a lane opposite. Keep straight on along a track when the lane bends right. Ignore a path branching right at a stile, after which the track descends to an unmarked junction in woodland by a stream and sandstone cliffs. Turn right. At the next junction, a few metres further on, turn right again and make a steepish descent through woodland to a meadow. Walk to the river Severn and turn left.

2 Meeting a private road, turn left to the A449. Cross and turn right, then left on a footpath at a sign for Chatley. The path is easily followed through fields to a farm. Turn right where waymarked and cross a narrow field to a lane. Turn right and walk to a sharp bend in the lane at Hawford.

3 Turn left towards Hawford Grange Barn, then left again, as indicated by a white arrow. Follow a fenced and hedged grassy path leading to a junction with two tracks, one of which rises slightly uphill. Most walkers probably take this rising track, owing to the state of the waymarked route, which is as follows. Turn right along the grassy path until a waymark directs you left through brambles into a coppice. Go straight on, push through a line of conifers and turn left beside a pool to reach the rising track. Whichever route you choose to this point, the footpath is now clear, running to the left of the track, above a dingle.

4 Descend into a large meadow and keep close to the left-hand edge. At the far side a too-narrow gap in a thorny hedge leads to a gate to another meadow. Go straight across to the far side, pass through a gate and squeeze through a gap between nettles and brambles to meet a well-used bridleway. Turn left and ignore a stile on the left after a few paces. Continue along the edge of the next field, go through a gap in the corner and turn right along the remains of a green lane. Continue along the lefthand edge of a field to a junction and turn left along another field edge. Proceed to a lane.

5 Turn left, then left again at a Tjunction.

Walk through Chatley then turn right, back onto a footpath you used earlier (point two). Retrace your steps across the narrow field then straight on to join a well-defined track, which is easily followed to a road. Cross to a path almost opposite that continues in the same direction with Ombersley church now in view until you meet a waymarked post. Bear very slightly right now. At the time of writing (after harvesting but before ploughing) the path is very clear but if this is not the case when you do the walk just keep to the right of power-lines and you won’t go wrong.

6 Leave the field at a stile under an oak tree and continue across the next field, heading directly towards the church. At the far side keep roughly straight on to the left of a hedge. Approaching the corner, cross a badly overgrown footbridge and stile in the hedge and then turn left towards a pair of brick barns.

Cross another overgrown stile to pass to the right of the barns and join a lane. Cross to a path almost opposite, walk along the left edge of a field, across a broken stile and left. Push through nettles and brambles, cross the A449 then climb a seriously overgrown bank to a stile. Go diagonally right across Ombersley cricket pitch to the main street.

Plenty of interesting facts along this walk Julie Royle encourages us to get out and about in Ombersley, which is well-known for its timber-framed buildings

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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.