IT'S a well-known fact that Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery houses one of the world's finest collections of pre-Raphaelite art.

What is not so well known is that an otherwise unremarkable Worcestershire church also has a notable collection, with 14 stained-glass windows by one of the most renowned pre-Raphaelites of all, Sir Edward Burne-Jones.

This is All Saints' Church at Wilden, recently described in a national newspaper as "a temple to Victorian art".

It was built in 1880 at the expense of a local resident, Alfred Baldwin, who was an industrialist, a Conservative MP and a chairman of the Great Western Railway. Baldwin was married to Louisa MacDonald, whose sister Georgiana was the wife of Edward Burne-Jones.

Between 1902 and 1914, the original windows of All Saints' Church were replaced with 14 new ones, designed by Burne-Jones before his death in 1898.

Most of them are dedicated to members of the Baldwin, MacDonald and Burne-Jones families, many of whom were notable in some way.

Louisa and Georgiana MacDonald had two other sisters, Alice and Agnes. Alice married an art expert, John Lockwood Kipling, and their son was the writer Rudyard Kipling.

Agnes married the painter Edward Poynter, a president of the Royal Academy. Louisa and Alfred Baldwin produced Stanley, who became Prime Minister in 1923. He was present, aged 13, at the consecration of All Saints' in 1880, and is depicted in one of Burne-Jones' windows.

Just over a decade ago, All Saints' merged with St Michael's Church in Stourport.

Since then, it has generally been kept locked, except for services. Recently, however, the parish has embarked on a series of open days, which have attracted hundreds of visitors.

The next open day is scheduled for 5 February - that is, today, from 10am to 2pm.

All Saints' Church is on the route of this walk, but if you can't do the walk today, not to worry; there will be other open days.

And if you're not interested in Victorian art anyway, that doesn't matter either, because there's much else to enjoy, including the delightful Burlish Top Nature Reserve, which was the site of a US Army hospital in the 1940s.

Today, it is a mixture of heath and woodland, with dozens of gorse bushes currently in full bloom, a blaze of vivid yellow defying the February cold. The equally colourful green woodpecker is a common sight at Burlish Top too.

Blackstone Rock, with its intriguing caves, is on the route, along with a lovely stretch of the River Severn.

The walk is very easy to follow because much of it coincides with a waymarked "Stourport Circular" devised by Wyre Forest District Council and North Worcestershire Countryside Action Project.

DIRECTIONS

WALK downstream beside the River Severn, passing under the bridge and proceeding to Stourport Basins. Cross Lower Basin by means of three bridges, turn right past The Tontine and then left on Mart Lane. Walk past Upper Basin and across York Street to join the canal towpath opposite the Lock Shop. Note the red-and-blue waymarks indicating the "Stourport Circular".

After a further three-quarters of a mile, soon after passing the Bird in Hand, you will come to a former railway bridge (now part of Leapgate Country Park). Pass under the bridge then turn right, leaving the towpath and the Stourport Circular. Fork left after a few more paces.

A little further on, take a path into a field, then immediately fork right to go diagonally across the field. Keep straight on at a junction, guided by a bridleway sign. Cross the River Stour, skirt Wyre Mill Farm and walk to All Saints' Church at Wilden. Turn left beside the road, keeping straight on at a junction.

When you reach 192 Wilden Lane, cross to an industrial estate then turn right, just before Mercian Farm Supplies, on an unsigned, unpromising track which is actually a bridleway. It soon improves, crossing the River Stour then running between fields grazed by ponies and sheep.

Meeting the canal at Oldington Bridge, turn left on the towpath and walk towards Stourport until you come to another bridge. Cross the canal here, rejoining the Stourport Circular. Numerous waymarks guide you across the A451 then along the edge of a golf course until you enter woodland at Burlish Top Nature Reserve.

The Stourport Circular keeps to the edge of the nature reserve. For a more interesting route, turn right at any point you wish and make your way to a pair of telecommunications masts which tower over the reserve. There are several unsigned paths to choose from, or you may prefer to stay on the Stourport Circular until you come to an "Easy Going Trail" waymarked with purple arrows and leading more or less directly to the masts.

Turn left by the masts on a broad, sandy path. Follow it to a junction marked by an oak tree and keep straight on, rejoining the Stourport Circular, which soon swings right on a wooded route leading eventually to another former railway bridge.

Pass under the bridge and fork right on a track which leads to Blackstone Picnic Place. Turn left, still on the Stourport Circular, and soon joining the Severn Way too. Follow the unmistakable path back to Stourport.

FACTFILE

Start: Stourport Bridge, grid ref SO 807710 (alternative starting points include Blackstone Picnic Place and Burlish Top).

Length: 71/2 miles/12km.

Maps: OS Explorer 218, OS Landranger 138.

Terrain: Grassland, woodland and heathland, with no hills.

Footpaths: Excellent.

Stiles: Two.

Parking: Riverside car park near Stourport Bridge (alternatively, Blackstone Picnic Place or Burlish Top).

Buses: 293/294/300, daily. Traveline 0870 608 2608 or www.traveline.org.uk

Refreshments: Stourport (including canalside tea rooms at the Lock Shop); canalside pub near Leapgate Country Park; village shop at Wilden.