THIS is a short but very attractive walk in the gentle countryside to the east of Worcester.

There is a mixture of grazing land and arable, with some substantial old hedgerows and a scattering of veteran oak trees.

Large woods, such as Bow Wood and Grafton Wood, are important features in the landscape, and are visible for much of the walk. They are remnants of the Forest of Feckenham which once covered a quarter of Worcestershire.

Some of the fields display the characteristic ridge-and-furrow pattern of ancient ploughland.

This is most obvious in summer, when buttercups highlight it by growing on the ridges but not in the furrows.

However, it is visible all year, especially when a low sun throws it into relief in the early morning or late afternoon.

The distinctive corrugated effect was created by teams of oxen constantly turning the soil in the same direction.

It is seen on land which was ploughed in the Middle Ages, later became pasture and remains pasture today.

The pattern is destroyed by modern ploughing although aerial photography can detect its presence.

The villages and hamlets in this part of the county were founded by Saxon settlers in what were then just small clearings in the forest.

Grafton Flyford was first recorded in 884 and is said to have flourished for several centuries, becoming very much larger than it is today.

Its entry in the Domesday Book does bear this out to a certain extent but there are none of those distinctive humps and hollows in the fields which usually indicate the site of a deserted mediaeval village.

Whatever the truth, all that remains now is St John's Church, neighbouring Church Farm and a couple of houses.

DIRECTIONS

Walk along the roadside verge towards Worcester for 100m then cross to a footpath by Grafton Mill. Pass to the left of the mill, cross two footbridges and a stile.

Proceed by the right-hand edges of two fields until a gate gives access to a green lane. Follow it to a surfaced lane at North Piddle and keep straight on in the same direction.

After about 250m a footpath crosses the lane: join it at a gate on the right. Walk through a young woodland then across a field to a gap at the far side. Go straight on by the left-hand edge of the next field, through a gate and diagonally across a field which may be obstructed by electric fences.

Cross Piddle Brook and keep left through Moorend Farm to a road. Turn right for 150m then join a path on the left. It keeps to the left-hand field edge at first, and you will pass the truncated ends of two hedges coming across the field from the far side. After passing the second one, go diagonally across the field, aiming for the bottom end of a hedge running up the next field towards Upton Snodsbury. As you draw nearer you will see a stile and can adjust your heading if necessary.

Walk up the next field, left of the hedge, to Upton Snodsbury. Turn right, past the church and shop, to the main road, and cross to a track opposite.

The track eventually ends at a gate, where you join a bridleway running along the right-hand edge of a field. Turn right on another bridleway when you come to a junction.

Keep to the right-hand edge through two fields. At the end of the second field turn left on a footpath and cross an overgrown stile in the top corner. Turn right past a barn and then left on another bridleway.

Go obliquely right in the next field, guided initially by a tall ash tree to the left of a group of trees, then continuing in much the same direction to the far right field corner. Go through a gap into the field on the right and continue in the same direction as before, on the other side of the hedge.

Cross a stile and keep straight on by the next field edge. As you approach the corner go through a gate (hanging by one hinge only - alternatives include an overgrown sort-of-stile and an overgrown footbridge) and turn right.

Continue into the field corner and take an overgrown path by an electric fence - some care is required here to avoid the fence. Cross an overgrown stile and push through more overgrowth to emerge on a road.

Join a footpath almost opposite, which bears right across the corner of a garden to a footbridge into a field/orchard. Head towards St John's Church. Pass through the churchyard and leave it at the far side next to the village hall.

Cross a gravelled area to a stile and go across a field to the far left corner, where another stile gives access to the road. Turn right on the grass verge to return to the start of your walk.

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

FACTFILE

Start: Grafton Flyford turn, on A422 between Upton Snodsbury and Flyford Flavell; grid ref SO962554.

Length: 4 1/4 miles/6.8km.

Maps: OS Explorer 204, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: flat farmland, including arable and pasture.

Paths: many are excellent, some are poor and a couple are disgraceful (especially one short path which is, at the time of writing, obstructed by three electric fences).

Stiles: 14, of which one is partially overgrown by hedging (wear old clothes or take secateurs).

Parking: by the Grafton Flyford turn.

Buses: Hardings/Dudleys 350 to Redditch, Mon-Sat; the driver will stop by the Grafton turn but you may prefer to start/finish at Upton Snodsbury, where it's much pleasanter to wait for the return bus (there is a shelter, set well back from the road); Traveline 0870 608 2608 or www.traveline.org.uk

Refreshments: pub and shop at Upton Snodsbury.