Much of north-east Worcestershire used to be covered by Feckenham Forest, near Dormston, of which only tiny remnants survive today.

The forest didn't consist entirely of trees, it contained cultivated land and open country too, but it was mainly woodland and the whole area was subject to strict forest law for the protection of the king's game.

Forest wardens enforced the law and poaching carried the death penalty. However, clearance for agriculture soon made inroads into the forest, and the salt makers at Droitwich used vast amounts of timber for fuel.

By 1629 Feckenham Forest was so diminished that it was officially ''disafforested'', freeing it from forest law.

In the farmland which has replaced it near Dormston there are reminders of the forest everywhere because the landscape is still dominated by the oak tree.

Not only is it the most numerous tree in the surviving woods, but the hedgerows are also punctuated at intervals by fine oaks which have been allowed to grow to full size, and there are many individual oaks standing in splendid isolation in the fields.

The forest has also left a rich legacy of beautiful timber-framed buildings.

One of the most charming of them is the church of St Nicholas at Dormston. The nave and chancel are built of stone but the tower and porch are timber-framed.

The church is Norman in origin but much of the present structure is of the 14th Century, while the tower was probably added in the 15th Century.

A short distance to the south-west of the church stands timber-framed Moat Farm, which has featured in a number of books about England's architectural heritage. In fact, a photograph of it graces the cover of the paperback edition of R J Brown's classic English Farmhouses.

It is one of only a handful of houses in the country to retain tiled weatherings - these are projections from the walls which were intended to protect the wattle and daub from damp. Opposite the house is a 17th-Century timber-framed dovecote to which there is a right of way.

St James's Church at Kington was built in the 13th Century and has a timber-framed tower similar to the one at Dormston. Kington is mainly a modern village but the footpath leading to it passes an area of earthworks which is evidence that an older village once existed.

Many mediaeval villages were depopulated or abandoned for one reason or another. The Black Death has traditionally been blamed for this, and it did kill a third of England's population in 1348-9.

However, historians now recognise that there were other causes too. In some areas conditions were so poor and life so hard that this in itself was sufficient to lead to abandonment.

The Enclosure Acts also brought great poverty and were responsible for many deserted mediaeval villages.

DIRECTIONS

Walk up Cockshot Lane. After passing Cockshot House turn left on a footpath and walk to the edge of Lower Kite's Wood, then turn right by the woodland edge. When

the wood comes to an end, continue by the field boundary to a gate.

Cross a track and enter another field. Head across it to a gateway just to the right of a pond and continue in the same direction across another field to a gate in the far left corner by Upper Kite's Wood. Turn right along a bridleway to Cockshot Lane.

n Turn left, then soon right on a bridleway at a sign for Roundhill Lodge. After passing a few houses the bridleway continues as a tree-lined green lane that eventually turns right at a junction, passing more houses before reaching St Nicholas's Church.

n Join a footpath on the opposite side of the lane to the church. Follow it to the left corner of a field. In the next field turn left to a lane and then turn right. As you approach Moat Farm join a bridleway on the left, walking across three fields towards the A422. When you come to a junction with two footpaths join the one on the right. Walk along the right-hand edges of four fields, then turn left to the A422.

Cross to another footpath almost opposite, walk to a footbridge, then through a field to a stile into the next field. Go forward along its right-hand edge to a pair of stiles and a footbridge at the far side. Bear left across a paddock to a gate then go diagonally to another pair of stiles and a footbridge.

Go left across a field to another stile. Turn right past the earthworks of the deserted mediaeval village and walk into Kington. Turn right again at a junction just beyond the church.

As you approach the A422, turn right just after The Mill House, on a path which runs along the edge of a garden, over a footbridge and then by an obvious route to the main road, opposite Cockshot Lane.

FACTFILE

Start: Cockshot Lane, Dormston, off the A422 a few miles east of Worcester; grid reference SO981559.

Length: 4 miles/6.4km.

Maps: OS Explorer 204, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: Pasture, arable and woodland, no hills, muddy and overgrown in places.

Stiles: 18.

Parking: There is a parking space where the bridleway from Upper Kite's Wood joins Cockshot Lane (see map), and another near Dormston Church, or you could ask to use the car park at the Red Hart at the bottom of Cockshot Lane, or you may be able to find roadside parking elsewhere. The directions here start from the bottom of Cockshot Lane.

Buses: Harding's Coaches/Dudley's Coaches 350 Monday to Saturday. The driver will drop you by the Red Hart at the bottom of Cockshot Lane; Traveline 0870 608 2608.

Refreshments: The Red Hart.

DISCLAIMER

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 the author or publisher for errors or omissions, or for any loss or injury, however caused.