BOUNDED by Astwood Bank, Feckenham and Redditch, an unexpectedly hilly patch of country is dotted with numerous ponds and threaded by streams such as Swans Brook, Thickwithey Brook and Wixon Brook.
Cattle graze in small fields enclosed by ancient hedges and there is much more woodland than a glance at the OS map would suggest. Though the hills are not high, they provide panoramic views to the south and west, from the Cotswolds to the Clee Hills via Bredon Hill and the Malverns.
The first footpath used in this walk has an unusual name. It's called Poverty, and is perhaps a reminder of the days when Astwood Bank was mainly an agricultural community where people often struggled to scrape a living. In the past, it was customary for each field to be given a name: maybe the path called Poverty once led to an unproductive field of the same name.
There is little sign of poverty today and there are enough beautiful, substantial farmhouses - such as Lovelyne and Old Yarr - to indicate that at least some Tudor, Jacobean and Georgian farmers were able to make a good living.
There's a nature reserve to visit at Warrage Wetlands and an unofficial nature reserve at Hunt End, where a slope covered in fruit-bearing plants which attracts feeding parties of birds in autumn. To explore this hidden site requires a detour from the main route in point three: take a footpath by a postbox on Enfield Road and make a circuit of the hillside.
1 Walk north up Evesham Road then turn left on Poverty, which leads to Castle Street. Turn right, then cross Church Road to a footpath. After walking along a green lane, enter a cattle pasture and go uphill beside the hedge until it turns a corner. Go roughly straight on to a stile at the top of the field and then continue through two further fields to meet a track. Turn right, and then immediately left at a waymarked post.
2Cross a lane to a woodland path opposite. Keep straight on at all junctions until you come to a Y-junction marked by a slender, twin-stemmed ash tree. Fork left here, and proceed to a clearing. Walk across it to another woodland path opposite. Climb to a cross-paths marked by an ash and a twin-stemmed horse chestnut. Turn left and keep straight on at all subsequent junctions, staying close to the edge of the wood. Turn left when you meet a tarmac path, walk along the outer edge of the wood and ignore branching paths.
3Meeting a road, cross to a path opposite. Keep straight on at all junctions to meet Enfield Road. Turn left, passing the Red Lion and proceeding along Feckenham Road. Turn right at Tippings Hill, then first left on a track, Featherbed Lane. Walk past houses then continue across grassland for a little way. Look for a well-trodden path crossing the track and turn right to follow it into woodland. Leave the wood by a fallen stile and follow a grassy path back to Tippings Hill. Turn left, then first right on a bridleway. Walk to another lane, turn left and cross a stile into pasture. Go diagonally to the far right corner, through a hedge gap and down to a lane.
4 Turn left, join a path on the right and walk uphill, then continue along a level, hill-top route. Go to the far end then turn right down a driveway to a lane and go right again. Pass Chapel House then take a path on the left, going diagonally right to a lane. Turn right, then take a path on the left. Follow it to a junction just beyond Thickwithey Brook. Turn left, follow the brook for 100m, then bear diagonally right to a stile. Cross a footbridge and turn left by a field edge. Cross two footbridges at the far end.
5 Turn left on a track and keep straight on when the track turns left, going through a gate into a large field. Go diagonally towards three trees then head towards a solitary tree. Pass to the left of it and proceed to a path junction next to a water trough at a field corner. Turn left on path 115, cross a stile in the next corner and continue to a footbridge. Cross into the garden at Old Yarr, walk past a pond then turn right along the driveway for a short distance before bearing left to cross a stile to a lane.
6 Cross to path 114 and turn left through Wharrage Wetlands. Turn right at a junction, cross a footbridge and walk across a field. Bear slightly left, keeping to the left of a pond and passing under two sets of powerlines. Proceed to a lane and turn left. Turn right at a road junction, then left on Dark Lane. Join a path on the right after 200m, walking parallel with Dark Lane for 500m. Rejoin the lane, follow it into Astwood Bank, turn left on High Street and then right on Feckenham Road to Evesham Road.
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.
FACTFILE
Start: The crossroads in Astwood Bank, grid ref SP043623.
Length: 7 miles/11.5km.
Maps: OS Explorer 220, OS Landranger 150.
Terrain: Mostly pasture and woodland, mildly hilly in places.
Footpaths: No problems.
Stiles: 27.
Parking: Car park on Sambourne Lane by the crossroads.
Buses: Harding's/Dudley's 350 Worcester to Redditch via Astwood Bank, Monday to Saturday; alight at the crossroads or at the next stop, Eastern Hill (next to Poverty); Traveline 0870 608 2608 or www.traveline.org.uk
Refreshments: Astwood Bank and Hunt End.
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