WHERE might you find an elephant in Worcestershire, do you think? Strangely enough, on top of Bredon Hill, where there is a large chunk of limestone that is shaped uncannily like a kneeling pachyderm. It is known as the Banbury Stone and, according to local folklore, it likes to wander down to the River Avon once in a while to take a drink.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, parts of Bredon Hill do have a good range of flora and fauna, including veteran trees, rare beetles and a herd of fallow deer. All these, and other species, are found mainly on the scarp slope, which is steep enough to have escaped cultivation, and is protected as a National Nature Reserve, managed by English Nature with a traditional grazing regime. You need a permit for free access to the reserve but no permit is needed to walk the public footpaths which cross it. In addition, there is currently permissive access - through the Countryside Stewardship scheme - to Kemerton Camp, the Iron Age fort which occupies another area of uncultivated ground at the summit.

A map that has been erected on the site provides more information and shows the extent of the area that is open to pedestrains.

Open access is also newly available to the riverside meadows on both sides of the road to the north of Eckington Bridge, allowing pleasant short strolls by the River Avon.

As well as Bredon Hill and the River Avon, three villages are included in this walk.

Each is worth exploring if you appreciate beautiful buildings, such as St Michael's Church at Great Comberton or the timber-framed cottages tucked away in Eckington's back streets.

One of the finest buildings in the area is Bredon's Norton Manor, dated 1585, which you will pass as you enter the village.

DIRECTIONS

1Cross Eckington Bridge and enter a meadow on the right. A footpath goes diagonally across to a gate near the far corner. However, as this is access land you can choose your own route - beside the River Avon, for example. If you follow the river to the tight bend known as Swan's Neck, you will find the gate just a little further on. Once through the gate, turn right on a track and follow waymarks to a lane. Turn right, and right again after Phaeton House, then right on Berwick Lane. The lane becomes a track which ends at a field. Continue along the right-hand edge until you can take a path which crosses the Avon at a footbridge over a weir, then again at Nafford Lock. Walk to a junction and keep straight on to meet a lane.

2 Turn left, then join a footpath. It's easily followed across a field, over a footbridge and along the left-hand edge of another field. After a while, a waymark seems to direct you left, across a fence. What it means is that you should keep to the very edge of the field, along the remains of an old green lane, then continue along the right-hand edge of a third field for a few paces before descending to the far left corner. Go through a gate and walk uphill to Great Comberton. Turn right and then keep straight on at a junction, along Back Lane.

3Join a footpath to the left of a farm drive. Walk along the right-hand field edge then turn right between farm buildings and through a gate into another field to begin the climb up Bredon Hill. The path is easily followed: you have to change to the other side of a fence a few times but it's all waymarked and it's mostly a case of just heading up. It soon becomes quite steep and the last bit is very steep. Reaching the top, turn right on a bridleway beside a stone wall. Cross the wall either at a stone stile or at a gate further along. You may wish to explore the site of Kemerton Camp before returning to the bridleway, passing the elephantine Banbury Stone and the ugly Parsons' Folly - a tower. Continue through woodland, ignoring branching footpaths.

4 The bridleway turns sharp left across the hill and soon begins to descend through hummocky ground to reach a junction. Turn right, descending to Home Farm on the edge of Bredon's Norton. Turn left along the farm access track which soon swings right to the village. Keep straight on at all junctions, along a lane which becomes a 'no through road' and then a public footpath.

5 Take a path branching left, which is easily followed across a field to a road. Turn left, until you can join another path on the right, which runs through fields to Eckington. Turn left on Hacketts Lane, walk to a junction and turn left on School Lane. Take the second right at the next junction, following Cotheridge Lane to the main road. Turn right. If you're catching a bus, do so here, by the Bell Inn. If you're parked at the wharf, keep going - it's about 800m, with a good footway.

FACTFILE

l Start: Eckington Bridge on the B4080, south-west of Pershore, grid ref SO922422.

l Length: Nine miles/14.5km.

l Maps: OS Explorer 190, OS Landranger 150.

l Terrain: Pastoral and arable fields, mostly level or only moderately hilly, but there is one very steep section.

l Footpaths: Excellent.

l Stiles: Four.

l Parking: Eckington Wharf Picnic Place, next to the bridge.

l Buses: Aston's 382, Worcester to Pershore via Eckington, daily; the driver may be willing to drop you by the bridge - if not, alight in the village and walk back to the bridge, as in point five; Traveline 0870 608 2608 or www.traveline.org.uk

l Refreshments: Eckington Stores, Bell Inn, Anchor Inn.

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