THIS walk includes two ancient woods, Ockeridge Wood and Monk Wood, which are lovely to stroll along at any time of the year. Unfortunately, there is only one public path through Ockeridge Wood, but Monk Wood has a good network of paths.

Only two of them are actually public rights of way but access is permitted to the other paths. Monk Wood is important for its butterfly and moth populations and is also rich in bird life. It has a long recorded history and was granted to the monks of Worcester Priory in the 8th century. Throughout most of its history it has been managed as coppice-withstandards, a regime which is great for wildlife. Newly coppiced areas are flooded with light and therefore full of flowers in spring, while older coppice is ideal for nesting birds. A mature standard tree, especially an oak, is a teeming wildlife habitat in its own right, supporting hundreds of other species.

However, in 1950 it was bought by Harris, the company near Bromsgrove that makes paint brushes. It was clear-felled and replanted with non-native species deemed suitable for turning into brush handles. Fortunately, the management system remained relatively benign so wildlife losses weren’t as severe as they might have been. In 1986 Monk Wood was sold to the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and Butterfly Conservation since when it has been managed for the benefit of wildlife.

Nearby Ockeridge Wood is named after the oak trees which must once have dominated it. It also belonged to Harris for a time and is still managed commercially.

FACT FILE

Start: Holt Heath, grid ref SO815630.

Length: Seven-and-a-half miles/12km.

Maps: OS Explorer 204, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: Woodland, pasture, paddocks, mostly flat.

Footpaths: Mostly excellent, apart from some gappy waymarking and one rather high stile.

Stiles: 12.

Parking: Alongside A443 at Holt Heath.

Buses: 294/295/758 on weekdays, 300 on Sundays and bank holidays; worcestershire. gov.uk/ bustimetables or 01905 765765.

Refreshments: Holt Heath and Oakall Green.

DIRECTIONS

1 Use either School Lane or Woodbury Park to walk from the A443 to the A4133 and then turn right towards Holt Fleet.

After 500m turn right on a bridleway and proceed to a junction. Turn right, walk through Holt then turn right again, following the bridleway to the A443. Cross to a footpath opposite.

2 Bear left through a paddock to cross an electric fence at an insulated section, then cross another, again at an insulated section. Follow the fence to the left, cross a stile and then proceed across another paddock to find access to a driveway. Turn right.

Pass the entrance to Old Rectory Farmhouse, staying on the main driveway, then turn right past the front of The Old Rectory to find a post covered in waymarks. Turn left, following a clear path which soon crosses Grimley Brook to enter a large field.

3 Go diagonally left to a stile at a fence corner. Walk up the left edge of the next field and then turn left towards Northingtown Farm.

As you reach the farmyard take a path on the left which bypasses the yard by going through a garden.

Look for the waymarks but don't be fooled by the second one which directs you to the right; in fact, you need to walk some distance down the lawn before turning right.

Leaving the garden at a small gate, join a farm track and follow it to Birchall Green.

4 Turn right by Birchall Cottage and then immediately left, past a pond, then left again, signed to Hallow. Walk to Oakall Green and turn right by Hunters Lodge. Turn right again at the next road junction and very soon Monk Wood will be on your right. After 100m a gap in the fence gives access to the wood. Follow a brook at first and then the woodland edge. After a while the path leaves the woodland edge and leads to a T-junction in a clearing. Turn right here, soon meeting the woodland edge again, at a corner. Turn left, and keep to the edge. After a further 600m you’ll cross a footbridge made from three railway sleepers; turn right just after this to walk through a narrow strip of woodland.

5 Meeting a bridleway, turn right to leave the wood and follow the bridleway to a lane. Cross over and keep straight on, following the bridleway through Ockeridge Wood to a road. Turn right and then take the first footpath on the right, after 600m. The path is quite easily followed through the first two fields. However, in the third field, go to the far left corner, which only comes into view once you have crested a slight rise (don’t go to the corner by Rowe Farm). Continue in the same direction across the fourth field and cross a stile in the corner into the fifth field.

6 Two paths are indicated here and a prominent gate is visible in the far left corner. You need to go to the gate, but don’t take the path that is waymarked to the left; it goes to Rowe Farm, not to the gate. You should take the path which goes to the right. It meets another path by a lane and this footpath goes across the field to the gate. Beyond the gate, the path is very easily followed. After crossing a footbridge keep left through two fields and then keep straight on past the young woods around Bentley Farm and across a field to the A443. Turn right and head back to Holt Heath.