Abbotswood (From Worcester News)

Abbotswood

11:07am Monday 28th February 2011 in Local walks By Julie Royle

THIS walk is by special request of Worcester News reader Clive Woodward, of Hanley Swan, near Malvern.

He was born at Abbotswood, near Worcester and wants more walks in and around that area. The walk provides an opportunity to visit St Peter’s Church at Pirton, a picturesque building with a blackand- white timber-framed tower that is younger than the main part of the church, which is Norman.

There are said to be some exceptional features inside but it doesn’t seem to be open very often.

From there are views across the Severn Valley and to Bredon Hill.

Kempsey and Stonehall commons are both included in the walk and you can vary the routes given here as much as you like.

This used to be a fruit-growing area and sadly, only remnant orchards survive.

FACTFILE

Start: Hawbridge, just south of Stoulton, on a loop-road off the B4084 to Pershore, grid ref SO906493.

Length: Seven miles/11km.

Maps: OS Explorer 190, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: Pasture, arable, woods, orchards, paddocks; mostly flat.

Footpaths: No obstructions as such, but most stiles are sub-standard, with missing steps, and some are rotten and close to collapse. There are long stretches with no waymarking. Some road-walking near the start was made necessary by a very poor footpath from Stoulton to Abbotswood.

Stiles: 20.

Parking: Roadside at Hawbridge.

Buses: First 550/551 Worcester- Evesham via Hawbridge on weekdays, Diamond 166 Worcester- Stratford via Hawbridge on Sundays/bank holidays; Diamond 382 Worcester-Pershore via Wadborough, daily; worcestershire.gov.uk/bustimetables or 01905 765765.

Refreshments: Fusion Brasserie, Hawbridge, the Inn at Stonehall and the Mason’s Arms, Wadborough.

DIRECTIONS

1Take a path which leaves the road between the bus shelter and the pub. Follow it to another road and turn left, then take the first right, signed to Norton and Littleworth. Soon after crossing the railway at Abbotswood you’ll come to another road junction: keep straight on, along a track leading into a field. Follow the right-hand edge, eventually joining a woodland path. Continue in the same direction, soon emerging on Stonehall Common. 2Keep to the left edge, turning left when you reach a dried-up pond. You’ll pass behind several buildings, the last of which is a pub. If you want to visit it just turn right soon after you’ve passed it, joining a well-trodden path.

Otherwise, keep straight on for a while before going diagonally towards the far right corner of the common to meet Worcester Road.

Cross to a path opposite which runs along the edge of woodland before going through a gate to Kempsey Common. 3Keep to the right-hand edge, passing a pond and then Stonehall Farm. When you draw level with a pair of houses a little further on turn left to walk across the common, passing two more ponds. Cross a stile at the far side and turn left along the outer edge of woodland. After crossing a series of stiles close together turn left past a barn to find a stile giving access to Worcester Road.

This stile is very close to collapse, and if you should grab the adjacent fingerpost for support you’ll find that’s just as precarious. Turn left then take a bridleway on the right.

Follow it past a farm and then continue along a lane. 4Go left at a road junction on the edge of Pirton then cross the first stile on the right, opposite a barn. Go diagonally left to meet the left field edge and follow it to a corner where a bridge gives access to the adjacent field. Turn right to continue in the same direction on the other side of the hedge. After climbing over a fence and passing through a picket gate you’ll enter an arable field, with St Peter’s Church ahead on the left. Go diagonally towards it, meeting a lane close to the church. 5Turn left and soon left again, signed to Pirton. Take the first path on the right. Turn right when you meet Bourne Brook, cross the brook at a bridge, go forward along the left edge of a field and then just keep straight on to Station Road at Wadborough. Turn right, then take the Millennium Way on the left before you reach the Masons Arms.

Walk to a road, turn right, then take the first path on the left. Turn right along a field edge and ignore branching paths, staying on the Millennium Way which is easily followed until you enter a large ploughed field. Cross to a solitary oak then proceed in much the same direction to meet a track. Turn left to Hawbridge.

Worcester News recommends the use of OS Explorer Maps, your ideal passport to navigating the countryside. This walk is based on OS Explorer 190.