Spetchley (From Worcester News)

Spetchley

12:00pm Thursday 25th August 2011 in Local walks By Julie Royle

DUE to the complexity of this route there’s little space for background information but highlights include St Michael’s Church at Churchill and an adjacent environmental stewardship site with historical and archaeological interest.

Also interesting is Mucknell Abbey, the home of a Benedictine community since November 2010.

The monks and nuns try to live sustainably; they grow their own food and have planted 9,000 trees, many of which you will see on the walk.

Certain neighbouring landowners could learn a thing or two from the Benedictines’ impeccable approach to footpath maintenance.

FACT FILE

Start: Spetchley, on A422 east of Worcester, grid ref SO898538.

Length: Nine miles/14.5km.

Maps: OS Explorer 204, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: Pasture, parkland, paddocks, arable, woodland; mostly flat.

Footpaths: They span the spectrum from excellent to appalling. The county council has served notice on the worst offender, under the 1980 Highways Act but so far this has made little difference. You will have to climb over gates and cope with both over-cropping and substantial overgrowth, concealing dangerously uneven ground in places. Waymarking is patchy. In one case it is currently impossible to follow the exact right of way so expect slight changes to the route described once improvements are made.

Stiles: 30, plus several fences and locked gates.

Parking: Layby on north side of road at east end of Spetchley.

Buses: WCC 350 Worcester-Redditch service to Spetchley, Mon-Sat; Diamond 382 Worcester-Pershore service to Norton, daily; First 550/551 Worcester-Evesham service to High Park, Mon-Sat (High Park is not named on OS maps but it’s where the walk route crosses the B4084 between Spetchley and Norton); Diamond 166 Worcester-Stratford service to High Park, Sun/bank hol; worcestershire.gov.uk/bustimetables or 01905 765765.

Refreshments: None.

DIRECTIONS:

1 Cross the A422 and walk east to find a bridleway. It’s easily followed for over a mile, except at one point where it’s unclear which side of a fence it goes – it’s the left side. Having eventually passed through a wood, turn right at a bridleway junction and go past Old House Farm. Proceed along the access road until you can take another bridleway on the left.

Follow it to the old road at High Park and turn right to the B4084.

2 Cross the road and turn left to find a path. Go diagonally right across pasture to a gate/stile.

Proceed along a field edge to a junction and turn left. Keep straight on at another junction, walking through overgrown woodland to the left of a pond, then through a field to Woodbury Lane at Norton. Turn right, cross a railway then take a path on the left at an overgrown gate. Walk past a rubbish dump, then diagonally right across two paddocks to the far corner of the second.

3 Cross a stile in the corner and go forward through nettles, ignoring a baffling waymark. Go straight on to the next corner and cross an overgrown stile. Keep roughly straight on across another field and through a gate halfway along the far side. Go left, through more nettles, then diagonally through a field to cross a railway.

Go left towards another railway but turn right before reaching it, into a field. Walk along the left edge then through two gates to another field. Follow the righthand hedge to the far right corner.

4 Cross another railway and turn left on a badly overgrown path.

Keep close to the railway, heading towards a bridge. Cross a seriously overgrown stile and pass under the bridge, taking great care as the overgrowth conceals rubble and other rubbish dumped on the footpath. Continue in the same direction beside the railway for 100m then turn right, going obliquely towards a black barn.

Pass to the left of it, proceed to the B4084 and cross to a path opposite.

5 Keep to the left edge through two fields. After crossing a ‘stile’ the path leads through overgrown woodland. Eventually, progress becomes impossible so find a way through to the field on the right and then continue in the same direction as before until you come to a big hedge gap on the left.

Walk through it and along a short green track, ignoring gaps to meet a well-defined track, turn left, then soon right, following a short length of hedge to a rusty gate. Go past it into a young plantation. Turn left on an immaculately maintained and recently waymarked path, following it to Mucknell Abbey’s access track.

6 Cross the track and take a bridleway, which keeps left of the track and then left of the abbey to reach a junction. Go left, through a gate, downhill and across a footbridge. Leave the bridleway for a well-made footpath across a cornfield. Cross a stile at the top and turn left. Reaching a junction, cross a footbridge and turn right, rejoining the bridleway and following it to the A44. Turn right as far as the end of a low wooden fence then cross to a gate opposite. Climb over it and go straight ahead through two fields until a footbridge gives access to ridge-and-furrow pasture.

7 Go obliquely left to the far side to find two green footpath signs. Turn left towards a house, then left again to find the Millennium Way. Cross a paddock and a garden then walk along field edges until you have to join the lane at White Ladies Aston. Turn left and then go into the churchyard. Pass the church then turn left and cross a track to a path almost opposite. The stile is unusable but you’ll find access to the adjacent field and can then go left to get back on track. Walk to a lane and go straight on towards Churchill. When you reach St Michael’s Church join a footpath on the other side of the road at a hidden stile giving access to pasture. Keep to the right-hand edge until a gate gives access to the adjacent field. Continue in much the same direction to a wood on the horizon. Walk straight through the wood then turn right.

8 Cross the A422 and turn left to find an overgrown footpath just after a house. Follow it through trees then climb over a fence into a garden. Turn right, crossing a wobbly stile and rotting footbridge to a field. Turn left on an overgrown path. When the lefthand hedge turns a corner go roughly straight on across fields.

Aim to meet a hedge on the right and then follow it to the far right corner of the final field. Climb steps to Pershore Lane, cross over, turn right, cross the railway then take a well-made footpath leading through maize-fields to Spetchley.

Worcester News recommends the use of OS Explorer Maps, your ideal passport to navigating the countryside. This walk is based on OS Explorer 204.