ABOUT 10 years ago, Malvern Hills Conservators planted a community woodland next to Townsend Way at Newland. It is now a wonderful patchwork of young woods, scrub and meadows, along with some pre-existing mature woodland.

Several small streams thread through the site, adding to its wildlife value and general appeal.

There’s also a memorial orchard, with local varieties of fruit trees planted in memory of people who loved the Malvern Hills.

Since 2009, the hard-working volunteers of Malvern Community Forest Group have also been involved with the wood, doing much vital management work.

The group’s long-term aim is to restore much of the woodland which covered the area around Malvern in those long-gone days when it was known as Malvern Chase.

If you look at the Townsend Way wood on an OS map, it seems to be such a narrow strip that you’d think it would have little impact.

In fact, it’s now more extensive than is shown on the map and has developed into a really lovely place with an impressive range of habitats. It’s very easy to explore because there are numerous carefully maintained footpaths through the woods, meadows and orchard.

These paths also provide good links with public footpaths through Madresfield, most of which are also well maintained.

FACTFILE

START Newland, by the A449 Worcester Road at the northern end of Malvern Link, grid ref SO795485.

LENGTH 5½ miles/8.8km.

MAPS OS Explorer 190, OS Landranger 150.

TERRAIN Woodland, pasture, arable; no hills.

FOOTPATHS Mostly good or excellent, but with some serious exceptions.

Waymarking is absent in places, especially between North End and Sherrards Green. The path between the road at Hall Green and the driveway of Grove House Farm is badly overgrown. Worst of all is the shockingly bad path at Moat Court, which is completely blocked, making it necessary to walk along Chance Road. There are verges for much of the way but not on the bends, where care is required. Most of this path (MV668) is in Malvern parish – can this be the same Malvern that prides itself on having gained accreditation by Walkers are Welcome?

STILES Seven.

PARKING Newland.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT First 44 Worcester-Malvern, daily; worcestershire.gov.uk/ bustimetables or 01905 765765.

REFRESHMENTS Madresfield (Bennetts Farmhouse Ice Cream is available) and Malvern Retail Park.

DIRECTIONS

1 Walk along the road towards Malvern then turn left towards the retail park on Townsend Way.

After a short distance turn left where signs indicate both a footpath and a community woodland. Shortly branch right on a path through the woods. Turn left after crossing a footbridge, turn right at the next junction, straight on at the one after, then left at another. Keep straight on at subsequent junctions, through both young and mature woodland, meadows, scrub and orchard.

Eventually, you’ll have to join a lane but after only a few paces, you can return to woodland.

2 Leaving the wood again, cross the lane to North End Farm, joining a footpath which soon leads into fields. Having left the farm behind, keep roughly straight on to join the left-hand hedge near two oak trees. Follow the hedge until you come to a gap.

Go through and follow the right hand hedge to another gap. Go through here and follow the left hand hedge all the way to the road at Sherrards Green, meeting it by Moat Pond.

3 Turn left. You should be able to take a path at Moat Court but as it’s impassable, there is no choice but to walk to a road junction and turn right on Chance Lane. Go straight on at Hall Green then shortly take an overgrown path on the left which leads to the driveway to Grove House Farm.

Cross the driveway and go diagonally left across a field, passing within about 50m of farm buildings, to a stile not far from the left corner. Cross an arable field to a wooden post at the far side. Go straight on along a track.

Follow it into a field and along the right-hand edge, then straight on through two more fields.

4 In the next field, the path should go diagonally right to the top corner of South Wood, meeting another path which should go diagonally to another wood, Bills Hill. However, both paths are over-cropped with impenetrable oil-seed rape, so the only alternative is to follow the right-hand field edge all the way round to Bills Hill. Intermittent waymarking appears to endorse this change of route and it actually makes for a much more pleasant walk as it follows Whiteacres Brook. However, to avoid any misunderstanding, I have to point out that it’s at odds with the county council’s definitive map.

5 Cross a footbridge and turn left on a good path through Bills Hill, still beside the brook. Leaving the wood, continue along field edges and past Flasher’s Wood. Pass to the right of outbuildings at Home Farm then turn left on a track past the farmhouse and along a lime avenue to the road. Turn right and walk through Madresfield. Keep straight on at a road junction after an ice cream shop. Pass a picnic area and pond, Lavender Cottage and Madresfield Club.

6 At a T-junction go straight on to join a footpath. Keep to the left hand field edge for 75m then go diagonally across the field towards Newland church. Pass through a belt of long grass to find a waymarked junction and turn left, soon re-entering the community wood. Turn right at a footbridge to return directly to Newland, or go straight on if you want to visit the retail park.