CARRANT Brook is a tributary of the River Avon, joining the river close to its confluence with the Severn at Tewkesbury.

The brook’s catchment is one of the most important areas for birds in both the Severn and Avon vales.

In summer it supports breeding waders, and in winter it hosts flocks of ducks looking for places to feed and roost.

Naturally, before the vale was drained for agriculture it supported more wildlife, but farmer and conservationist, Adrian Darby, has redressed the balance through the formation of Kemerton Lake Nature Reserve.

In addition to the lake, the reserve comprises woodland, wetland, grassland and scrub, and shows just how successful landscape reclamation can be. It’s included in this walk, and there is ample scope for further exploration.

This reserve comprises woodland, grassland, a lake and a quarry face. You’ll pass it near the start of the walk.

Elsewhere on the route you’ll pass through farmland which is managed with groundnesting birds in mind, and you’ll also pass a private nature reserve bordering Carrant Brook. Local landowners ask that in all of these areas walkers keep their dogs under close control, and preferably on leads.

FACTFILE FACTFILE Start: Beckford, a village off the A46 south-west of Evesham; grid ref SO976357.

LENGTH Eight miles/13km.

MAPS OS Explorer 190, OS Landranger 150.

TERRAIN Pasture, arable, orchard and woodland; mostly flat with just one gentle slope.

FOOTPATHS Mostly excellent, apart from some inaccurate waymarking, a rather overgrown footbridge and a broken stile.

STILES Nine.

PARKING Beckford.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT Bus or train to Evesham, Aston’s service 540 to Beckford; or train to Ashchurch, walk through Northway to pick up route at Aston Fields Lane (point six).

REFRESHMENTS Beckford, Conderton, Overbury and Kemerton.

DIRECTIONS DIRECTIONS 1 Walk through the churchyard then along a path to a farm lane.

Turn right, walking past Beckford Nature Reserve to Court Farm.

Turn left where waymarked, walk to a junction and turn right towards Bredon Hill. Ignore a path branching right after 300m but take a path on the left 450m further on.

The map shows it running to the left of a hedge but the waymarking can’t quite make up its mind and directs us along both sides.

The stiles which give access to the correct route on the left side of the hedge are overgrown and most walkers keep to the right of the hedge.

2 Turn right when you come to a brook, then soon left, crossing the brook and following the path to a lane at Conderton.

Turn left, then left again after a few paces. Ignore the next right, walk past the Yew Tree then turn right along the road to Overbury, going straight on all junctions.

Soon after entering Overbury, turn right along a lane, then left to St Faith’s Church.

Walk through the churchyard, rejoin the road and turn right.

Leave the village behind, pass Overbury Park and then take a path on the right.

Go diagonally across pasture to a gate then follow the right-hand hedge to Kemerton.

3 Go roughly straight on, along a lane almost opposite. Turn left at Laurel Cottage, walk to the main road and turn right.

Turn left by the old preaching cross just before the Crown.

Keep straight on at a crossroad then take the next path on the right, going obliquely across an orchard to Kinsham Lane.

Turn left, then shortly take another path on the right and walk through park-like pasture to meet a track.

Turn left and go straight on at all junctions to enter Kemerton Lake Nature Reserve.

Keep straight on until you come to an unmarked T-junction close to the edge of the nature reserve.

4 Turn left on a broad ride between two strips of woodland.

When you come to a map of the reserve take a path opposite – it is a public footpath, despite the lack of waymarking.

Follow it to Cheltenham Road and turn left. Shortly cross to Chapel Lane and walk through Kinsham.

Go straight on at a junction with Watery Lane, and straight on again at Manor Farm House and Corner Cottage.

Follow the lane round to the left.

5 Take a footpath next to The Haven. Follow the waymarked route left across a paddock and over a footbridge and stile into an orchard.

Go straight across then continue across two pastures.

Cross a footbridge and bear left through another pasture.

Cross Carrant Brook and bear left to a gate.

The fingerpost here points the wrong way but the waymarking is correct and the path easily followed along field edges then to the right of a house, Carrant Gardens, to meet Aston Fields Lane.

6 Turn left, then left again when you meet Cheltenham Road.

After a short distance, turn right to walk through Aston on Carrant.

Keep straight on at Wheelers Farm as the lane becomes a bridleway. Keep straight on when you eventually come to a junction with a footpath, where the bridleway bends left.

Follow the footpath to Crashmore Lane and take a bridleway opposite which leads to Beckford.

WorcesterNewsrecommendstheuse of OS Landranger Maps, your ideal passport to navigating the countryside.

This walk is based on OS Landranger 150.