Broadwas (From Worcester News)

Broadwas

12:30pm Tuesday 9th February 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

ENJOY surprisingly farreaching views of the surrounding hills – from neighbouring Ankerdine to the distant Cotswolds – as you explore the gently undulating countryside which rises above the Teme Valley at Broadwas.

FACT FILE

Start: Broadwas, on A44 west of Worcester, grid ref SO757552.

Length: Five-and-a-half miles/8.8km.

Maps: OS Explorer 204, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: Mostly pasture and paddocks, with some arable and a little woodland; a few gentle slopes but nothing steep.

Footpaths: There are no serious problems on this route but there is abundant neglect and some obstruction. Waymarking is intermittent and sometimes misleading. One stile is close to collapse, two are ridiculously high and two others are designed for horses, not people. Over-cropping of paths still occurs in some arable fields. Should you wish to alter or extend the route by using other paths in the area please be aware that some are difficult and at least one is completely blocked – and has been that way for years, despite reports to the county council.

Stiles: 24.

Parking: Broadwas village hall, on the lane to Wants Green and Stoney Ley.

Buses: First 420 Worcester-Hereford via Broadwas, daily; in addition, LMS 310 Worcester-Clifton serves Laughern Hill (Monday-Saturday) which is only 600m from Willow Road at the northernmost point of the route; worcestershire.gov.uk/ bustimetables or 01905 765765.

Refreshments: Royal Oak, Broadwas

DIRECTIONS

1 Head west beside the A44, towards Bromyard. Cross the lane which leads to Broadwas church and then cross the A44 to a footpath at Stone Farm. Walk along the farm access track, which soon bends right, then left. The farm has recently been converted from agricultural to equestrian use.

Stables have been built and the path is less obvious than it used to be; you need to move further to the right as soon as practicable so that you’re walking beside the righthand boundary, to the left of the track used by horses. Go straight on at a junction, and straight on again after crossing a stile.

Descend to a hedge corner and keep straight on, climbing slightly to a patch of woodland.

2 Pass through the wood and then cross a field, bearing very slightly right to a gate at the far side. Cross the next field in much the same direction. When you reach the highest point of the field the way ahead is obvious, through a gate then along a field edge to meet a lane. Turn right past Munn’s Green then take a path on the left. Go straight across a stubble-covered field to pass to the left of a patch of woodland. Once past the wood, turn right along its northern edge to the next corner then go diagonally left on a reasonably well-made path to a hedge corner.

3 Cross a high stile and proceed to another ‘stile’ (more of a fence, really). Cross this and turn right along a field edge. Cross a stile in the corner, turn left, climb over a wire fence and proceed to a stile at a path junction. Turn left and walk to a lane at Newtown. Turn right, then take the first path on the left.

Go obliquely across a field to the far side. Cross an extremely wobbly stile and turn right towards a gate.

Don’t go through the gate, but turn left along the field edge on a good, grassy path. Ignore a cross-path and keep to field edges to eventually join a farm track leading to Hollins Lane.

4 Cross to a path opposite (Geopark Way) and walk across a field towards the far side, where the Geopark Way turns left – turn right instead and return to the lane. Turn left then take the next path on the left. Go diagonally right across sheep pasture and past a pool to a pair of stiles. Cross the second one and turn left along a field edge to a corner where you’ll see a gate on the left and a stile on the right. Cross the stile and follow the left-hand edge of a sheep pasture to Hopehouse Lane. Turn right, then right again on Willow Road.

5 Turn left on a track to Hucks Farm. After 350 metres, just before a sign for Hucks Farmhouse, a path crosses the track, marked by two stiles but no waymarking.

Cross the stile on the right and walk across a meadow towards some reeds. Pass to the right of the reeds and to the left of a pool to find a stile giving access to a track.

A waymarker indicates that we should go straight on but as this would involve climbing a steep bank and then swimming across a pool you might prefer to turn left and then shortly right to walk past the pool. Keep close to the pool until you come to a hedge gap near a footbridge, then go through the gap to walk past another pool.

Continue through fields on what is now a clear path to Hollins Lane.

6 Turn left and keep straight on at a junction. Go straight on again at the next junction at Wants Green, signed to Doddenham and Knightwick. After passing Poolfields Cottage look for an easily missed stile behind a hedge on the left. Go to the far right corner of a paddock and cross a brook to enter Poolfields Coppice.

Walk the length of the coppice to a lane and turn left. Take the next path on the left, keeping to the right-hand edge through two fields, after which the path runs between fences and then threads a way through brambles to emerge in another field. Turn right along the edge and proceed to a T-junction.

Turn right along a track, walk back to the lane and turn left to Broadwas.

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