Abberley Hill (From Worcester News)

Abberley Hill

10:55am Monday 7th March 2011 in Walks By Julie Royle

THIS lovely but rather complex walk offers panoramic views embracing several counties.

Other highlights include some magnificent old trees and a herd of red deer below Abberley clocktower. St Andrew’s at Stockton is one of Worcestershire’s most charming parish churches and the picturesque ruin of St Michael’s at Abberley is worth a visit, too.

FACT FILE

Start: Stockton-on-Teme, on A443 west of Abberley, grid ref SO715673.

Length: Eight miles/13km.

Maps: OS Explorer 204, OS Landranger 138.

Terrain: Pasture, arable and woodland; mildly hilly.

Footpaths: Many are excellent but others are neglected, with three difficult or obstructed stiles. There are gaps in the waymarking, including a long stretch without any at all after Crundelend Farm. However, there are no significant obstacles.

Stiles: 30 and electric fences with insulated sections around Field Farm.

Parking: By the Shelsley turn and St Andrew’s Church at Stockton, or near the Bell at Snead Common.

Buses: Yarrantons 758, Mon-Sat; worcestershire.gov.uk/bustimetable s or 01905 765765.

Refreshments: Stanford Bridge, Abberley and Snead Common.

DIRECTIONS

1 Walk along the lane signed to Shelsley Walsh, then take the first path on the left, which soon enters a large field. Pass well to the left of a farmhouse in the valley below; if you head towards a very chunky oak on the skyline you will be going in the right direction.

Cross a footbridge in the valley and go straight uphill then proceed across a field, passing the chunky oak and rejoining the lane near a house. Turn left.

2 Take a footpath at The Glen, close to Stanford Bridge. The path is also the driveway to Crundelend Farm. Ignore two branching paths but take a third one, on the right, just after a bridge, as you approach the farm.

Walk along a field edge at first, above a brook, then gradually move away from the brook as you climb uphill. Turn right at the top of the field, briefly joining a welldefined track. Leave the track when it starts to descend and go through a hedge gap on the left.

Turn right through a field, cutting across the corner and keeping to the left of pheasant pens. Turn left at the far side, where the field meets woodland.

3 The field comes to a point and you should keep straight on through a gap (not the gap on the left) into another field. Fork left after about 25m and go diagonally across this field to the far left corner. Keep going uphill, to the left of a line of trees. Go through a gate in the next corner and keep straight on along a track. Turn left on meeting another track then proceed through a farmyard and descend towards the A443. Take a path on the right just before the road. Walk by a field edge for 100m then move away from the edge, meeting the top edge of the field between a clump of trees and a house. Cross a stile and turn left, past the other side of the trees, then continue in the same direction.

4 Turn right at a post with faded waymarks on it. Walk to Abberley Hall School and turn left on the Worcestershire Way. Follow it across the A443 and up Wynniatts Way until you see a path on the left signed to Bank Lane. Follow it through a wood and keep straight on where the path disappears in a tangle of motorbike tracks. Descend steeply through the trees then cross a field and turn right to meet a lane at Abberley. Turn right, then turn left across the village green. Go straight on along Suffolk Lane, past the Victorian church. Take a path on the right just after Jacob’s Well. Walk up a bank then cross a field to a gate by an oak tree. Turn left along Bank Lane to Suffolk Lane. Turn right.

5 Take a path on the right just before the A443. Walk across a field to meet a brook on the left and follow it until you can cross it at a footbridge. Proceed through woodland to another field and go diagonally left, following waymarks past Field Farm. Cross a large field to the far left corner.

Head up the next field then pass through a wood. Leave the wood at the far side and cross a large pasture, heading towards a distant but prominent church tower (St Peter’s at Rock). Cross a brook and go straight up the next field to a stile. Don’t cross it but turn left to cross another in the corner then proceed to the B4202 at Snead Common.

6 Turn left, then take a path on the right, just before a lane.

Follow the waymarked route past farm buildings and towards the western end of Clee Hill. Reaching a path junction at a stile, go to the left. Pass through two fields and a garden to find a stile covered in waymarks. Cross the stile and go diagonally left across a field and then straight through a wood, ignoring a path branching left. On leaving the wood, proceed along a field-edge track, passing a line of beech trees and a pond. When you come to a gate don’t pass through it but turn round and go back across the field, following hoofprints slightly uphill. Once you see another gate the bridleway is easily followed to a lane at Worles Common, where you turn right.

7 Take a path on the left once you have passed the last of several houses. Go to the far right corner of a field then turn right through two more fields, through a farmyard and along a track to a lane. Turn left and descend to the A443 at Stockton. If you came by bus you can pick up your return service here. If you came by car turn right uphill to the Shelsley turn. There is a footway at first but care is required after it comes to an end.

Worcester News recommends the use of OS Explorer Maps, your ideal passport to navigating the countryside.

This walk is based on OS Explorer 204.