Martley (From Worcester News)

Martley

10:02am Wednesday 5th October 2011 in Walks By Julie Royle

MARTLEY belongs to a very select group – it’s one of only two places in Worcestershire (the other is Malvern) that can claim membership of Walkers are Welcome.

This is a nationwide network of 70 towns and villages that feel they have something special to offer to walkers. It’s a community-led scheme that aims to benefit both residents and visitors, most obviously by increasing income from low-impact tourism through good maintenance of the footpath network to attract walkers.

There are 42 miles of public footpaths in the parish of Martley and they are among the best maintained in the county, mostly thanks to the hard work of a group of volunteers called the Path-or- Nones, formed in 1989. Their website – thepathornones.co.uk – has useful information, including 10 short walks to download.

The network of footpaths around Martley includes stretches of highprofile routes such as the Worcestershire Way and the Geopark Way, each of which also has an additional circular walk looping off it. Martley also has its very own waymarked and wellmaintained circular walk. A leaflet describing it can be picked up from the village shops and an information-packed leaflet about the Geopark Way Circular Trail is available from a box at the interesting geology garden that has recently been constucted in the grounds of Chantry High School.

All of these routes overlap with the walk described here, which also includes some lesser known paths. Apple orchards are a particular feature of the walk and you’ll also find apples trees growing in the hedgerow. There is also a wonderful group of veteran apple trees on a steep slope above Kingswood.

Martley will be celebrating its apple heritage on October 8 with a special Apple Day at the Chantry School.

Though this is a very rural area it has been the home of industry, too and the bridleway which descends from Rodge Hill passes some old lime kilns, as well as providing tantalising glimpses of a lake which now fills a former quarry. Rodge Hill is well-known for its excellent views but the path from the Nubbins to Kingswood also offers magnificent views in return for very little effort, extending from the Clee Hills in the north to Bredon Hill, the Malverns and Cotswolds in the south.

FACT FILE

Start: St Peter’s Church, Martley, grid ref SO756597.

Length: Six miles/9.5km.

Maps: OS Explorer 204, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: Pasture, woodland, orchard and arable; some short, steep ascents and descents.

Footpaths: Mostly excellent.

Stiles: 14.

Parking: St Peter’s Church.

Buses: Astons 308/309/310, Mon-Sat; worcestershire.gov.uk/ bustimetables or 01905 765765.

Refreshments: Martley.

DIRECTIONS

1 Join the Martley Circular Walk but follow it in the reverse direction, across the lane from St Peter’s and through fields to the B4197. Turn right, walk past the Crown Inn then turn left on a footpath which soon enters a field.

Go left, then turn right at the next junction, along a field edge then uphill on the Geopark Way to meet a wide path below a sandstone outcrop (the Nubbins). Turn right, then go left after about 10 paces, uphill through bracken. Go through a gate at the top and across a field. Turn left when you meet a cross-path. Turn right at the far side of the field and then descend to a gate. Afterwards turn left to find a junction a few paces further on.

2 Leave the Geopark Way and descend steeply past some veteran apple trees. Turn right when you meet another path. It starts well but you’ll soon come to an area subject to landslip where the path is less distinct – look for a tall oak tree just ahead and you’ll easily pick up the path again. After crossing a footbridge go diagonally right uphill to a hedge/fence corner on the right. Follow the hedge/fence to the B4204. The path continues opposite, across a field.

Turn left at the far side, walking through another field to enter woodland. Turn left along a track, which is joined by the Geopark Way, Worcestershire Way and Martley Circular Walk as you embark on the climb up Pudford Hill. Walk along the continuous ridge of Pudford Hill and Rodge Hill, ignoring all the branching paths.

3 After passing over the highest part of the ridge, turn right on the Martley Circular Walk, as indicated by a fingerpost. Walk down to the B4197, ignoring branching paths. Cross the road, turn right and then take a fieldedge footpath. The Martley Circular Walk turns right at the far side of the field but keep straight on instead, soon changing to the other side of the hedge but continuing in the same direction.

Cross a footbridge into an orchard and then bear slightly left, as waymarked.

4 Go through a gate, past a house and along a track, then turn right just after the entrance to Hockhams Farm, re-entering the orchard. Go straight on along a track then turn right when you come to a junction. Turn left at the next T-junction, left again at the edge of the orchard, and then right, so that you’re walking past a wood, Brookfield Coppice. Keep roughly straight on, as waymarked, at the next corner of the wood, and you should soon emerge from the apple trees opposite a footbridge.

However, it's easy to go wrong here – if you don't immediately see the footbridge you’ll almost certainly find it to your left. Cross the bridge to another orchard and go to the far right corner.

5 Turn right along a lane, then left by Prickley Green Farm.

Walk to a road junction and turn left, rejoining the Martley Circular Walk which takes to the fields again and provides a very easy route back to Martley by way of Alden’s Farm, Lingen Farm, Chantry School and St Peter’s Churchyard.