NORTH-east Worcestershire was once covered by the Great Forest of Feckenham. The forest is long gone, but traces survive, mainly in the form of remnant woods, such as Bow Wood.

The forest heritage is also apparent in the massive old oak trees which still grace many hedgerows and fields. Bow Wood is included in this walk and although some of its native trees have been replaced by conifers, it remains worth visiting. Nearby Bow Brook, which is crossed twice during the walk, is one of the county's larger streams, an attractive and important tributary of the River Avon.

To the west of Bow Brook lies the village of Crowle, known as Crohlea to its Anglo-Saxon founders. Some place-name experts think that means 'place of clay' and it's easy to agree with that definition when trudging through fields made sticky by winter rain.

An alternative and more appealing translation is 'place of crocuses' which does seem to be confirmed by a reference to wild crocus in a charter of AD846. Sadly, no wild crocuses grow in the fields around Crowle nowadays, if indeed they ever did.

DIRECTIONS

1 Walk a few paces along the lane signed to Crowle and Tibberton then join a footpath on the right. Walk along a rutted, muddy track for 200m then cross a stile into a field on the right. Go straight ahead, with a hedge on your left. Keep straight on across the field.

2 The path crosses a track, but don't go through a gate directly opposite; go through an open gateway just to the left of it, into the neighbouring field. Walk along the right-hand edge to the far side then turn left to cross Bow Brook at a footbridge. Go across a field to a green gate but don't pass through it. Turn left instead, following a fence until a waymark directs you to the right. Cross into a long, narrow field and turn left, gradually rising up a slope to move away from Bow Brook. Head towards a narrow strip of woodland, and then pass to the right of it. Continue straight on.

3 Enter Bow Wood and turn right. Keep to the main path all the way through the wood. Leave the wood at the far side, enter a field and turn left on a bridleway running by the outer edge of the wood. Stay by the woodland edge until you have to turn right to pass Froxmere House. Go through a gate to join a surfaced track.

4 Take the second path on the right after you've crossed Bow Brook again. This is at the start of the driveway to Manor House, but don't walk along the driveway. Cross a stile instead and go diagonally across two fields to meet a lane. Cross to a path opposite, which passes to the left of a timber-framed barn. Enter a field and walk straight across towards Crowle, aiming to meet the far hedge a little to the right of a row of houses. Keep left through the next two fields, turning right at the end of the second field to find a stile. Two paths are waymarked here - take the one which runs diagonally right, weaving through young trees to a stile. After this the path is well-defined but overgrown. Follow it to Church Road at Crowle.

5 Turn right, then left at Crowle Green. Walk to the Old Chequers Inn and turn right on Netherwood Lane. Go to the left when the lane forks. Join the first footpath on the left, descending steps then proceeding to a field. Go straight across towards a line of trees. Turn left just before you reach the trees (don't cross a plank footbridge), and enter another field. Follow the left-hand edge until eventually you can join a track which leads to a road.

6 According to Ordnance Survey, there is a footpath directly across the road: mysteriously, there is neither sign nor waymark and the gate is padlocked, but there is nothing to indicate that the path has been officially extinguished. If you were to climb over the gate and walk along the left-hand field edge you would soon reach a stile, where (vandalised) waymarks seem to confirm that the path still exists. Alternatively, if you were to turn right along the road for 100m you could take another path, which goes diagonally across the field to the stile with the vandalised waymarks. Cross the stile and walk uphill. Turn right through a gate at the top and proceed a short distance to a hedge corner. Go to the right, keeping to the right of a fence then crossing a stile. Turn left to return to Church Road. Turn right, then soon right again on a footpath. After 75m, turn left across a field, passing to the right of St John's Church and proceeding to Bredicot Lane. Turn left back to Church Road then turn right. Join a footpath when the road bends left. The path leads directly to Broughton Hackett.

FACTFILE

Start: Broughton Hackett, on the A422 east of Worcester, grid ref SO926544.

Length: 6 miles/10km.

Maps: OS Explorer 204, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: Gently rolling farmland and woodland.

Footpaths: No serious problems, but waymarking is patchy and one path is slightly overgrown by brambles.

Stiles: 19.

Parking: In the layby next to the Crowle turn at the east end of the village.

Buses: Hardings/Dudleys 350, Monday to Saturday; Traveline 0870 608 2608 or www.traveline.org.uk

Refreshments: Broughton Hackett and Crowle.

PLEASE NOTE This walk has been carefully checked and the directions are believed to be accurate at the time of publication. No responsibility is accepted by either the author or publisher for errors or omissions, or for any loss, accident or injury, however caused.