The Daffodil Way is an eight-mile walk devised in 1988 to highlight the wild daffodils which grow in a small area of north Gloucestershire and south Herefordshire.

At one time they used to carpet the fields, but modern farming methods have decimated them over the last 50 years.

It's hard to imagine that in the 1930s special excursion trains brought thousands of Londoners to admire them each year. Sadly, the railway which brought the day trippers is long gone, but the daffodils remain, though in nothing like the same profusion. Today, you have to search them out, in places such as undisturbed hedgerows, woods and the banks of streams.

You will see the first wild daffodils of the walk in St Mary's churchyard at Dymock. Inside the church there is an interesting display about the Dymock poets, and there is information about local walks, including the Daffodil Way.

St Mary's contains some Saxon masonry, laid in a herringbone pattern, but dates mostly from the 14th Century. Dymock stands on the site of a Roman township and a lime avenue in the churchyard marks the line of a Roman road.

There is a St Mary's church at Kempley too, though it is no loger in use. It is looked after by English Heritage, which describes it as an "exquisite Norman church".

It dates from the late 11th or early 12th Century and was Kempley's parish church until the village moved to higher ground, where a new church was built.

St Mary's contains some early mediaeval frescoes which are often considered to be the finest in Britain. The exterior is beautifully simple, except for a timber-framed porch. Though this is attractive, it obscures a Norman tympanum (the semi-circular bit above the door, decorated with carvings).

The church is open daily from March to October. St Mary's at Dymock has a tympanum too and if you want to know what the carvings on that one represent make sure you read the highly entertaining leaflet entitled Welcome to Dymock which you'll find in the church.

DIRECTIONS

Join the lime avenue near the church tower and follow it across the churchyard until it bends left. Leave it here and keep straight on to a kissing gate. Take the left-hand footpath which leads to a fence corner where three paths are waymarked with yellow arrows: the Daffodil Way is the one with a black disc imposed on the arrow.

After crossing a footbridge go diagonally left across another field then turn right past Maypole Farm and Harmony Cottage to the main road. Cross over to join a footpath which is also the driveway to Allums Farm. When it bends left look for the waymarkers directing you past the farm into an orchard. Go diagonally right, so that you end up following the left-hand boundary. After leaving the orchard, continue to a road and turn right.

As you approach Allums Grove (woodland/plantation), join a footpath on the right which follows the plantation edge for 100m before going diagonally right to cross a footbridge and enter the trees. Turn right, following the waymarked route along the edge of the grove before passing through it.

After leaving the grove, keep straight on, passing to the left of a pond, then shortly entering a field on the right. Follow its left-hand edge until a stile gives access to another field. Turn right, cross Kempley Brook at a footbridge then go diagonally left across two fields to a road. Turn left, soon passing St Mary's church then continuing to a road junction.

Join a footpath opposite which crosses a field (look for waymarkers on telegraph poles) then turns left along the edge of the next field. Don't cross Kempley Brook: it should be on your left, where it remains until you reach another road.

Turn left into Kempley.

Turn right at a junction but after a few paces join a footpath on the left. The path is easily followed across fields and past The Moor House to a road at Kempley Green.

Turn right, soon left, then immediately right at a sign for the Daffodil Way. The path goes by field edges, through an orchard and then through Dymock Wood.

When you reach a road, turn right to cross over the M50, then go left at a junction, signed Baldwins Oak. You'll soon see Betty Daws Wood on the right, managed by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust for the Forestry Commission. It's worth a visit to see some more wild daffodils.

Back on the road, join a path on the left, shortly before a phone box. It takes you under the M50, after which you turn right until a waymarker directs you to the left.

n Eventually you join a farm track heading towards Boyce Court and you'll see the remains of the Ledbury-Gloucester Canal on your right.

After passing between stone gateposts turn right, then soon left to join the canal towpath. Once you leave the canal behind, the path is easily followed across fields to Dymock.

FACTFILE

Start: Dymock church; GR701313.

Length: 8 miles/13km.

Maps: OS Outdoor Leisure 14 and OS Explorers 189 and 190; OS Landranger 149. Terrain: gently undulating; pasture, arable, orchard, woodland and plantation.

Stiles: 27, a few of which are rather spikily overgrown by hawthorn.

Parking: in Dymock, with consideration for the villagers.

Public transport: go by bus or train to either Ledbury or Gloucester, then take

Newbury Coaches Ledbury-Gloucester service 678 which stops at Dymock church (Mon-Sat only); Traveline 0870 6082608 or Herefordshire Council 01432 260211.

Refreshments: Beauchamp Arms at Dymock.

DISCLAIMER

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