Eckington Wharf

This is partly due to the Avon Valley Circular Walks, a couple of specially waymarked and very easy routes from a picnic site at Eckington Wharf.

They are promoted by colourful leaflets, which can also be downloaded from the internet. An added attraction, on the north bank of the Avon, is a large meadow with open access, which means we don’t need to stick to the footpath which crosses the meadow but can walk wherever we want. At its north-eastern corner is Swan’s Neck, where the river Avon makes a very tight bend next to a tree-lined pool. This is a good place to look for birds.

Beyond the meadow lies the quiet village of Birlingham where, in January and February each year, hundreds of thousands of snowdrops carpet the churchyard.

These are the descendants of flowers planted by a vicar of Birlingham in 1870. There are masses of crocuses too, and the churchyard is also rich in wild flowers, with primroses usually the first to bloom.

This walk is in the form of two loops so you can choose whether to do both or just one. If only doing one, the Birlingham loop is probably the one to choose at this time of year because the snowdrops really are worth seeing.

The Strensham loop (which is one of the promoted circular walks) is always enjoyable but perhaps at its best in summer when there is a constant passage of boats through Strensham Lock.

Bow Brook, a tributary of the Avon, is a notable feature of the walk. You’ll cross it twice on the Birlingham loop, and pass its confluence with the Avon on the Strensham loop. Between the A4104 and B4080 it flows through an attractive valley where mature willows flourish along the banks of the brook. There are also some very impressive pollarded willows near to where the brook meets the Avon.

FACTFILE

Start: Eckington Wharf Picnic Place by Eckington Bridge, on the B4080 south-west of Pershore; grid ref SO922422.

Length: Four miles/6.5km or sevenand- a-half miles/12km.

Maps: OS Explorer 190, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: Flat farmland, both pastoral and arable.

Footpaths: Excellent, apart from patchy waymarking.

Stiles: Six.

Parking: Eckington Wharf Picnic Place.

Buses: Diamond 382 Worcester- Pershore via Eckington, Defford and Birlingham (Eckington Road), daily; worcestershire.gov.uk/bustimetables or 01905 765765.

Refreshments: Eckington, Birlingham and Defford.

DIRECTIONS

1 Cross Eckington Bridge and enter a large meadow. Make your way to the far corner, by any route you please. Turn right on a track (Shakespeare’s Avon Way) and follow it to Birlingham. Turn right when you reach a lane, then take a footpath on the left after a few paces. Keep to the left edge of a field then carefully follow waymarks through a garden to meet a lane.

2 Turn left, then left again when you come to The Row. You need to follow a route to the left of a row of houses with half-moon windows then follow a fenced path to a lane.

Turn left to reach the village green. Walk through the churchyard and leave it at the far side, behind the church. Turn right to a T-junction and turn right again, then left on Church Street, towards the Swan Inn.

3 Turn left just before Leyfield on a path which leads to a field.

Cross to the far left corner and turn left to a T-junction. Turn right on Upper End, then take a footpath on the left after only a few paces.

Step over a broken fence then bear left through a small plantation and through a gate into sheep pasture.

Keep to the left edge then leave the pasture when you reach the next corner. Follow an access track to Eckington Road and turn left.

4 Take the first path on the right and keep straight on at all junctions to meet Main Street (A4104) where it crosses Bow Brook at Defford Bridge. Turn left, then right on Bluebell Lane. Take a path on the left after 200m, going diagonally across a field to Defford.

Join a lane (Upper Street), turn right and return to Bluebell Lane.

Turn left and then keep straight on at a junction, along Croome Road.

5 Take a path on the left when you reach The Old School.

Follow the well-trodden path along field edges to meet Church Lane by Defford’s Millennium Green.

Follow the lane to the main street and turn left, then take the first footpath on the right. Go to the left when the path forks. Go left again when you reach a yellow grit bin and proceed to Crown Lane. Turn right to Main Street and cross to a path to the left of Defford Motors.

Follow this well-used path through a field and past Avon Valley Nature Reserve. Cross Bow Brook at a footbridge and proceed across a field to a path junction.

6 Keep going roughly straight ahead to a point when you reach a track beside some farm buildings the path continues opposite and is easily followed to the B4080. Cross over to find access to the riverside meadow you passed through at the start of the walk and use it return to Eckington Wharf. If you are intending to do the Strensham loop as well then cross the road again and take the riverside path. Follow the path through about a dozen fields to Strensham Lock and then take a track which becomes Mill Lane to Eckington. Meet the main road by the Bell Inn and turn left to return to the wharf.