THE riverside woods and wild flowers of Kingswood and Southwood are among the loveliest features of this walk, along with the mostly wooded ridge formed by Rodge Hill and Pudford Hill.

Surrounded by the abundant greenery of these places, it’s easy to forget that almost everything in the landscape ultimately owes its existence or its particular shape and character to the underlying rocks. A knowledge of geology is crucial to understanding the landscape, but it’s not the easiest of subjects to get to grips with.

Locally, much is being done to foster a greater interest in geology, with Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust, based at the University of Worcester, very active in this respect.

It was the trust which devised the Geopark Way and produced the informative guidebook which accompanies it.

It also works with other groups and individuals keen to highlight the geology of the area. For instance, it was involved in the development of Chantry School’s geology garden, which you’ll pass on this walk.

The garden has interpretation panels and a collection of rocks, sourced from across the county, representing eight geological periods: Precambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Jurassic and Quaternary.

There are fossils too, along with a terrific Tyrannosaurus Rex artfully constructed from scrap iron.

Teme Valley Geological Society is based in Martley and works tirelessly to protect and promote local geological features.

One of its projects has been the successful development of Martley Rock as a visitor attraction.

Martley Rock is very close to the route of this walk, requiring a detour of little over 200 metres in all.

To visit, just continue along the private road a little further before joining the Worcestershire Way to Kingswood (see point 2).

The site is on private land, with no access by public footpath, but landowners Helen and Robert Taylor are happy for walkers to visit.

Five geological time periods are represented in just a few metres at Martley Rock, and there’s plenty of information at the site to explain the complex geological processes glimpsed here.

FACTFILE

Start: St Peter’s Meadow, Church Lane, Martley; grid ref SO755597.

Length: Six and three-quarter miles/11km. Maps: OS Explorer 204, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: Pasture, paddock, woodland, orchard, arable; mildly hilly.

Footpaths: Mostly excellent.

Stiles: Ten, and one padlocked gate.

Parking: Next to St Peter’s Meadow.

Public transport: Aston’s 308/309/310, Mon-Sat only; worcestershire.gov.uk/bustimetables or 01905 765765. Refreshments: Pub and shops at Martley.

DIRECTIONS

1 Join the Martley Circular Walk (MCW) by walking a little way up Church Lane then taking to the fields on the left (dogs on leads here please). Follow the waymarked route to the road, turn right then pass between the Crown and Central Stores to enter a field. Go to the left, following MCW through several fields, eventually joining a private road.

Continue in the same direction.

2 Intercepting the Worcestershire Way (WW), turn right. Climb to a viewpoint then descend towards the Teme valley. Stay on WW at all junctions until you come to a sign for Kingswood Nature Reserve. Turn left here on the Geopark Way (GW), descending steeply to the river Teme then following the river upstream. After crossing a footbridge continue beside the river, with WW and MCW soon rejoining from the right. Follow WW/MCW/GW to the road.

3 Turn left, leaving WW/MCW/GW and walking past Ham Bridge Farm. Take the next path on the right, after the farm.It initially uses an access road but when that bends left the path continues straight on along a field edge. At the top of the field turn right into another and follow the left-hand edge. After passing a solitary hedgerow oak continue by the hedge for a further 25m to an easily-missed stile. Cross the stile and turn right, proceeding to a junction at another stile.

4 Go diagonally left to the top of a field, join a lane and turn left.

Walk to the end of the lane to find a fingerpost indicating a bridleway on the right and a footpath straight ahead. Take the footpath and go left when it forks, along a woodland edge. Follow waymarks until you come to a junction at the second of two gates (padlocked).

Go straight on, back into the wood.

At the next junction, by a brook, again go straight on, leaving the wood at a footbridge. Walk along a field edge until a waymark points to the right, across sheep pasture towards Lower House Farm. Fork left to pass between a tennis court and the farmhouse, and join a private access road. Stay on the road until you reach Manor House.

5 Take a bridleway opposite, descend a slope to join an access road by a pond and turn right. Approaching a house, bear left on a track, climbing gradually past the house to enter woodland.

Turn left and climb to another junction where you turn right, rejoining WW/GW. Walk the length of Rodge Hill and Pudford Hill, descend to a lane, turn right, then left on a track. After a few paces a fingerpost points right.Ignore this and stay on the track, taking the next footpath on the right.

6 Walk to the bottom corner of a field and go straight on along the edge of the next. Turn left at a junction, cross a stile in the next corner and turn right across pasture to a lane. Turn right, then cross a road to a lane almost opposite.Turn right at the next junction, rejoining MCW, which takes to fields on the right and then passes through Chantry School’s grounds.It briefly leaves the grounds near a silver birch but soon returns and is then easily followed to the road. Cross over and walk through the churchyard to St Peter's Meadow