Reclaim our footpaths

by using them. In any case, it's not all bad news; at New House Farm the owners have created nature trails which link the Temeside public footpath with their café and farm shop at The Fold. The nature trails allow access to a lake and part of the dismantled

railway which once linked Worcester to Bromyard, but please keep your dog on a lead if you use these nature trails.

          Elsewhere along the route, at Castle Green, north of Leigh Sinton, look for a tree-covered mound to your left, surrounded by traces of a moat. This is the site of a motte-and-bailey

castle first documented in 1364, though it is believed to have been built by a Norman lord of the manor soon after the Conquest. 

FACTFILE

START Bransford Bridge, on A4103 south-west of Worcester; grid ref SO804533.

LENGTH Seven miles/11km.

MAPS OS Explorer 204, OS Landranger 150. 

TERRAIN Arable, pasture, woodland; no noticeable hills.

FOOTPATHS A few are excellent, but the overall impression is poor, and the lack of welcome all too apparent. There is nothing to stop you getting through but there are crops across many

paths, waymarking is intermittent, there is a fair amount of overgrowth and some decrepit stiles. There are numerous discrepancies between paths on the map and paths on the ground, where they have been unofficially altered, both by farmers for their own convenience

and by walkers finding a way through obstructions. In some cases, both the correct route and the alternative are described, but where the correct route is impossible or impractical, only the alternative is described.

STILES 10.

PARKING Lay-by next to Bransford Bridge.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT First 417 and LMS 423, Mon-Sat only; firstgroup.com, lmstravel.co.uk or Traveline 0871 200 2233. 

REFRESHMENTS Fox Inn by Bransford Bridge, plus mobile catering van at the lay-by; The Fold café and farm shop at Bransford, next to Go Gourmet (takeaway) at Bransford Garage; shop and pub

at Leigh Sinton (not on the route, but close by).

DIRECTIONS

1 Cross Bransford Bridge then turn left past the Fox Inn. Ignoring all turnings, follow the lane to the railway then slightly uphill to a T-junction. Cross the road to a footpath which

is also the driveway to Hollymount. When you come to a gate, bypass the house to the right, to enter a large pasture. Go obliquely left to a wood, meeting the boundary about halfway along, and look for a stile. Follow the path through the wood. Turn right

near the far side, where waymarked, and walk to a junction marked by a red-and-black sign. Turn left to find an overgrown stile and a choice of two paths.

2 Take the left-hand path, which goes along a field edge for a few metres to another overgrown and also very wobbly stile. Cross this and turn right along the edge of a pasture, then downhill

by the edge of Whitehouse Coppice. Go through a gate and along a track by the lower edge of the wood until another gate gives access to a field. Walk across it on a narrow path through wheat to the far side. Turn right along the field edge to a corner, then

keep straight on across the field to an overgrown stile.

3 Turn left along the edge of a rape-field. Climb another wobbly stile and cross a strip of woodland into a wheat-field. The path should go straight across, but no path has been made. To

follow the correct line, trample a way through, about 50m from the brook on the left; or do what most people do, and walk along the field edge, or use the tractor 'tram-lines'. After 300m you'll see a waymarked footpath and bridleway at a gate, but don't pass

through the gate; instead, continue along the field edge, or close to it, until you intercept a well-made path. Turn right on a diagonal route to the top of the field and cross the railway at an overgrown bridge.

4 Turn left along a field edge, passing a poplar plantation. At the other side of this large field go through a waymarked gate into a smaller field. There are no more waymarks for quite

some distance after this point, making the correct route through Brace's Leigh Farm hard to determine.  At the next gate, near the farm, the right of way goes to the right initially, to pass east of a house, and then left to pass north of it; not surprisingly,

given the lack of waymarking, most people just continue forward along a track which soon bends right to pass west of the house. Either way, you then have to go through the farmyard until you can turn right, just before the last barn, to join the farm access

road.

5 Take the first footpath on the left, at a waymarked gate, and follow it along a field edge. Continue straight on along the edge of a second field. Entering a third field, turn right along

the edge, then straight across to a hedge corner after which a well-trodden path keeps to the edge again, soon passing school playing fields to meet a street at Leigh Sinton. Proceed to the main road.

6  Cross to a path opposite. Go straight across a wheat-field then bear slightly left across a second. Keep left along the edge into a corner, cross a footbridge then go straight on along

a track. Pass a redundant stile and go diagonally right on a well-made path across a wheat-field, then turn right when you meet a tarmac track. Walk to Castle Green and turn right on a bridleway, then next left through the farmyard. Proceed along a track until

you intercept a well-made path (not waymarked) which crosses the bridleway. Turn right, crossing a field to a wood. Pass through the wood, turning left to a golf course and then left along the edge. Proceed to Suckley Road and turn right.

7 Take the second path on the left, at Leigh Hurst. Follow it past woods and a playground then left through meadows to find access to a road. Turn right, then take the next path on the

left. It is easily followed all the way to Bransford Bridge, but there is also the opportunity to make a detour to visit The Fold and/or walk the nature trails – just watch for the signs and you can't go wrong.  

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.

©Julie Royle 2018

From: Julie Royle

Sent: 20 July 2018 14:59

To: MS-Worcester Editorial

Cc: Chris Vaughan

Subject: The Walk - Bransford - for 28.07.18