Worcestershire | Archive | 2003 | November | 07
From the archive, first published Friday 7th Nov 2003.
Autumn came early this year, and many leaves have fallen already. Some were shed as early as August in response to the stress of heat and drought, while strong winds have since removed many more.
But some do still remain, and it's well worth getting out into our local woods before winter takes over completely, especially as leaves are often retained for longer in the more sheltered conditions found in woodland.
If you have internet access you can keep track of how things are developing in popular woodlands such as Wyre Forest by logging on to the Forestry Commission site www.forestry.gov.uk/autumn which is updated daily.
The Commission rates woodlands on a scale of one to five to indicate colour intensity. Wyre Forest is a great place to visit late in the year because it has plenty of beech trees and beech retains its leaves longer than other species.
This walk is almost entirely within the forest but also visits two hamlets, Kingswood and Far Forest, which were established in the Middle Ages by squatters who built themselves cottages and cleared the surrounding trees so they could rear stock and maybe grow a few crops.
Buttonoak and Callow Hill were also squatter settlements. The name Kingswood is a reminder that Wyre Forest was once royal hunting territory, where harsh forest law was enforced.
Any hungry squatter who dared to poach one of the king's rabbits would have faced the death penalty if caught by a forest warden.
DIRECTIONS
Take the main cycleway into the forest but leave it at the first junction, turning left on a track marked by a butterfly sign, and then immediately right on a path which runs parallel with the cycleway at first, before the latter swings right.
The path is waymarked by posts with yellow bands and others with a yellow `acorn trail' sign. Look for number 12 on the acorn trail and then proceed to the next yellow-banded post - turn right here, descending through oakwoods to rejoin the cycleway.
Turn left to a bench then left again on a footpath which climbs to join another path, waymarked by red- and green-banded posts. Turn left to a major junction then turn right on a footpath, where a sign indicates `forest walks'. Yellow arrows and red-banded posts mark the way.
Turn left at a junction and keep left again at the next, on a cycle/bridleway now, as the footpath turns right. Stay on the cycle/bridleway, ignoring all branching paths. Keep straight on when a sign indicates Buttonoak.
Cross Dowles Brook and then turn left on a bridleway. Very soon you'll come to a junction with another bridleway. Turn right, uphill. After crossing a forest road, go straight on, but turn right at the next waymarked junction before swinging left to resume your original heading.
After crossing a brook, the bridleway turns right as it climbs above the rim of a steep valley, then soon sharp left through a gap between fenced areas. Please heed the signs to put your dog on the lead as you approach Longdon Orchard, a conservation area.
Go left at the next junction, into conifers, then soon turn right. Turn left when you meet the Elan Valley Pipeline (where a wide swathe has been cut through the forest, resembling a firebreak).
Walk to the edge of the forest and cross a footbridge. Go up a bank and then follow a field-edge footpath uphill. Go through a hedge gap at the top and turn left towards Kingswood.
Soon after passing a timber-framed house (Manor Holding) you come to a T-junction. Go a few paces to the left towards Kingswood Farm and join a track that swings right into the forest. Keep straight on at all junctions, walking through Brand Wood to Dowles Brook.
Cross the brook and proceed up the bank to a junction. Turn right, cross a tributary stream and turn left on a path by the woodland edge. The path soon meets a surfaced track; continue in the same direction, passing between the abutments of a dismantled rail bridge.
At a junction, turn left past The Newalls, on a path leading back into the forest. After descending to cross a brook it climbs to a lane by Forest Dell. Turn right, and soon right again.
Reaching a junction at the end of Sugars Lane, go through a hedge gap opposite and along the left-hand field edge, over a stile in the corner and along a path to Plough Lane at Far Forest.
Turn left and walk to a junction, then turn right on a track running past a house called Greenwood. The track forks at Brantwood: take the right-hand option, along the edge of the forest, with private woodland beyond the fence on your right.
Descend to a brook, cross at a footbridge, climb a stile and go uphill, following yellow-painted posts. At a T-junction marked with yellow arrows, turn right, then go straight on at the next, following a track out of the forest.
At another T-junction turn left on a bridleway which soon returns to the forest and then swings left to meet the bridleway you used near the start of the walk. Turn right, then second left, following red-banded posts to the visitor centre.
FACTFILE
Start: Wyre Forest Visitor Centre, Callow Hill, on A456 near Bewdley; grid ref SO750740.
Length: 7 miles/11km.
Maps: OS Explorer 218, OS Landranger 138.
Terrain: mostly woodland, some farmland, gentle slopes.
Paths: excellent.
Stiles: 6.
Parking: visitor centre.
Public transport: bus or train to Kidderminster then bus 292 to visitor centre; also possible via Hereford and, on Sundays, via Bewdley (300 from Worcester, then 292); Traveline 0870 608 2608 or www.traveline.org.uk
Refreshments: café at visitor centre.
PLEASE NOTE: 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 author or publisher for errors or omissions, or for any loss or injury, however caused.
© Newsquest Media Group 2008