My first walk of the 2022! Merv and I start our walk in Little Bedwyn, which I thought was just in Berkshire, but turns out to be in Wiltshire. Pevsner's entry on Little Bedwyn is succinct: "A lane with estate housing of 1860, brick with diapers of blue brick and or without gables, leads to the church."
The church seems to date back as far as the 12th century, although with various alterations. We liked the square tower and the clock.
We cross a footbridge and head north along the frosty Kennet and Avon Canal.
At the next bridge we head away from the Canal, skirting Jugg's Wood to reach the start of the Long Walk through Stype Wood, which once led to Stype Grange. This is the view looking back at the end of the Walk. We saw various buildings as we tramped through the Stype Estate, but nothing that resembled a Grange.
We carried on in the same direction to reach a road and then turn sharp right, passing this handsome tree in a field on the right.
Now we entered the large Polesden Estate - where again the big house was carefully out of site. We had a bit of a struggle with the route through the estate. There were a lot of paths, many of which had No entry signs. After frequent reference to the map and some swearing we reached Baverstock's Copse and headed east along clearly marked paths towards Great Bedwyn.
We turned right at Jockey Green to reach the tow path beside the Kennet and Avon Canal again. We were struck by one unusual craft on the right in the picture below.
It remained only to tramp the mile or so along the tow path to return to Little Bedwyn.
Map: Explorer 158 (Newbury & Hungerford)
Distance: about 7 miles, but actually walked nearer to 8.
Conditions: muddy, clear, cool.
Rating: three stars.
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