Circular walk, about 2 hours/4 miles, over cultivated fields, grassland and trackways. Muddy in wet weather.
Start from Ansley Village Post Office.
Coming out from the Post Office, turn left. After the trees and bench you will see the kissing gate on your left. Follow that path along the hedge until you reach the top of the golf course. Turn right on to the golf course.
Follow the top of the golf course until you see the signpost. It crosses the fairway from here, following the line of a long-vanished hedge. Look to your right for any approaching golfers, then walk to the oak tree at the top of the next hedge. Follow the hedge down to the gateway at the bottom corner. From there, two fairways away, you will see a telegraph pole with a yellow stripe across its middle. That’s where you’re heading to next. From the telegraph pole follow the hedge down the hill, passing a large pond on the way (which may have newts in it). At the bottom of the course turn left and follow the stream until you reach the footbridge at the far corner of the golf course.
The stream edge is a special place. In March or April you might see wood anemone carpeting the ground under the trees. Wood anemone is an indicator of ancient woodland. It only grows where the ground has not been disturbed for hundreds of years. At other times you might see (and smell) the wild garlic. And the bluebells are there in April and May.
Cross the footbridge into the field beyond, then turn right. The path takes you over a concrete bridge and straight ahead up the other side of the valley to the field corner in front of you.
Go through the kissing gate and follow the trackway, which brings you out into Old Arley near the Arc School. Cross over the roundabout to your left. The path continues next to the school gate and takes you between two sets of gardens. When you come out on to Rectory Road, cross the road, turn right and head up the hill towards the corner.
Here the track leaves the road again and continues straight in front of you, alongside the ‘Wagon Load of Lime’. The scary signs are for vehicles, not walkers, so you can ignore them. This is a public footpath, after all.
The path brings you to Arley Wood, which is well worth a detour. But make sure you come back to this entrance to continue our walk, because our path takes us alongside the wood and not through it.
Arley Wood on a frosty morning.
Image courtesy Yoka Lorrier
Keeping the wood on your left, follow the path through a couple of fields. Looking to your right you can see Ansley Village on the brow of the hill. After a footbridge you enter a field where you leave the wood at the corner. The path around the wood continues to your left, but you carry on straight ahead and slightly to your right, over the cultivated field. This path brings you to the other side of the field, opposite Ansley Mill.
Turn right into Mill Lane and continue up the hill, past the junction with Hood Lane. Go along Church Lane until you can see Brook House Farm in front of you on the left. The path goes on your right, straight across a cultivated field. Aim for the gap between the copse and the hedge. The path continues over the next field, bringing you to Ansley Lane. Cross the lane and go through the kissing gate into the next field. As you approach the path between the new house, you can see Old Arley and Arley Wood in the distance on your right.
The path brings you out on to Birmingham Road in Ansley Village. Cross the road and turn right to get back to where you started.
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