Start at the shop in the centre of Ansley Village. Leaving the shop, turn left along Birmingham Road. After a few yards you will see the public footpath to your left. Follow the path to the top of the field and then turn right into the golf course. After a few more yards, you will see the footpath signpost over the fairways. It follows the old field edge, long since grubbed out. Look out for low-flying golf balls as you follow the path to the oak tree the other side of the fairway, then continue with the hedge on your left. Go through the gateway at the bottom of the fairway. Aim for the telegraph pole straight across two fairways. It has a yellow ‘public footpath’ stripe painted around its middle. From there follow the hedge down to the stream at the bottom of the golf course. Tucked away in the corner you will see a steep descent to the stream and a footbridge over it.
Cross over the footbridge and up the other side into a cultivated field. The fields in the parish can have potatoes, maize, oilseed rape, wheat, barley and occasionally beans. What is cultivated in any field depends on the crop rotation and the location. The path cuts through the centre of the field. It brings you out on to Ansley Lane. Cross over the road into Hood Lane. On Sundays the hut at Hood Lane Farm serves delicious coffees – well worth a visit.
Follow Hood Lane to the end, then turn left into Mill Lane. The mill has been converted into private houses. The footpath continues to the right, the other side of the mill stream. There is a footbridge that brings you into the wood behind Ansley Mill. Follow the path alongside (and over) the stream until you come out into the fields the other side of the wood.
Through the wood
The path takes you to your right, through several fields. The stream is on your right, protected by trees. This is a lovely path with various wild flowers at different times of the year, as the farmers have left the headland uncultivated. You might see some flattened patches in the long grass, where deer have made a bed for the night.
Looking back along the path
As you go further along, the stream widens to become a long narrow lake. There are some brick structures that may date from the time of the mill. When you reach the final field before the main road, the footpath goes through an opening in the hedge, over a footbridge and takes you into the churchyard of St Laurence Church.
The oldest part of the church
The church dates back to the twelfth century. In the intervening centuries Ansley village has migrated away to the east, leaving a few houses and a farmhouse around the church itself.
You might find this gravestone of a 16-year-old boy, the son of the vicar. The message at the bottom of the stone says, “Boast not Reader of thy Might: Was well at Noon and Dead at Night.”
On that cheerful note, we leave the churchyard through the gateway the other side of the church. Turn right into the lane. A short distance after the last house, the path goes to your left into the field. Follow the hedge to the corner, then ignore the track that goes to Little Brook Farm. Instead, you go straight ahead into the next field.
Head straight across the field until you reach Ansley Lane. Cross over the road and go through the kissing gate on the other side. Cross over the field. To your right you can see towards Arley Woods. The path brings you to some new houses and then out on to Birmingham Road, back in Ansley Village.
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