Start : Stamford Bridge Inn
(S/E) From the front door of the Stamford Bridge, turn left and walk out to Barrow Lane. Turn left (North) along the pavement, past the sign for Barrow. When the pavement ends, cross over and continue along the narrow-verged road for a further 200 yards, before turning right (North) onto a signposted footpath through a kissing gate. Follow the hedge down to a footbridge over Milton Brook.
(1) Beyond the stream cross the boggy field ahead of you (North-East), aiming a little left of Great Barrow church tower, to a kissing gate beside a field gate. Walk out to the road (Barrow Lane) and turn right through the village (if you intend to visit the church, don’t cross over). For a short diversion to view Great Barrow church, take the first right, signposted “St Bartholomew’s Church”, and turn left at the church to return back to the main road through the village.
(2) At the junction with the Main Street, turn left (West) into Ferma Lane between a bus stop and the primary school. Ignore a turning on the right, and continue straight on (West) along a track beyond the entrance to Greyfields, a large mock-Tudor house.
When this track bends right, signposted to Plemstall and Little Barrow, follow it round (North-West), ignoring the footpath straight ahead. Follow this descending hedged track, which narrows to a footpath, for half a mile to Ferma Wood.
(3) At the end of the wood, the path bends left (West), then right (North). Before the path begins to ascend slightly, turn left (West) through a kissing gate and cross a farm bridge. Walk across the field ahead, aiming towards a distant long low farm building, until you reach the River Gowy. Turn right and follow the river to a bridge, where you cross left (West) and pass between paddocks into Holme Farm.
(4) Turn right (North) along the farm drive, and cross the railway at a level crossing. Bear left to reach Plemstall Church (St Plegmund’s Well is a short distance along the road to the left, on the right-hand side). From the church, retrace your steps for a short distance then, at the point where the track divides, take a footpath over a stile on the left. Follow the hedge then bear left to a footbridge over the Gowy. Follow the drainage ditch ahead of you until you reach a second footbridge over the river, which leads in turn to a stile and a grassy track.
(5) Turn right (East) and walk out to the road, passing farm buildings on your left partway along. At Barrow Lane, turn right (South) and follow the road uphill and over the railway to the former Foxcote Inn at the top.
(6) Turn left (East) here and follow Broomhill Lane for a little under half a mile and past some houses to a T-junction. Turn left, then right into a driveway (with a footpath sign). A permitted path leads round to the left of the buildings, then regains the original line at a stile beyond them. Follow the hedge and then fence to a further stile, then cross a field to a footbridge and stile. Keep on through a series of kissing gates until you join a grassy track and subsequent driveway leading out to a road (Hollowmore Heath).
(7) Follow the road ahead (left - South-East), past some houses on your left, then turn right (South-West) through a kissing gate onto a path along a field edge. Cross a stile and walk along another field edge to a footbridge and double stile, then aim diagonally right across the final field to emerge on the road alongside a garden.
Turn right up the narrow lane (Heath Lane), then turn left to a T-junction. Turn right and walk up the road, past a small water treatment works on the left. After 300 yards, turn left through a kissing gate and follow a path that winds left and right to a second kissing gate. Walk along the top of a slight bank until you meet a stream, which you follow right to Mill Lane.
(8) Turn right (West) and walk up the lane to a triangular junction. Beyond the village hall, turn left into a driveway, which in turn leads to a footpath. Beyond a wooden barrier, turn left along a path signposted “Permissive Path to Stamford Bridge” (if unavailable, continue to the church and return the way you came). At the end of a hedged hollow way, cross a footbridge and go through a kissing gate. Turn left and walk down the side of a field to an owl nestbox by Milton Brook.
(9) Turn right and follow the stream for 400 yards to a footbridge (ignoring a farm bridge partway along). Turn left to cross the footbridge and follow the path along the hedge beyond. On reaching the road, turn left to return to Stamford Bridge Inn.(S/E)
