Little Bedwyn & the Ramsbury Estate

(S/E) From the front door of the Pelican Inn, turn right along the pavement beside the A4.
Turn right at the road junction, signposted to Little Bedwyn.

(1) Cross the railway and canal bridges, and turn right onto the towpath. Follow the canal past Froxfield Bottom and Middle locks until you meet a road at Oakhill Down Lock.
Continue along the canal to Fore Bridge.

(2) Leave the towpath here and cross the bridge; follow the driveway beyond, passing between two houses to the railway. Cross quickly but carefully. Beyond the metal gate on the other side, turn left and walk parallel to the railway for 400 yards, with the spire of Little Bedwyn church ahead. Just before the church, drop down into woodland.

(3) At the end of the wood, turn right through a gate into the churchyard. Walk round the church and out into Church Street. At the end of the road, turn right and walk up School lane out of the village.
Beyond the old school, go straight on at a road junction.
When the lane bends left, follow a bridleway straight on (if the opening section is overgrown, bypass it along the field edge to the right).
At the top of the hill continue along the field edge. Descend, passing through a hedge, to cross a shallow dry valley.

(4) Walk through open fields to a tarmac lane. Turn right and walk down to the A4 at Harrow Farm. Cross the main road into the lane beyond, then turn right in front of a semi-detached house. Follow the narrow hedged path beyond, turning 90 degrees left after 1⁄2 mile and heading uphill. Eventually, the path levels off then descends to a lane.

(5) Turn left and walk past Rudge Farm. Beyond the farmhouse, turn right onto a public footpath that curves right then left up to a wood.

(6) Turn left then swing right along a ride that follows power lines through the wood.
At a metalled driveway, turn left then immediately right onto a concrete track.
At the next junction, turn right and follow the track through the wood and down a grassy valley; another track joins obliquely from the right, go straight ahead.

(7) At a crossroad of tracks, turn right, heading uphill. Beyond a belt of trees the track continues alongside a wood on your left. Keep straight ahead along the woodland edge when the main track swings left into the wood.

(8) On reaching a metalled lane, turn right and walk downhill for half a mile to Frox- field.

(9) Turn left along the A4 past the Somerset Hospital to return to the Pelican Inn. (S/E)