LIFETIME of WALKS by DEREK HARWOOD

I drove to Stanford on Avon Village and parked alongside Saint Nicholas Church in South Kilworth 2 Lane. After unloading and assembling my bicycle, I rode to Naseby Village via Cold Ashby Road or Stanford Road, Cold Ashby Village and Church Street in Naseby, the Start of the Day's Walking and the Start of the Shakespeare Avon Way. I locked my bicycle to the Church Street Sign alongside the wall of All Saints Church and very close to the official source of the River Avon. Before starting to walk I did visit the Village War Memorial Lion and studied the Naseby Battle Information Board in Church Street, again alongside the Church Wall. I noticed the direction to the two Memorial Battle Sites and promised to visit the sites when I collected my bicycle after the walk. I composed myself ready for the long walk along Welford Road towards Welford Village, passing Hall Close in Naseby, the lane north to the Battle Site, Shuckburgh Lodge Farm, Woolleys Farm, Red Hill Farm and Naseby Hall. Before Sulby Abbey and where the lane changes to Naseby Road, I took the footpath on the left at the 'S' bend, diagonally across two fields to a stile. Here the way gets tricky because the Avon Way is not marked but footpath discs are present on the posts of gates and stiles. I had to take extra care at many of the stiles because barbed wire was installed very close to the hand holds. There were several streams running in the same westerly direction with the official River Avon unclear. However it is best to keep looking for gates or stiles on the south side of the streams. I did find my first 'Shakespeare Avon Way' sign as I approached Welford and soon after the Avon Way was joined with the Jurassic Way from the North. I did notice lots of dandelions and other plants in the pastures of the Avon Valley, but as I walked south west, parallel to the High Street in Welford, I passed several fields of huge quantities of buttercups. The pasture fields were still ridged from the old method of farming giving the buttercups, which were mainly on tops of the ridges, bright yellow strips in bands right across the fields. To me this was a very unusual and a very pretty sight, enforcing the wonderment of nature once more. As I turned west again towards the village and climbed over some very overgrown stiles, I noticed the meandering path towards the village houses which was lined with buttercups, that were spread around the field but more pronounced around the path carved out by the many boots crossing the field. The exit to the field was extremely overgrown and difficult to navigate through to the stile in Northampton Road A5199 Welford. Here I turned right into Welford towards High Street and almost immediately turned left into Church Lane instead of continuing into High Street. Welford was a typical old village with the cottages alongside the pavement, very picturesque, especially when thatched roofs can be seen. I also thought Church Street was very delightful, although only consisting of about two dozen dwellings before West Street / West End was reached with St Mary the Virgin Church on the corner. Here I struggled to find the route but eventually I turned left into West End until I reached Hall Lane on the right. I wandered down Hall Lane thinking I was on my way again, but I had missed the gate of the first field on the left after the houses. When I eventually passed through the gate into the field I struggled to see the exit of the large field across the ancient earthworks. I decided I would have to use my faithful OS Maps App on my mobile. The App showed me that I was too far south, so I walked north along the hedge at the western side of the field until I found a well-concealed stile. From the stile I headed towards an old abandoned cottage with a large visible hole in its roof and a large bush in front of the building making it look like an archway from a distance. I then turned half left to follow the hedge up the hill. At the gate I turned right to follow the hedge on my right around a cereal crop field, down to a stream and straight ahead up the hill keeping the hedge on my right until I could see Canal Bridge 38 over the Grand Union Canal. The bridge indicated to me the exit from the field and the method of reaching the towpath on the opposite bank of the canal. I carefully climbed the overgrown path through the bushes to the path over the bridge and descended the small path on the diagonally opposite side of the bridge down to the towpath. I was so keen to walk along the same towpath as my Lifetime of Walks 591 (GUC Leicester Line Bridge 28 to Welford on 6 August 2004) that I didn't realise I needed to take the track from Downton Farm to follow the other side of the towpath hedge. After enjoying the huge bull rushes in the water on the side of the canal, I started to realize it would be difficult to get through the dense hedges on the side of the towpath to the track. I didn't want to return to Bridge 38 so I kept a beady eye on the hedge to try and find even the smallest exit as I walked along the canal past the moored long boats. I did finally find a possibility which I attempted gingerly and eventually reached the track on the Avon Way. As I consulted the map I realised I was near the site of the Medieval Village of Downtown. Soon after the site the track turned right, away from the canal bridge towards the south west, where I continued walking between the very large fields, then turned left on the track to walk parallel with the canal. When I reached two small ponds amongst the trees and bushes, I turned sharp right to follow the southern bank of an almost straight but deep and wide Stanford Brook. I crossed several huge fields and a newly planted wild wood, before reaching Cold Ashby Road. I then turned right along the minor road towards Stanford on Avon. At the tee junction with Stanford Road I turned right over the bed of a disused railway into Stanford Village. I passed what was obviously the old railway station building, then as I was passing a wonderful very large, relatively new huge thatched Cotswold Stone house with beautifully manicured garden, I took out my camera and waited for a lady to pass who was walking her dog, a very friendly Golden Retriever. I commented that I wished I lived at the house and she agreed but didn't seem too bothered. She said she lived at Hollytree Cottage. After a short natter I continued along the twisty lane passing a very similar but smaller thatched Cotswold Stone Cottage and then, to my amazement, Hollytree Cottage, another relatively new thatched roof huge house with several cars parked outside the detached double, or was it a treble garage. After another bend in the lane at Home Farm I came to Saint Nicholas Church again, where my car was parked. After refreshments I drove back to Naseby to collect my bicycle locked to the street sign by the source of the River Avon. Unfortunately I enjoyed the walk so much I had to hurry so I didn't have time to visit the Naseby Battle Monuments, but I'm sure they are worth a visit. What a wonderful start, hopefully to a memorable journey along the valley of the River Avon to the River Severn. Enjoy.

Location Map: - www.streetmap.co.uk, - Start: St Nicholas Church, Naseby Village.
Finish: at Att Saints Church, Stanford-on-Avon .