I’m sure Mary Poppins would declare Wootton Rivers ‘practically perfect’. The little Wiltshire village lies snug under the downs on the edge of the Vale of Pewsey, all thatched roofs and red brick.
First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window
Facebook Link:
Sparrows were chittering in the thatch as we walked out and up along a green lane to the roof of the downs under a milky blue sky.
Up there ran the ancient trackway known as Mud Lane – after all the recent rain we soon discovered why – flanked by old mossy woodbanks and overhung by big beech and ash, and holly trees as substantial as well grown sycamores. I became aware of a staring pair of eyes in the shadows of an oak, and made out the leafy face of the Green Man, venerable spirit of the greenwood, carved with wonderful skill into the stump of a broken-off bough. The artist had resisted the temptation to give the Green Man a jolly grinning countenance, and had instead provided him with an expression appropriate to his status as a woodland god – thoughtful, solemn and crafty.
Mud Lane ran out of the trees and over the nape of Martinsell Hill. The promontory down curled away like the flank of a great beast, dimpled with old pits that might have been medieval rabbit warrens, or maybe the clay delvings of the British potters that lived up here 2000 years ago, making their coarse grey Savernake ware for the Roman army. Nowadays cattle munch the downland grass, and walkers stop to sit with hands around knees and stare across the Vale of Pewsey to the far hills, one of southern England’s most breathtaking views.
Below Martinsell Hill we followed a track across the high ramparts of the Giant’s Grave, an Iron Age hill fort where autumn gentians trembled their glowing purple trumpet flowers in the wind. From here there was a view to challenge the Vale of Pewsey, more intimate but no less stunning, down into the secret cleft of Rainscombe where a fine Georgian house lay among gold, scarlet and green trees like a promise of earthly delights.
A slippery clay path bought us down into the Vale, and we followed the towpath of the Kennet & Avon Canal back to Wootton Rivers in the soft grey light of the autumn evening.
Start: Wootton Rivers village hall car park, near Marlborough, Wilts SN8 4NQ approx. (SU 197631)
Travel: Rail: Pewsey (two thirds of a mile from Pains Bridge on Kennet & Avon Canal)
Bus: Bookable Bus from/to Pewsey (not Sun, BH) from/to Royal Oak PH – 08456-525255, option 1
Road: M5 Jct 15; A346 through Marlborough; Wootton Rivers signposted to right in 3 miles
Walk (8½ miles, moderate, OS Explorer 157):
From car park, left past Royal Oak PH. In 200m pass ‘Tregarthen’; road bends right, but keep ahead (197634) up green lane. At top of rise (200642), left along field edge; right (‘Mid Wilts Way’/MWW) up head to Mud Lane trackway (198646). Turn right for 50m to find Green Man on left (ref SU 19840 64645), then return west along Mud Lane (occasional MWW). In 1 mile cross road by car park (183645); on across neck of Martinsell Hill, aiming between wood on right and spinney on left, to go through gate on skyline (177642). In 200m cross track (174642, ‘Oare Hill’ fingerpost); in another 300m, opposite stile on right, turn left off Mud Lane (171642) through hedge. Cross field, aiming for left-hand of 3 separate tree clumps. Pass to right of it (172637), on downhill with trees on right. At bottom corner of field, follow fence to right (170634, MWW) across Giant’s Grave (166632).
On down beside fence to corner of field (162629). Cross stile (MWW); left along hedge and across end of field. Through gate (161628, MWW), across green lane and on along right-hand field edge. Cross Sunnyhill Lane (161623, fingerpost); across field, through hedge gap (161621); diagonally left across next field to far fence (164618). Right to wired-up gate (164615); right along hedge for 50m, left across stile. Diagonally left across corner of field to cross stile into green lane (164616). Right to cross Pains Bridge (165612); east along canal towpath for 2½ miles. At Bridge 108 (198629), cross canal by lock to return to car park.
Lunch/accommodation: Royal Oak PH, Wootton Rivers, SN8 4NQ (01672-810322; wiltshire-pubs.co.uk) – friendly village local
Information: Devizes TIC (01380-734669)