Thornbury Wayfinders

Berkeley Point to Point

This route from the number 62 Post Office bus stop in Berkeley to Thornbury is about nine miles long. Shorter versions also using the 62 bus start from the All Saints bus stop in Stone (6.5 or 6.2 miles) or the Huntsman bus stop in Falfield (from 4 miles.)

From the Post office bus stop, head back past the shops and turn right down High Street. Cross a road bridge into the countryside and look for a footpath over a foot bridge to a Bristol gate into a field.

Head diagonally right across the field with Berkeley Castle on your left and the Little Avon River on your right.

Go through a “bridle” gate on the river bank. (A “bridle” gate is one with a tall lever so you can open it from horseback.)

Follow the river bank to another Bristol gate, after which the path follows a tributary, which may be the Doverte Brook, round to a field gate leading to a footbridge into a field that usually has horses in it. At the moment, the field is divided into paddocks, so you can keep out of the way of the horses by following a track clockwise round the field to a bridle gate on the bank of the Little Avon River.

The path now follows the river bank past the Berkeley Point to Point race course through two kissing gates and over a stile. When the course is not in use the fences are wrapped in weather proof coverings.

As you cross the stile, you should be able to make out the Tyndale monument over to the left. As the river bends to the right, you are are going past what would be the finish on race day. You need to cross the track at this point – not to the gate straight ahead but to the bridle gate a bit to the right.

The right of way heads up the hill to join a track around the right hand edge of the field. This leads to a wooden bridle gate next to a pair of field gates and a driveway around a pair of cottages. This leads via another bridle gate and field gate onto the A 38 in Woodford.

Cross the road carefully and turn right down the old course of the road. You will pass a handy defibrillator as you descend the road towards the old bridges over the Little Avon and a mill stream.

You are looking for a footpath sign on the right pointing to a footpath up a drive on the left.

All Saints

Here the main route is joined by the beginning of the route from the number 62 All Saints Church bus stop in Stone.

From the All Saints Church bus stop follow the bus along the footway until you can cross safely using the traffic island and turn left.

Keep right when the path splits and descend the path down to the old road. After you cross the Little Avon River, look for a footpath sign on the left pointing to a driveway on your right.

Altogether

The footpath up the drive to the Old Mill is something else. You must not push the gate – instead you must press a green button and step back. The gate will open for you.

Head up the driveway past a house on your right and a weeping willow tree, behind which is a footbridge over the millstream. It is worth looking around and back as you cross the bridge to admire the mill pond and the Old Mill itself.

Follow the stream on your left to another footbridge equipped with a convenient step in case you find the bridge too high and an excellent stile where the cross step is supported by a pair of logs.

The next stretch, leading to Middle Mill Farm was nicely mown when I was there and leads to a driveway up to Damery Lane. There is a kissing gate next to an impressive pair of wooden gates.

The stile on the other side of Damery Lane rather lets the side down. It was put in as part of a scheme to divert the path away from Middle Mill Farm so that the path on the far side joined the path along the drive. Unfortunately, the stile has not been maintained. The posts supporting the step had decayed and the only way to make it work was to pull the step through the sheep netting and use it as a sort of see-saw!.

(It is possible to get around this stile by continuing down the road to the old stiles, but they haven’t been maintained either! (And you miss the bullace trees that grow on the new route.))

Over the stile, turn left and follow the edge of the field to a field gate into a maturing plantation, which doesn’t have a name as far as i know – Middle Mill Wood perhaps?

Near a wood pile, turn right as you have to and follow the ride past some fine Bullace trees . Keep straight on at the footpath sign until you come to a bend in the Heneage Brook. Follow the path through the trees on the right to pick up a similar ride through the wood. At the end turn left and follow the path to a T-junction. Turn right to find a kissing gate into a field.

Two routes around Heneage Court

The Longer One.

This version is slightly longer and noisier – because it goes closer to the M5 – but but you get to see the lakes and a good view of Heneage Court.

From the kissing gate out of the wood, head straight across the field to a slightly rotten footbridge with stiles (one with a missing step.)

Bear left to an altogether more substantial footbridge over the Heneage Brook. Bear right to a kissing gate and on to field gates by a tunnel under the motorway.

Don’t go under the motorway. Go straight ahead and through a gap into another field. Head up the field with the hedge on your right to a stile leading to the parkland below a wood and Heneage Court. The lakes on your left often boast Canada Geese or other waterfowl.

Go past Heneage Court to find a rickety footbridge with stiles in the hedge. Turn right up the hill to a stile next to a field gate. Turn left up the drive to the A 38. Cross the road carefully and turn left along the pavement towards the Huntsman’s Inn.

The shorter one.

From the kissing gate out of the wood, head diagonally right up the hill to a pair of kissing gates at the top of the hedge ahead.

Through the kissing gates, cut the corner to a field gate and turn left. The route clips the edge of a wood on the way to stile in the hedge ahead. Continue along an enclosed path to a kissing gate and then on to another one.

Look for a stepless stile on the left leading to another stile. Turn right and follow the hedge on your right to a low stile onto a driveway. Continue straight ahead through a gateway and along the drive to the A 38.

Cross the road carefully and turn left along the pavement towards the Huntsman’s Inn.

The Huntsman’s Halt

The Huntsman’s Inn is conveniently placed for a lunch stop. You may be a bit late if you are doing the whole walk from Berkeley as the kitchens shut at 2-30, but you should be in good time if you are doing the shorter route from the All Saints bus stop in Stone.

If you have brought a packed lunch, there are seats in the park opposite the entrance to St George’s Church.

There are a couple of versions of the route back to Thornbury from here, which I have already published.