Sweetwater Lane

From the Haw Lane bus stop

Cross the road and turn left into a footpath that goes more or less straight ahead around the right hand edge of a housing estate. Continue to follow the hedge on your right past a playground until you come out over a stile onto Vicarage Lane.

Turn right and then left down a drive that doubles as a footpath. When you have passed the house, continue straight ahead following a hedge on your left through four field boundaries.

If you look up the right, you will see the woodlands surrounding Old Down Country Park. If you are old enough you might remember Mike Oldfield who used to live there and who is most famous for “Tubular bells.” Latterly, it has been associated with Aaron Banks.

When you reach the Church of St John at Elberton. Turn right and follow the path along the other side of the hedge up to Vineyards Brake.

Vineyards Brake is the first of a series of woods called “brakes” on this walk. A brake is “A clump of bushes, brushwood, a thicket.” It is not clear what was the function of a brake. It could have been a fox covert or a covert for pheasants. Or it might have provided brushwood for bread ovens. However, it is difficult to see why anyone should need so much brushwood. If a wood were regularly cut for brushwood, it would more commonly be called a copse or a coppice.

In any case, one would not expect a brake to provide good quality timber.

Follow the path along the edge of the wood until you emerge on a B road.

There is an iron age hill fort hidden in Vineyards Brake, which might be the reason it was not developed into a timber plantation.

Cross the road into Sweet Water Lane.

The woods on the right are called Brocketty Brake. I thought that might have something to do with Brock the badger, but reference to the Shorter Oxford dictionary reminded me that a “brocket” was a two year old stag, which had just grown its first set of antlers. Perhaps a tree with ash dieback might be described as “brocketty”?

The stream running down the left hand side of the lane is Sweet Waterings, which gives its name to the lane. On the other side of the stream on the left is Fiery Pits Brake, which shows signs of earthworks on old maps. Maybe the fiery pits needed brushwood to fuel some process.

Next on the left is Broadrush Brake. At the end of this wood, Sweet Waterings crosses from the other side of the lane. It appears to rise on Thornbury golf course near some ponds.

After you have passed the entrance to Mumbleys Farmhouse Livery Yard, turn left up a bridleway. Which will bring you out onto another bridleway called Bond lane.

This is quite a good place to consider the scope of the Forest of Avon Plan. You have just passed several pieces of woodland. Littleton-on-Severn is over to the left beyond a considerable wood called Hay Wood. Over to the right is Kington Grove and the “parkland” associated with Thornbury Golf Club.

Turn right. When you rejoin Sweet Water Lane, keep straight ahead until you come to a T-junction at Mumbleys Plat. Go straight ahead over a stile into an enclosed path that leads to another stile onto Thornbury Golf Course. Follow the edge of Kington Grove around to the left.

Kington Grove is a good example of Ancient Semi Natural Woodland. There are wood anemones in it, particularly at the bottom, and bluebells, which are good indicators of ancient woods according to Michael Martin and Mick Aston. (Their publishers wouldn’t let them call this the Aston Martin method in case it infringed some copyright or other! The golf course is a good example of modern parkland.

Follow the path through some rough ground until you emerge through a kissing gate into a field.

Head straight down the field to a kissing gate into another field. Go straight across to another kissing gate, a stone bridge and a stone stile next to a gap.

You are now in Mundy’s Playing Fields. Follow the path around the football pitch ahead. Bear left to pick up the tarmac path past the play equipment. This will lead you via The Close into Thornbury High Street.

Turn right and then left into Chapel Street to access the main car parks and bus stops.