Winsley, Dundas & conkwell
wInsley is an altogether better place since its bypass was opened a few years ago. Driving around the village on the B3108, you might be tempted into thinking that this is just some modern housing estate in the West Wiltshire countryside. Leave the main road and explore the older part of the village however, and you will find pretty little cottages, grand houses, a fine old hostelry and a church with a handsome perpendicular tower topped out with a rare saddleback roof. I did like one description of Winsley that recorded ‘good village scenery of stone cottages and tasteful villas aligned along wriggling village roads’.
From the village, the walk drops downhill into the Avon Valley, before a two-mile stretch of the Kennet & Avon Canal is followed from elbow Cottage through to Dundas. This is canal walking at its best. The K&A clings to the valley side, slightly above the River Avon, overhung by trees on both banks. To quote from one local guidebook, ‘picturesque and scenic somehow seem inadequate appendages to a description of the Avon Valley. Sylvan and resplendent are closer to the mark’.
Dundas is the site of arguably the finest aqueduct in Southern england, its arches carrying the K&A above the River Avon, the Bristol to the South Coast Railway and a farm track. It is also the junction of the K&A with the long-disused Somerset Coal Canal, a link that necessitated the construction of a substantial wharf where today pleasurecraft of many shapes and sizes are moored. The first quarterof-a-mile of the Coal Canal has been restored to provide additional moorings.
There follows a climb to Conkwell, high above the canal, that brings excellent views along the Avon Valley towards the outskirts of Bath. Conkwell itself is a small hamlet of stone-built cottages, once the home of local quarrymen and their families employed extracting the famous local stone. The stone was carried down the hillside on a tramline to the canal below, before being transported into Bath where it was used as building material. Quiet lanes and fieldpaths return the walk to Winsley, crossing open countryside with extensive views. To the east lie the Marlborough Downs with Salisbury Plain to the south. Look carefully and you could spot the white horses at both Cherhill and Westbury. And by this time in the walk, thoughts will no doubt be turning to rest and refreshment … and here you are spoilt for choice.
Hartley Farm lies on the edge of Winsley, and here you will find ‘The Barn’ serving breakfasts, lunches, and a whole lot more. To quote from its website ‘the focus is on cooking fresh, wholesome food that champions the seasons and the local farmers, growers and makers behind the ingredients’. In Winsley itself is the Seven Stars. To quote from the Good Pub Guide: ‘handsome bustling village inn with low-beamed linked areas, pastel paintwork and stripped-stone walls, farmhouse chairs around candlelit tables on flagstones or carpet, wood-burner, good food...’ but be sure to book.
Getting there
Follow the B3108 from the A36 at Monkton Combe towards Bradford on Avon. In 1½ miles, at the start of the Winsley Bypass, turn right into Winsley village. Park on the roadside in 200 yards, just before the right turn to Dorothy House.
■ 1. Walk towards the centre of Winsley and, in 250 yards, on a left-hand bend by the bowls club, turn right and follow a back lane. Follow this lane as it winds its way for 300 yards to reach the entrance to the local cricket club. Do not turn into the cricket club; instead cross the stone slab stile ahead and follow an enclosed path that drops downhill to reach a junction with a track on the fringes of Turleigh in ¼ mile. Turn right and follow this track downhill to reach the K&A Canal by Elbow Cottage in ½ mile. Turn right and follow the K&A Canal for two miles to reach, and cross, Dundas Aqueduct. Walk around Dundas Wharf to a footbridge on the right, cross this bridge and turn right before then recrossing the aqueduct on the opposite bank of the canal.
2. Continue ahead to, and pass to the left of, a wooden shed to reach a stile. Follow the track beyond this stile for 25 yards before bearing left into a hillside field. Walk diagonally across the middle of this field to a stile in its top right corner. Walk around the right edge of the next field to a stony track in its top right corner. Follow this track up to a stile and on uphill to reach Conkwell. Having passed Spring Cottage, the first property on the right, follow a track on the right past a number of properties before following a footpath into Conkwell Wood. Ignoring all side turns, follow this woodland path for ¼ mile to reach a lane.
■ 3. Turn right and follow this lane for ½ mile to a stile on the left by a right-hand bend, Conkwell Grange to the right. Cross the stile and follow an enclosed path that runs between paddocks to reach a gate to the right of a copse. Walk down the right edge of the next field to a gate and lane in its far right corner. Follow this lane to the right for 400 yards to reach the Winsley Bypass by Church Farm. Cross over into a road called Late Broads before taking the first left into Millbourne Close. In 25 yards, follow a tarmac path on the right down to a back lane by Winsley Church. Follow this lane to the right as it winds its way through the heart of ‘Old Winsley’ to reach the Winsley Road in 300 yards. Turn right back to the roadside parking.