Winsley & the avon Valley
Winsley is an altogether better place since its bypass was opened in the late 1990s. 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’.
Beyond Winsley, the walk drops down through the Murhill Bank Reserve before exploring the scattered settlement of Murhill itself. The reserve is essentially an area of unimproved limestone grassland that clings to the hillside high above the limpley stoke Valley. The rich array of flora on the site in turn attracts countless butterflies, making summertime the ideal season to walk this way. Below the reserve, ancient woodland clings to the hillside and, hidden away within the tree cover, are a number of attractive properties that constitute the hamlet of Murhill. A spectacular rock face along the way provides evidence of the quarrying that was once the basis of the local economy.
Below Murhill, a pleasant section of the K&A Canal is followed through to Avoncliff. As at Murhill, the local hillsides were the site of stone quarrying in centuries past. With the coming of the canal, the wharf at Avoncliff became a hive of activity, with tramlines bringing the golden limestone down the hillsides to barges destined for Bath.
A rather grand aqueduct was constructed to carry the waterway across the River Avon, and an inevitable hostelry was opened up to cater for the thirsts of the bargees. Today, the terraced garden of the Cross Guns makes quite the perfect spot to rest and linger awhile over a pint of some fine real ale.
The path uphill from Avoncliff to Turleigh passes alongside a field that for many years was the site of aggressive cows attacking walkers. The stories made the national press when, just a few years ago, a 66-year-old man was trampled to death and his older brother left with serious head injuries. This was the fourth incident within five years and it left locals terrified. The stories can be found online, simply Google ‘Cow attack Avoncliff’ and there are countless scary stories. Rest assured, however, for the path has now been fenced off from the field.
Beyond what is known as the ‘killing field’ we reach Turleigh, a scattering of grand houses and many small cottages that were once occupied by quarrymen, stonemasons and tanners. Today properties here change hands for on average £715,000 which means that those manual workers have long since departed. nowadays, this delightful hamlet tucked into a fold in the hills above the Avon Valley is more likely to be home to bankers, solicitors, entrepreneurs and ‘Woopies’, well-off old people who have retired to this rural idyll to see out their twilight years, no doubt inspired by escape to the Country and other such television programmes.
Back in Winsley, make for the seven stars, a pub that usually receives 5* reviews. To quote from one guidebook ‘Handsome bustling village inn with lowbeamed linked areas, pastel paintwork and stripped-stone walls, farmhouse chairs around candlelit tables on flagstones or carpet, wood-burner, good food from pub favourites up including highly rated sunday roasts, friendly attentive service, well kept Palmers IPA and West Country guests, proper cider.’ BUT be sure to book, especially at weekends.
Getting there
■ Leave the A36 at Monkton Combe and follow the B3108 towards Bradford-on-avon. In 1½ miles, at the start of the Winsley Bypass, take a right turn signposted to Winsley and Dorothy House. Park on the roadside in 200 yards, just past a right turn called Quarry Close.
■ 1. Walk back towards the B3108 before turning left into Quarry Close. Almost immediately, pass through a gap on the right and walk across the middle of a meadow to its far left corner. Continue along a path to a car park and the driveway leading to Avon Park retirement village. Cross this driveway and follow the left edge of the field ahead for 100 yards before passing through a gate on the left to enter the Murhill Bank Reserve. Follow a path to the left past a seat to a gate before following a woodland path for ¼ mile to reach a lane and parking area in Murhill, passing through a gap in a drystone wall along the way.
■ 2. Turn left and, in 20 yards, follow a stepped footpath on the right down to a lane and entrance to Murhill House. Follow this lane downhill for 200 yards to reach the K&A Canal, turn left and follow the waterway for 400 yards to some steps and a track. Turn right and cross the K&A before following the towpath to the left for just over ½ mile into Avoncliff. Having crossed the aqueduct, drop down some steps on the right to a lane. Turn right and walk under the aqueduct before turning right in front of the Cross Guns back up to the K&A. Turn right and walk back across the aqueduct to a parking area.
■ 3. Cross this parking area and follow a path into the trees opposite to a gateway. Continue up the right edge of the field ahead to a track on the hilltop before turning right into Turleigh. On reaching a lane, turn left and follow what is Green Lane for 300 yards to a junction in front of Turleigh Manor. Turn left and walk uphill for 350 yards before turning left on to a footpath, immediately past a wooden property called Log House. Follow this path uphill to the war memorial and a road in Winsley. Turn left and, in 75 yards, where the road bears left by Winsley Social Club, keep ahead on a lane that shortly passes the village church. Continue following this lane as it winds its way through ‘Old Winsley’ to return to the Winsley Road.