Easy difficulty. Distance 7.5 km (4.5 miles)
A fairly gentle 7.5 km (4.5 miles) walk along quiet lanes and tracks, with an opportunity to visit a nature reserve and a pub.
Walk out of the village along Lower Millhayes. After 1km take the first lane on the left, signposted to Ashculme. Continue along this lane for a further 1 km (ignoring two lanes off to the right) as far as Middle Ashculme Farm. Take the footpath on the right through the farm, keeping to the right of the farm building, an onto a track through the fields. Keep on this track for 1 km until you come to a barn. Turn right here, and, following the footpath signs, go over a stile, across a field, another stile and a bridge. Turn left and walk across two fields towards some barns, where you will come to a bridleway track.
(If you wish to visit Ashculme Turbary Nature Reserve, turn left, over a cattle grid and on to a house driveway. As the driveway bends right, the bridleway continues straight ahead into the reserve. The turbary is important for wet heathland and bog and has unusual flora and fauna. However, walking conditions are wet and difficult!)
If you don’t wish to visit the reserve, turn right on the bridleway and go uphill along a tree-lined track for 1 km to a lane. Turn right and go 0.5 km to a bridleway with a cattle grid on the left. Follow this for 200 m past a house on the right and onto a driveway. Keeping a low stone wall on your left, go through a gate on to a path. This brings you to Clayhidon church and the Half Moon Inn – a wonderful spot to rest. When you leave the pub, turn right, over a crossroads, to a lane on the right with an ‘unsuitable for motors’ sign. Follow this all the way down to the bottom where you re-join the Ashculme lane. Turn left and retrace your steps back to Lower Millhayes.
