Go by the brook

Sue Gearing takes us on a picturesque stroll that is good for dog walkers

The gentle By Brook and its stunning peaceful valley start this walk from Box between Bath and Chippenham. Then an uphill walk leads to picturesque Colerne village with two pubs followed by field and lane walking down to Ditteridge and its 11th-century church before re-crossing the By Brook.

There’s a great new cafe and takeaway at the start, too. And it’s a very good walk for dogs.

Turn right up Market Place to the main road. Turn right a yard or two and cross the main road to go down Mill Lane opposite.

On the corner is the new Little Box Café, serving very reasonable drinks and snacks and offering a takeaway too – so you could buy your picnic here! If you want to see the start of the famous Box tunnel, go along the main road a little further and on the bridge look over to the right.

The tunnel, opened in 1841, is nearly two miles long.

Continue down Mill Lane. Go under the railway bridge, ignoring the footpath at the side. Continue a few more yards and take the Macmillan Way on the right (it’s to the left of the entrance to a converted mill).

Follow it along with the stream on the left. Cross a humped bridge and turn right and soon cross another bridge. Continue to a stile on the left.

Once over, follow the meandering By Brook on your right through beautiful meadows and over stiles for about 0.75 miles. Notice up on the right impressive Fogleigh House.

Carry on walking until a stile leads you to a lane.

Turn right and then left at the junction towards Saltbox Farm.

Opposite the gate to the farm on a slight bend, go right over a stile and into fields again.

Follow the river on the right.

Go through a metal kissing gate very close to the river and continue on.

Reach another kissing gate onto a lane. Now turn left up the lane, which should be pretty quiet. It is a steady climb.

After about three quarters of a mile, reach a junction with another lane. Turn right up quite a steep section and reach the old tiled roof well house in Colerne.

Bear up left, still climbing, and just before double garages, go right through a gate in the wall and into the churchyard.

The church is noted for its clock on the tower, built in 1685 , probably by the village blacksmith. It has only the hour hand, like that of Westminster Abbey. There are only a small number of similar one-handed clocks in England.

The church bells, a ring of eight, were once regarded as “the sweetest in Wiltshire”. In the church is an impressive memorial to Richard Walmsley of Lucknam.

Go on past the main church door and out left to Market Place and straight on passing pretty cottages. Enter the High Street and pass the Six Bells pub on the right (not open in the week, and check on food at the weekend).

Continue on, past the post office, ignoring side turns, and reach on the left a traditional and very popular village pub, the Fox and Hounds, open every day, and with a good garden.

At the end of High Street, as Bath Road goes on, turn left down the no through road. Reach a modern house ahead. Go to the left of it, and then left over a stile. Head down across the field to a stile ahead.

Once over, maintain direction. Pass close by a barn and cross another stile and go across another field. A stile by a gate leads onto a lane. Turn right downhill.

After a couple of minutes on a bend, go right over a stile which is more or less ahead. There is a beware of the bull sign, but no bull when I came.

Go down left and then bear right across to a visible stile.

The arrow on top of the post sends you across the field, and then keep on more or less in the same direction (not too far right) to drop down into Lidbrook Bottom, keeping a hedgeline of trees on your right.

Cross a footbridge over a small stream, the Lid Brook. Go uphill with the hedge on your right – the steepest part of the walk. Cross a stile in the top corner and go under trees to another field and continue on up.

In the corner, go through a small band of woodland. In this next field, go left and then right following the field edge and continue up to the top of the hill. Then carry on. Cross a stile and go straight on to leave the field and arrive at the hamlet of Ditteridge.

Go by the lovely little church of St Christopher’s dating back to the c11th, and listed in the Domesday Book. Ditteridge was the centre of extensive Saxon estates and later when the Romans were in Bath, the great Roman road, the Fosse Way, ran nearby, so it is fitting that the church is dedicated to the former patron saint of travellers.

Continue on down to a junction with a road and turn left. Immediately cross and take the stile into a field at the side of an unusual 1950s style house with a verandah. Go down the field with the hedge on the right. Bear away near the foot and cross a stile in the bottom fence line.

Cross a small rough field and through a squeeze stile to reach a collection of houses known as Middlehill.

Go ahead on the track past cottages and on the far side of Woodbine Cottage go left down a path. Stay left along the bottom of the cottage gardens and carry on in the edge of woodland following a well defined path.

Cross a drive and carry on and reach a road at Middlehill. Cross and just to the right of the side road follow the public footpath on. A stile brings you into a field. Follow the left hedge, and cross another stile. Look down right and you should be able to see the start of a short rail tunnel before the start of the long Box tunnel designed by Brunel. Continue in the same direction as before along the left hedge and in the corner, stay in the field and turn down right with a bank on the left. You are walking over the rail tunnel. Come into a field. Go across and through a squeeze stile by a gate.

Cross a bridge over the By Brook and take the left-hand track that goes straight on and leads to a recreation ground in Box. Go right and up past Selwyn Hall and then cross the main road by the Queen’s Head and go down the Parade to where you parked in Market Place.

Little Box Take Away, 079946 668473; The Six Bells, Colerne, 01225 742413; The Fox and Hounds, Colerne, 01225 744847. Please call before setting out to confirm opening times.