directions

Distance: 6½ miles

Time: 3 hours

Start: Hullavington Church (GR 895821)

Maps: OS Landranger 173 or OS Explorer 168

Terrain: generally level but some overgrown paths

Contact: via vilewalks@yahoo.co.uk or the vilewalks facebook site.

Getting there: Follow the A429 north from Chippenham towards Malmesbury. Two miles north of the M4, take the left turn signposted to Hullavington. In one mile, at a crossroads, turn left into Hullavington village, parking on the roadside by the church in 600 yards.

1. Walk back up through Hullavington to that crossroads and follow the cul-de-sac opposite signposted as a ‘no through road’. In ¾ mile, where what becomes a track ends, keep ahead across an open field, passing occasional oak trees before reaching a gate. Follow the left edge of the following field for 400 yards, pass through a gateway on the left, turn right and follow the right edge of the next field to a gate in its corner. Continue across the next field on a path that shortly veers left into the trees to border the Gauze Brook. In 25 yards, cross the river on a footbridge, turn right and continue to a gate before keeping ahead to join Mill Lane in Corston. Turn right to explore the village – for the main walk, turn left and follow the lane to a point where it becomes a private driveway. Continue following this driveway uphill for 300 yards to a point where a private driveway goes off on the right. Immediately past this point, pass through a gateway on the right and follow a path that bears right to a stile. Follow the right edge of the field ahead to a stile and lane.

2. Follow this lane to the left and, in 20 yards where the lane bears right, keep ahead on a waymarked byway. Follow this byway for one mile across King’s Heath to a point where it bears right in front of Bradfield Wood. Keep right at this point and continue along the lane ahead for just over ½ mile to reach a road junction. Turn left and follow the road down to the Vine Tree Inn in Norton. Keep ahead to a ford before continuing to a T-junction. Turn left – a detour in a few paces to the right leads to the church – and continue for 150 yards to a stile and footpath on the right just past a bridge.

3. Cross this stile and walk diagonally across the middle of the field ahead to a pair of stiles in its opposite corner. Cross these stiles, turn left and walk down to a stile in the corner of the field. Walk across the next field, making for the middle of three trees. Pass to the left of this tree, enter the right-hand of two fields ahead and walk down its left edge to a footbridge in its corner. Walk down the left edge of the following field to a stile in the fence at the bottom of the field. Follow the line of a yew hedge ahead and, where the hedge ends, turn left and, in a few paces, right down to a gate and tunnel under a railway line.

4. Beyond the railway, bear left down to a footbridge, cross a stream and walk uphill in the next field, a sewerage works on the left. At the top of a gentle climb, walk across an arable field to reach a footbridge on the far side of the field to the right of a telegraph pole. Beyond this bridge, bear right to a green iron gate and some properties on the edge of Hullavington. Turn right and follow a path running to the rear of these properties. On the far side of the field, keep on the path as it bears right down to a footbridge over a stream. Keep ahead for a few paces before bearing left through a gap in a hedge to follow a path alongside the rear of more properties. In 100 yards, pass through a gap on the left to join a lane. Turn right and, where the lane bears right, pass through a gate on the left and follow the left edges of two fields. 75 yards across the second field, pass through a gate on the left and follow a path up to the main street in Hullavington. Turn left back to the church.