Westonbirt Arboretum - Walks with Stiles

With the church on your L take the narrow walled lane that winds past houses to a T-junction. Turn R along the lane out of the village past the cemetery.

Where the road turns L 1 go through a gate into the field ahead and follow the path, which gradually curves towards the wall on the R. Go over the stone stile and carry on alongside the wall (now on your L) gently downhill over two more stone stiles.

Where the wall turns L 2 take a diagonal line to your L downhill across the grass (the path may be faint) leading to a wooden stile in the shallow valley. Walk ahead along the valley through a metal gate onto a wide woodland track. Carry on for 400m, and where the track bears L take the path ahead to a wide gate with a “Welcome to Westonbirt Arboretum” sign leading out to a grassy area 3.

Go through the gate and immediately turn R over a V-stile with steps. You’ll see a green Macmillan Way sign. Bear R and climb into the woods on a winding path (sometimes faint) following the green signs. At a 90-degree L-turn sign you drop down out of the wood, cross a track and go up the hard surfaced drive opposite 4.

This is Broad Drive, the showpiece of the arboretum, which slices through Silk Wood for 1,100m. Walk to the end (ignoring all L and R turns) and leave the wood through the gates ahead 5.

Immediately turn R over a crumbly stone stile and follow the yellow arrows through a series of kissing gates in fields alongside the wood. You’ll soon pass the telltale signs of a badgers’ sett on the R. Do not disturb!

(If you meet some low wire fencing in the fields, you can cross safely by holding the blue plastic sleeve that protects you from the mild electric shock which keeps the cattle in place.)

After the third kissing gate, where the wood boundary turns R, go straight ahead over a low stone stile with a hedge on your R to reach another kissing gate. Cross the track and head across the field to a tall pine tree in the corner. It leads you onto a metalled road 6.

Turn R and walk on the road for 250m. When it bears R 7 take the farm track on the L for 400m and then drop down to a quiet lane 8, turn R and follow it for approx 1 mile (1.6km) to the village. Soon after the duck pond you’re back at the start.

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