Wellow, just a few miles south of Bath, enjoys an enviable location with its cottages and grand houses located on a south-facing hillside above the Wellow Brook.
All around lies a fine pastoral landscape of low hills and sheltered valleys, with sparkling watercourses and shady woodland.
Wellow is also a centre for some of the finest walking in the area, whether it be northwards to Combe Hay, south to Stony Littleton or – as in this case – across those rolling hills to Hinton Charterhouse and Baggridge. Particular highlights will be the packhorse bridge and ford in Wellow itself, or maybe the unimproved grassland in Cleaves Wood just beyond Hinton Charterhouse.
Twenty seven varieties of butterfly have been recorded from the site including the nationally scarce species, Duke of Burgundy Fritillary.
There is also the ever-popular Fox & Badger at journey's end, where the cheese ploughman's and the Cheddar Valley Cider is as good as it gets!
Nigel Vile
Distance 5 miles.
Time 3 hours.
Start Wellow Church (GR742584).
Maps OS Landranger 172 or OS Explorer 142.
Terrain Some steep hillsides.
Suitable for Both walking and running.
Getting there Follow the B3110 into Hinton Charterhouse before taking the turning by the Stag Inn signposted to Wellow. In 2 miles, park on the roadside by Wellow Church.
1 With your back to the church, follow the road to the left downhill and out of Wellow. Having passed the trekking centre in 350 yards, continue for another 100 yards before turning left onto a byway – there is a sign saying unsuitable for vehicles over 1 metre wide. Continue to a gate before walking the whole length of a hillside field to a gate in its far right corner. Follow the track through Hankley Wood to a gate and continue for 25 yards to a fork. Keep left and continue on the track for 250 yards to a pair of gates. Ignoring both gates, turn right into an arable field and follow its left edge for 150 yards to a footbridge on the left over Wellow Brook. Cross the river and, in a few paces, turn left onto a path – it soon bears right – and continue alongside a tributary stream of the Wellow Brook through woodland to a handgate. Walk ahead through a valley across 3 fields to a handgate just before a property on the edge of Hinton Charterhouse. Beyond a short section of path, follow a lane away from this property up into Hinton Charterhouse itself, turning left at a junction in 300 yards up to the B3110.
2 Turn right and walk through the village, passing the Raven Inn. In 100 yards, immediately past the Post Office, turn right along a cul de sac lane. In 100 yards, where this lane bears right into an estate, keep ahead along a footpath. In 250 yards, keep ahead on what is now a wider farm track. In ½ mile, just beyond a point where the track begins to drop downhill into Cleaves Wood, keep left at a fork and continue downhill past an area of uncultivated grassland on the right to a junction. Turn left and, in 100 yards, keep right at a junction. In 200 yards, turn right at a waymark and drop downhill to Wellow Lane. Turn left and, in 75 yards, cross a footbridge on the right over Norton Brook. Continue on a track that climbs uphill for ¾ mile to reach Baggridge Farm. Just past a pair of barn conversions, turn right onto a lane – Baggridge Hill – to drop downhill to a ford in Wellow in 1 mile, ignoring all side turns along the way. Cross the Wellow Brook at this point on a packhorse bridge before continuing uphill along an enclosed footpath to reach the Fox & Badger Inn. Turn right along Wellow's High Street to return to the church.
