A WALK WITH CELANDINES

Midford Valley walk

Andrew Swift suggests a walk through the Midford Valley south of Bath, a delight at any time of year but especially so in early spring when the woods are carpeted in celandines and wild garlic

Our route through the Midford Valley takes in the towpath of the long-abandoned Somersetshire Coal Canal as well as the trackbed of the Camerton & Limpley Stoke Railway, which opened in 1910 to serve a new colliery at Dunkerton. The colliery only survived until 1925, after which the line saw little traffic, although it did have a glorious swansong in 1952 when it was used to film The Titfield Thunderbolt, one of the best-loved Ealing Comedies.

The walk starts outside the White Hart in Widcombe (BA2 6AA; ST755642). From here, head up Widcombe Hill and after 300m – just past Widcombe Crescent – turn right along Church Street. When you come to the church of St Thomas à Becket, take the lane to the left of it, carry on past the gates to Prior Park and at the end turn left through a kissing gate (KG) and head uphill. At the top of the field, go through the KG straight ahead and carry on uphill over rough ground in the same direction.

At the top, turn to take in the view before going through another KG and turning right alongside railings (ST766634). After passing a gate, follow the track as it heads uphill, and, when you come to another track, bear right alongside a large playing field. When the track forks, bear left to follow the fence alongside the field and at the end turn right along a broad path. (ST766629).

At the road, cross the zebra crossing and carry straight on along Shaft Road. Carry on as the road heads downhill and after 700m, when you come to a bench with a view, turn right down a steep path – with hazardous little steps (ST771622).

At the bottom, carry straight on along the road, follow it as it bears left and, just past the Wheelwright’s Arms, turn right down Mill Lane. After 100m, you pass Monkton Combe’s lock-up, where those who imbibed too freely in the local hostelries were once confined to sober up.

Some 50m further on, two metal gateposts flanking a garage on the left are all that survives of Monkton Combe station, which doubled as Titfield in the film. Continue down a footpath on the right, passing the old mill on your left. After crossing the mill race, follow a path between fences and over the Midford Brook, before turning right through a KG to follow a field track alongside the brook (ST774617).

After 400m, continue through a gateway, where a spring issuing from a bank on the left has created something of a quagmire. A little further on, the track forks. The official route curves left uphill, while an unofficial route heads right to the abutments of a bridge that once carried the railway across the brook. A scramble up the embankment here leads onto the trackbed, which can be followed for a short distance before a breach in the embankment leaves no choice but to scramble down and bear left to rejoin the official route.

Whichever option you take, the way is likely to be muddy, and, after going through a KG, the track drops steeply down to where railway sleepers have been laid across boggy ground. Beyond this lies another KG, where the mud lies thick. Once through the next KG mud gives way to grass – if only for a while.

As you near the end of the field, look over to your right to see on the horizon Midford Castle, built around 1775. Continue through a KG and follow a lane leading downhill (ST764609). At the main road, turn right through Midford, past the remains of a railway viaduct. After crossing the brook, turn right, following a public footpath sign which, after 100m leads onto a wooded track along what looks like the trackbed of another railway but is in fact the former towpath of the Somersetshire Coal Canal (ST761608).

Old Canalside Cottage

After 400m, though, the bed of the canal has been filled in and all trace of it disappears. Continue in the same direction through a KG and, a little further on, the footpath leads on to a lane (ST765615). Opposite lies a former canalside cottage with a plaque proclaiming that William Smith, ‘the Father of English Geology’, lived there, although it has long been established that Smith lived in the three-storey house 50m further on.

Go through a KG to the left of the cottage to follow a path past Tucking Mill Reservoir and under a monumental viaduct. Built by the Somerset & Dorset Railway, the line closed in 1966 and it now forms part of the Two Tunnels Greenway. Follow the path as it curves right alongside the viaduct and after going through a KG turn left to follow a woodland path alongside the Horsecombe Brook (ST763617). After going through a KG, carry on for another 150m before going through a KG on the right and climbing a steep flight of steps. Continue up through the woods for another 400m and go through a KG at the top. Bear left towards a gate in the far corner of the field, head up to a KG and turn right along the road (ST758621).

At the crossroads, carry on up Belmont Road, and at the end turn left along Church Road. Holy Trinity church, which you pass on the left, stands in a churchyard created from old quarry spoil heaps and has never been used for burials. The row of houses opposite, known as the Old Rank, was built by John Wood in 1729 for Ralph Allen’s quarrymen, and is the oldest group of buildings in Combe Down.

Turn right along The Avenue, and at the main road cross to the left-hand pillar at the top of Ralph Allen Drive and follow the footpath branching off behind it. Although it may not look much like it, this is the old road down to Bath. After 550m, when you go through a grotto-like archway, the scene changes dramatically, however, and the nondescript path turns into a steep and rocky way, running with water, and looking much as it would have done centuries ago (ST758631).

Eventually, it starts to level out and broaden, passing the Roman Catholic cemetery with its twin chapels on the right. After passing Cloister Lodge, turn right at the T junction and at the bottom turn left to follow Prior Park Road back to the starting point. n

Woods on Cotswold Edge

Fact file

n Distance: 7 miles

n Level of challenge: Steep and muddy sections, with one long flight of steps and a rocky downhill section running with water.

n Map: OS Explorer 155

More on the details of the Monkton Combe walk can be found in Andrew Swift’s Country Walks from Bath, published by Akeman Press; akemanpress.com.

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