HAMSTEAD MARSHALL walks

Hamstead Marshall is well served by public rights of way, on which it is possible to walk mostly off-road through scenic, rolling farmland for an hour or more, hardly leaving the parish. There is no challenging terrain, but be prepared to meet livestock, cattle grids, stiles and mud. Walkers with buggies are probably best advised to stick to either the towpath running eastwards towards Newbury (which has been surfaced as a cycleway) or the footpath that coincides with the tarmac driveway in Hamstead Park. Below are brief descriptions of five circular walks of about two to four miles each. Click at the end of each walk description to bring up printer-friendly details.

	Irish Hill walk	Beginning at Hamstead Mill, this walk of about three and three-quarter miles takes you along the canal where, if you are lucky, you may see a kingfisher or, on a May evening, perhaps even hear a nightingale. The route then crosses over Morewood estate land via Irish Hill, now almost deserted, but from Saxon times until early this century it was a community with its own identity quite distinct from the main village. The second half of the walk involves one and three-quarter miles along Irish Hill Road, but this is a very quiet lane outside commuting hours, and offers good views across the Kennet Valley. This walk can be doubled in length by adding it onto the Enborne Wood walk (which also begins at the mill) as a figure-of-eight. details

	Enborne Wood walk	This three-mile walk begins at Hamstead Mill, where milling has taken place since Saxon times. The route takes you eastwards along the canal towpath to Benham Lock in the neighbouring parish of Enborne, and then through Enborne Wood. Circling back through Hamstead's medieval deer park, the route affords a glimpse of the Regency manor house, passing ancient monuments and more modern memorials in an elegant eighteenth-century landscaped setting. If combined with the Irish Hill walk it makes a figure-of-eight route measuring nearly seven miles. details

	Old Mansion walk	The bridleway over Elm farmland begins a walk of nearly four miles taking in the site of the seventeenth-century mansion which burned down in 1718. Today only the walls and gate-piers remain - gaunt relics of ruined splendour. The walk then passes Hamstead's twelfth-century church and early nineteenth-century mill before crossing the park proper. Within its original "pale" (traces of which remain) the land has probably never been ploughed. The walk rejoins the Kintbury road via some farmland adjoining the park, thus returning to Elm Farm. details

	Holtwood walk	This walk begins opposite the White Hart, up the driveway to Plumbs Farm, following what was once a village roadway across to the parish border at Smith's Bridge. It passes through Briffs Copse, across farmland and up a quiet lane to Holtwood. The return journey uses footpaths across Elm Farm, passing through the Mayhouse Gully. In all it totals about three miles. details

Elm Farm Trail

This two-mile circular trail, constructed four years ago with the support of the Countryside Commission, tours Elm Farm's 235 acres. Here can be seen organic farming in action, complete with ponds, old hedgerows, pollarded willows, unploughed grassland, old clay pits, and track verges rich in old-fashioned flora. Organic cultivation also fosters bird life, and Elm Farm is rich in many increasingly rare species. A trail leaflet can be obtained from the farm office, but this is not strictly necessary because the trail is well signed, and open all hours. A noticeboard in the trackway leading into the cattle yard behind the farmhouse (west of the farm's car park) marks the start of the route. Further details can be obtained from 01488 659698.

These and many other walks can also be accessed from Walking in Berkshire.

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