Walking with Offa 7: Hill Forts & Woodlands of Bury Ditches (6.5 mile)

Walk directions

1. Start

   Start at The Memorial Hall car park, Clun, SY7 8NY.

   Leave the car park by the main entrance and turn left along the lane, passing Clun Youth Hostel on your right. Pass Lake House cottages and fork left on the track to Mill Barn. Take the fenced footpath on the right. Cross the stile into the field and cross diagonally to another stile in the far hedge. Cross the field to the corner and exit via a stile into the lane. Turn left and follow the lane for ½ mile past Guilden Down cottages, then at the farm fork right and continue on the road. On passing the Cottage on the left (No.3) turn immediately left and continue on the wide stony/dirt track.

2. Step 2

   After a few minutes pass through a metal barrier and continue on the track. In about third of a mile pass by a metal gate and continue straight on and enter the forest on this rising track which soon joins the main forest track coming up from the left. Bear right and uphill and continue on the wide track for 350 yards to reach a clear fork-junction.

   SHORT ROUTE LEAVES HERE - please note short route currently impassable (March 2025)

   Short Route Only – Take the right hand fork and immediately there is a wide opening to a track on the right. Turn right and follow this track down and it becomes a narrower grass/dirt track. Continue down and at the end of an opening on the left, with clear view of the valley, look for and descend over a stile on the left. Turn right and roughly follow the right boundary around the field. Descend to a gate/stile and turn right on to the track. Continue short route instructions from step 5.

3. Step 3

   Main route to Bury Ditches hill fort: Take the left hand fork of the junction on a rising track. Carry on up the track for ½ mile and at the summit turn right on to a wide grassy track. Follow this path to the gate on the left at the entrance to the fort. Go through the gate and follow the wide and obvious grassy path through the fort. At a sign board on the right of the track, with an artist's impression of the hill fort, turn left and follow this path to find a topograph (map of the surrounding landscape) and magnificent views of the Shropshire Hills.

4. Step 4

   Return to the main path and turning left continue to descend to a pedestrian gate and exit the fort. Continue down the gravel footpath as it descends to the fort’s car park area. (Here you will find conveniently placed picnic tables). Leave the car park onto the tarmac lane and turn right. As the lane bears left, continue straight on, through a gate to join a wide track. Continue along the track, through a gate to join an enclosed fenced track and wooded area. Just before reaching a house pass through the pedestrian gate on your left. Bear right to go through a second gate, then carefully descend the bank and continue along the bottom fence line and on through a third and fourth pedestrian gate. Continue along the left fence line to pass a house on the left and then turn left and cross the brook via a wide track and continue up the bank. You will soon reach another track that passes the house and rises to the right. Bear right to join this track and follow it up as it winds left and passes through a gate.

5. Step 5

   SHORT ROUTE RE-JOINS MAIN ROUTE HERE

   Continue on the track and through a gate in the corner of the field. Enter the track enclosed by hedges and descend to Stepple Farm. On reaching the farm keep right and straight on, passing the farmhouse and through a gate. Continue down the track and as the track forks, stay on the higher track. Where the track bears left and down, continue straight, on the track that leads to a gate. Continue on this track as it bears left and gently descends through a second gate into a field. Drop down the bank and bear right across the field to a plank bridge over a small stream. Cross the stream and continue in the same direction, steadily rising to the corner of the field. Pass through the gate and steeply ascend keeping to the edge of the wood on your left.

6. Step 6

   Turn left at the top to pass through a bridle gate into Radnor wood. Bear right and climb steeply up the edge of the wood, turning right at the top to go through a gate leaving the wood. Follow the path along the edge of two fields with the hedge line on the right, to pass through a bridle gate and into a sunken green lane. Cross the footbridge over the stream, soon the track turns right, ignoring the footpath ahead, continue along the wide green lane to the end and exit onto a lane. Turn left and follow this lane back to Clun and the start.