Having postponed the walk from the end of January, the ominous forecast of wind and rain wasn’t going to put us off and we hoped we could do the walk before the worst of the rain came on. It was a bit grey so some of the pictures are from our reccie walk in January.

Nine of us set off from the centre of Studley through “The Park”, a large area of pastureland with the River Arrow flowing through it.

Having sold the walk on wildlife, the strong winds seemed to keep the birdlife hidden away so the group didn’t get to see the cormorant (nor heron, egret or kestrel we saw on our reccie). We did however see a pair of kites circling low and close on our way back.

We passed by the elegant Studley Parish church which is quite remote from the town, and continued alongside the Arrow to Spernall. The climb up was narrow and slippery so there was much congratulating that we had all made it up without mishap. We walked through more fields, past farms and through an area where they are reclaiming wetland (without much consideration as to the impact on the footpath) and finally arrived at Morton Bagot church.

We sheltered from the wind in the church porch, rather cosily on narrow benches, wolfed down sandwiches, and set off on our return. This was mostly isolated farmland, but with the added challenge of gateways submerged in several inches of water. The It’s A Knockout (perhaps I should say Gladiators for younger readers) crossing of these was so entertaining we forgot to take any pictures. So here are some of the sheep we saw (disappointingly there were no lambs yet). The wind whistled through the trees, and we watched geese circling to land, avoiding power lines where National Grid had installed reflectors that twisted in the wind to protect birds flying in to land on the water.

The final leg of the return was through Studley Castle, once a Rover Conference Centre now a Warner’s Hotel.

We then returned via the Parish Church, but felt that we were too muddy to call in.

We arrived back in Studley without getting wet, and managed to drive home before the heavens opened.

If you’d like to try this walk yourself, here is a link to the route we used on OS Maps. It is easy to follow, mainly following the Arden and Millennium Ways. The route starts from a free signposted car park in the centre of Studley.