This is a nice gentle circular walk out of Chaddesley Corbett and up across the fields to the tiny Worcestershire hamlet of Harvington.
We do one of two routes and don't take the circular because it takes you back along the Kidderminster Road which is busy and, well, we're not that keen on road walking.
The one we like is a "there and back" route but if you're the kind of dog who doesn't mind a snooze in the car after a hike, and your owner fancies popping into Harvington Hall for a cuppa at the end, then the circular works just as well.
Harvington is a moated medieval Elizabethan manor house which was built in the 1580s by Henry Pakington and has the most stunning collection of priest hides in the country. It's owned by the Roman Catholic Arch-Diocese of Birmingham and is open to the public from now until October from Wednesday to Sunday. I can personally recommend the cupcakes.
For our walk, take the High Street out of Chaddesley towards the neighbouring village of Drayton and walk out of the village until you reach the first country lane on your left which is called the Holloway.
Go up there, until you reach the first turning on your left which is signposted public footpath that runs alongside a house called Greenacres. Effectively, you just turn into the gateway of Greenacres but walk up past the house until you reach a gate. There's a pen which some chickens in on your left (with the gate in front of you) and here, you turn right across a field where there is footpath marker.
You'll come to the edge of the field and see a muck pile, a little broken down trailer and another marker post. Keep going straight on, ignore the track to the right.
You walk along the edge of a field and go through a gate (make sure you close it with the rope fastener when you've gone through). Ahead of you, you can see a field with some stables and some grazing ponies. You should keep going along a very well worn track.
When you get to the bottom of the field, you turn right at a little style. Most dogs and owners can just jump over this but I have to be lifted over because of my arthritis!
This takes you out onto a double field and you turn left and walk along the side of another field along a grassed track on the left hand side.
At the end of this field, you turn left at a little dog-leg turning and then turn immediately right to walk along the side of another field with grazing sheep on both sides. At the end of that field, you take a left turn which brings you out onto a grassed lane.
Walk along the lane and you'll come to a gate which you through and takes you onto Harvington Lane.
Turn left here and you can carry on along the lane which takes you to Harvington Hall and the little adjacent church of St Mary's.
Harvington Lane runs to the left along the front of the church and if you carry on along this lane, you eventually come to the T-junction of the Kidderminster Road.
If you do the road walk back to Chaddesley Corbett, you can take a left hand turn at the side of Chaddesley Growers and follow a track up a field which brings you to the little gate by the chickens where you turned right at the start of the walk.
Just go through the gate and walk back down the track at the side of Greenacres (the house at the start of the walk and turn right at the end back on the Holloway.
This walk is about two miles and is recommended by Jake.
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