Pitton, Firsdown and the New Bridleway
- Elaine Perkins
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
You will probably realise from the title of this blog that Wiltshire has a new bridleway. It is such wonderful news for there to be a new route to explore and relish, and it gives the locals of Pitton and Firsdown the ability to walk to each other’s villages without the need to use the road. The route also joins up with a footpath that for a long time just finished in the middle of nowhere, and so it has allowed even more possibilities for walks. For now, the bridleway is permissive, but I do hope it will become a Public Right of Way (PROW), but I guess that is a difficult process and would only add to the burden of the few members of staff that have to try and look after the rights of way. That said, I believe that the new Wiltshire Council seems to want to champion walking and footpaths more, so this is encouraging news for those of us, in the county, who love walking.
The new walk is formed from the boundary of Roundbarrow Farm, which is tenanted by the RSPB and will form part of the RSPB Wiltshire Chalk Reserves.
For our walk we decided, once again, to start at the recreational ground car park in Middle Winterslow. As it was term time, we left a little later to ensure that we arrived well after the children were in lessons and drop-off completed. We were so glad we did, as to our surprise, the car park was still quite busy when we arrived, including with other hikers donning their walking boots. It seems it is a popular spot for walkers to start their hikes. However, we didn’t see any of them again until we returned to the car park, and so we soon found ourselves the only ones on the path down to West Winterslow, and the views still as lovely as when we last visited in the spring (see the blog on Winterslow linked below).
On reaching West Winterslow, we decided to try the door to the church, but once again it was locked, and so we continued on our way, crossing the road and finding the footpath which forms part of the Clarendon Way. As we continued, views opened up to the right, and to the left, a silo with a Union Jack heralded our way. It seemed so appropriate for the flag to be on the building, as the landscape and skies of fluffy white clouds really could not have been more quintessentially British, and I felt a small flush of patriotism as I walked.
As we continued, we noticed many species of butterfly. There were Essex Skippers, Gatekeepers, Peacocks, Red Admirals, Meadow Browns and also several Dark Green Fritillaries flying around us as we walked. It was delightful to be surrounded by such wildlife.
As we continued, the area of the new walk came into view. Almost all of Roundbarrow Farm stretched before us, and we realised that once we were there, we would have one or two contours to tackle.
We continued on, and soon the footpath joined a byway. This was when we noticed that we had been walking on a permissive path. Sure enough, a few steps later we found the actual public right of way, which did not look particularly open to walk along. This is something that has been happening more and more, and I can’t help feeling that this is a precursor to losing some of these PROWs. However, I didn’t spend too long dwelling on this as we continued on the byway and then along a footpath and into the village of Pitton.
We soon arrived at the church and found it to be a hive of activity - well, almost literally. Builders were repairing the roof, and we soon learnt that some bees had damaged it. Wonderful organ music was being played, and believing that a service was underway, we hesitated to go in. However, we were beckoned in by a lovely lady who told us a little bit about the church and agreed that the new bridleway was wonderful and that the joining up with the other footpath allowed them a route to Salt. the cafe and deli that is on the A30. This was an unexpected bonus and something to consider for a future walk. There wasn’t a service going on. The organist had asked the lady if she could pop in and play, and so we had wonderful music to listen to as we wandered around the church. It really did feel heavenly with the warm sunlight shining through the stained glass windows reflecting the warmth of the people within.
Sadly, we could not stay longer to listen and soak up the atmosphere of the beautiful church, as we were keen to get to the new path, which was pretty much just around the corner. Sure enough, we soon found ourselves standing on the path and reading the sign for the permissive bridleway.
This time we were not alone, as some nearby scarecrows were hanging around. They seemed like a happy bunch but not particularly talkative, so we moved along ascending the first hill. A quick check on the OS map found us to indeed be at the edge of a field and climbing up towards a clump of trees.
We walked past a field where in a previous summer I had helped a little to pull up some ragwort. I was pleased that there didn’t seem to be any of the plant visible this year. As we climbed, the views opened up around us, and we were able to look back to the ridge that we had walked along earlier. Once again we were surrounded by butterflies, and this time other species joined the ones we saw earlier, including Commas and some Brown Argus. So, the area was already showing some early signs that the management of the land is having a beneficial effect on the wildlife.
Continuing on, we could see the new pathway running up and downhill in front of us, the delight of breaking new ground diminishing the slight weariness that we might have been feeling in our legs. We were almost sorry when the Roman road came in sight that would lead us back to Winterslow.
The long straight path was easy to navigate, and we soon found ourselves at Dunstable Corner, where the footpath deviates from the straight road. Here we noticed an old farm windmill, something that I hadn’t seen for a long time. However, the day was getting hotter and our legs getting wearier, so we pressed on along the now slightly winding route of the Monarch’s Way until we reached Cobhill Barrow and were back on familiar territory.
From here, we headed back through the village, past the post office, where it felt wrong not to have an ice cream, and then onto the car, when we again met up with the other ramblers.They did not appear to have passed by the shop, or they had greater willpower than us! Or maybe they were going to head to the shop before leaving.
Despite the hills, I really recommend this walk especially the views. The fact that it is a new bridleway needs to be celebrated and I would like to thank all those involved in making it happen.
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Link to the previous blog https://www.hiddenwiltshire.com/post/the-art-inspiring-beauty-of-the-winterslows-and-beyond
The opening of the bridleway was also in the news https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyzrly3rg9o
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