Drystone Walls and Vineyards via Stagecoaches, Boats and Barges

A circular walk starting from the walkers’ display board outside the Community Shop at Bathford, just East of Bath.  From this historic village we follow the old London road coach route towards Shockerwick, then over the Fosse Way to Bannerdown Nature Reserve looking at drystone-walling on the way before crossing the River Avon and returning to Bathford via the Kennet and Avon canal and the NT Batheaston Meadows.

Bring a mid morning snack, a packed lunch and drinks but there will be an opportunity for an afternoon drink at the George Inn by the canal. There will also be talk stops and mid-morning and afternoon breaks with tea in the shop afterwards if you wish.

There is a bus stop adjacent to the start point (Bathford Community Shop and Café) for the regular (every 20 minutes) No.3 service from Bath and the No. 271 service from Melksham.

Photographs of Cotswold Voluntary Wardens walling and Bannerdown Butterfly courtesy of David Le Lohé.

Route description

Another circular walk with more of Bathford’s rich history; we start with a glimpse of old brew-houses and taverns and tramp the old route of countless stagecoaches from Bath to London.

We then cross the railway line into the Shockerwick valley to view stately homes and visit a newly established vineyard on an old farm where the Cotswold Voluntary Wardens are rebuilding dry stone walls on the hillside. This walk abounds with fascinating sights and discoveries including WW2 ammunition depots and railway sidings, Roman roads, old quarries and a  new nature reserve with its early butterflies, Eagle House (the home of suffragettes0, National Trust water meadows where beavers are at work, a gunpowder mill and one of the oldest pubs in Bath alongside the Kennet and Avon canal.

We return to Bathford to see the last working mill on the Bybrook, pass its infamous coaching inn and look through the windows of the old lock-up and mortuary!