Pete's Walks - Ibstone, Skirmett and Wheeler End (page 4 of 7)
If you are considering walking this route yourself, please see my disclaimer. You may also like to see these notes about the maps and GPX files.
After almost half a mile I reached the start of Hatchet Wood, where I left the bridleway by taking a path that forked left, following a tall wire fence on my left through the wood. Somewhere along here I passed a man repairing the fence where a tree had obviously been blown down and brought down a section of the fence with it. The path eventually turned left (leaving the fence which turned more sharply left) then after a hundred yards or so turned right. Somewhere here the wood became Hill's Wood. On leaving the wood the path continued along a broad strip of grass between two ploughed fields, gradually rising uphill to reach a lane (the one I mentioned earlier, that goes through the short valley to the left of the bridleway to Parmoor). Across the lane a path continued to the right of a house, heading to Little Frieth. Beyond the house's gardens, the path ran between a fence and a hedgerow on my right, with very nice views over the fields to my left. After following it for a few hundred yards, I stopped where it reached a gate and sat on a seat to eat my lunch, still admiring the views.
The start of the path after I turned left from the bridleway (on the edge of Hatchet Wood)
The path through Hatchet Wood
The path continuing through Hill's Wood
The path continuing from Hill's Wood
The path to Little Frieth
View left from the path to Little Frieth
View left from the path to Little Frieth
I then went through the gate, and followed the path through a narrow garden and in front of a cottage to reach the lane through Little Frieth, where I turned left. The lane immediately turned right (a track continued straight on), but I took a footpath going half-right which ran between fences with gardens on my left and paddocks on the right. This brought me to Moussells Wood where I soon came to a path crossroads where I turned right. I followed the path through the wood, then as soon as the path left the wood I took a path going left, dropping downhill through a meadow to reach a minor road.
The path from Little Frieth to Moussells Wood
The path through Moussells Wood, after I turned right
The path through Moussells Wood
The path after I turned left immediately on leaving Moussells Wood
Across the road a path continued, crossing part of a field to the corner of a wood and then continuing gently uphill with the wood on my left. When the wood ended, the path switched to the left of a fence, following it to a path junction at the next field corner. Here I turned left, alongside another fence on my right. When I came to a wood called Long Copse, I turned right at another path junction, following the edge of the wood on my left through a large arable field.
The path after I crossed the minor road
The path after I crossed the minor road
The path after I crossed the minor road
The next path after I turned left
The path after I turned right, along the edge of Long Copse