Pete's Walks - Bradenham and Lodge Hill (page 1 of 5)
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.
I did this circular walk of about 9.4 miles on Wednesday, 15th November 2023. It was a new route for me, though almost entirely on paths I've walked many times before on other routes, with just three short sections that were new to me.
I parked in the small car park on the green at Bradenham (Grid Reference SU 827970) - the track leading to it was very badly pot-holed. I started walking at about 9.45am, going back down the track until it turned slightly left, where I went straight on across the green to reach the road through the village at a junction with Rectory Lane. I turned left along the road, and at its end went a few yards right along the A4010 main road before crossing it to where a footpath started by a gate. The path went slightly left as it crossed a paddock to another gate. Beyond this, the path went under a railway bridge and then followed the right edge of another large paddock (this one had horses in it, over to my left) as far as a gate in a hedgerow. Through that gate it followed the left edge of a field of stubble for about a hundred yards, then turned left and went through the end of a tree belt. The path then went diagonally across a huge meadow of rough grass, sloping up to Allnutt's Wood on my left. The gradient was fairly gentle, and there were good views up and down the valley to my right. Despite being uphill, I'd been looking forward to this section of the path, and I wasn't disappointed.
Bradenham
Where I left the track to cross the green to the road
Near the start of the path to Allnutt's Wood
The path to Allnutt's Wood after going under the railway bridge (it goes right at the gate)
The path to Allnutt's Wood
The path to Allnutt's Wood, about to go diagonally across the huge sloping meadow
The path to Allnutt's Wood
View back towards Bradenham
On reaching Allnutt's Wood the path continued in roughly the same direction, and if anything the gradient became even easier. On the far side of the wood, at the top of the slope, I reached a surfaced drive coming from Nobles Farm (to my left). I turned right along the drive, which almost immediately dropped quite steeply downhill. At the end of the drive I crossed Slough Lane and followed a path up Slough Hill. The path followed the left edge of a field - near the top of the slope I almost missed where the path went into the wood on my left,as I spotted a Red Admiral butterfly at this point. The path continued along the top of Slough Hill, just inside the wood with the same field still to my right. After a while the path became overgrown with brambles (I've never known it to be blocked like this before), so I had to follow the edge of the field again for the last few yards before I reached a stile. Over the stile, the path continued gently downhill along the left edge of a meadow and then a series of paddocks until it reached Haw Lane, all the while with a view ahead to Lodge Hill.
The path continuing through Allnutt's Wood
The path continuing through Allnutt's Wood
The path continuing through Allnutt's Wood, just before it reaches the drive from Nobles Farm
The drive from Nobles Farm
The drive from Nobles Farm, with Slough Hill ahead
The path up Slough Hill
Red Admiral on Slough Hill
The path on top of Slough Hill
The path descending from Slough Hill to Haw Lane
The path descending from Slough Hill to Haw Lane