Buildings from around the country have been brought to Avoncroft.

IF you have even the slightest interest in old buildings, local history or perhaps social history, then Avoncroft Museum of Buildings at Stoke Prior, near Bromsgrove, is well worth a visit.

Exhibits include a mediaeval merchant's house, a working windmill, a toll house, a variety of farm buildings, a post-war prefab and many more.

If you don't want to visit the museum you can still make use of its welcoming caf or the adjacent picnic area. Avoncroft also makes a good starting point for exploring the surrounding countryside, from the young woods - they are only about 20-years-old but already looking very well-established - on Two Tree Hill to the famous Tardebigge flight on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. This is the longest flight of locks in the country and is busy with colourful narrowboats throughout the year.

FACTFILE

Start: Avoncroft Museum and picnic place, Stoke Heath, near Bromsgrove, grid ref SO953684.

Length: 6 miles/10km.

Maps: OS Explorer 204, OS Landrangers 139 and 150.

Terrain: Mostly dairy country, with some woodland and a few arable fields; mainly flat, but with some small slopes.

The banks of the Worcester & Birmingham Canal form part of this weekend's walk through north Worcestershire.

Footpaths: Most are good but a few have not been reinstated after ploughing, and several stiles are in poor condition (see below).

Stiles: 12 - some have lost their steps, while others are dangerously wobbly. Somebody has helpfully attached warning notices to some of them, but not all, so it's safest to regard each one with suspicion. There are also some slippery footbridges.

Parking: Avoncroft picnic place.

Public Transport: Train or bus (144, every 20 minutes weekdays, hourly on Sundays) to Droitwich or Bromsgrove and then bus 141 or 940 (Mon-Sat) to Avoncroft; but it's quicker just to take the 144 to Stoke Heath (Worcester Road/Redditch Road junction) and then walk the half-mile along Redditch Road to Avoncroft. Look out for the easily missed pedestrian access which is well before the vehicle access; Traveline 0870 608 2608 or www.worcestershire.gov.uk /bustimetables Refreshments: Caf at Avoncroft Museum. The Queen's Head at Stoke Pound is closed for renovation, but is due to re-open soon.

PLEASE NOTE This walk has been carefully checked and the directions are believed to be accurate at the time of publication. No responsibility is accepted by either the author or publisher for errors or omissions, or for any loss, accident or injury, however caused.

Directions:

1 Leaving the picnic place, cross the road (Buntsford Hill) and turn right towards Stoke Pound on a roadside footpath. Join the road when the path turns left. At the bottom of Buntsford Hill, turn right on Fish House Lane then cross to a footpath on the left. The path crosses the railway then follows a well-defined route across fields - but take care not to miss the point where you have to cross to the other side of a fence. Meet the canal at bridge 47.

2 Go up to the road, turn left across the bridge and then join a footpath on the right, just after Top Lock Cottage. The path soon leads into a large field. Turn left to the far left corner. Proceed along the left-hand edge of the next field and cross two dodgy stiles to a path junction. Turn right along a field edge to a hedge gap, then turn left across the field. Cross two stiles and a footbridge and turn right across the ensuing field to a stile at the far side. Walk along the right-hand edge of the next field for 100m, then gradually start to move away from the edge towards a waymark visible on a fence ahead. Follow the fence to a stile in a corner but don't cross it. Turn left along the field edge instead and follow waymarks to Coalash Lane.

3 Turn right to a junction with Woodgate Road and keep straight on along a footpath which passes to the right of a house and then climbs into woodland on Two Tree Hill. The path soon levels out and leads to a T-junction, where you turn left. Follow the waymarked path through the wood and then into a field, where you turn left.

Continue along the edge of a second field, ignore a path branching left and proceed to the far hedge. Turn left on a farm track and follow it down to meet Woodgate Road at a junction. Go straight on along Lower Bentley Lane.

4 Join a footpath at Lower Bentley Farm, climbing a stile into a field, then walking up to a metal gate at the top. Continue straight on up a small hill, then down the other side to a stile at the bottom. Keep straight on by the right-hand edge of the next field. Look out for a stile on the right and cross to the adjacent field. Turn left across here, aiming for a point about 50m to the right of the far left corner. Cross into the next field, duck under a barrier and walk straight up the field to a stile at the top. Follow the left-hand edge of the next field up to a gate, then along the right-hand edge of a final field to meet Copyholt Lane.

5 Take a path opposite, going through woodland and then through a field and over a footbridge into another field where there's a junction. Take the left-hand path, which then tends very slightly to the right, leading to a well-hidden stile under a small holly tree. Turn right on a lane then immediately right again on a bridleway which leads to Patchetts Farm. Turn left on a footpath by the first farm building.

Go straight across a field, through woodland, over a footbridge and then diagonally left to a field corner. Join the canal towpath at bridge 52 and turn left.

Walk to the Queen's Head Inn at bridge 48 at Stoke Pound, go up to the road and turn right over the bridge, following Sugarbrook Lane back to Buntsford Hill and Avoncroft.

11:29am Monday 13th November 2006

Peaceful countryside can be found at Lower Bentley.

The Queen's Head at Stoke Pound, is due to reopen.

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