Chaddesley Wood is lovely all year round but particularly so during the spring when wood anemones, below, can be seen alongside primroses, violets and early purple orchids.

Chaddesley Woods National Nature Reserve consists of a group of ancient woods near Chaddesley Corbett, between Kidderminster and Bromsgrove. This walk includes Chaddesley Wood itself, along with Coalpit Coppice and Waterpit Coppice.

These are lovely woods at any time of year, but spring is always an especially good time to visit woodland, because this is when the wild flowers bloom, before a canopy of leaves shuts out the light. March is the month of the wood anemone, a delicate white flower sometimes marked with a blush of pink or mauve. Other woodland species flowering now include primrose, violet, dog's mercury, lesser celandine and early purple orchid.

Though ancient woods are obviously the best woods we have, in terms of both biodiversity and beauty, it's encouraging to see some young woods on this route too, planted in recent years on the site of former orchards at Dordale and on former farmland to the north-east of Chaddesley. One day, with a bit of luck, these will be ancient woods too.

There's also plenty to see in Chaddesley Corbett, a small village at the centre of a large parish. Neolithic flints have been found in the parish but the village's documented history begins in 816 when it is mentioned in a Saxon charter.

Chaddesley has dozens of lovely houses, some of which date from the 17th century, and an elegant church, dedicated to St Cassian, which was built in the 12th century, though it has been substantially altered and added to in almost every century since. One of its finest features is the font, dating from c1160 and decorated with carved dragons.

FACTFILE Start: Chaddesley Corbett, grid ref SO892737.

Length: 5 miles/8.8km.

Maps: OS Explorer 219, OS Landranger 139.

Wood Anemones

Terrain: Mainly paddocks, pasture and woodland; gentle gradients.

Footpaths: Excellent, except for the path from Drollis Farm (see point 4).

Stiles: 18 (including one gate).

Parking: Chaddesley Corbett, or by Chaddesley Wood (see map). The description below is from Chaddesley Corbett.

Public transport: Bus or train to Kidderminster, Bromsgrove or Redditch then X33 (334 on Sundays) Kidderminster-Bromsgrove-Redditch service to Chaddesley Corbett; Traveline 0870 608 2608 or www.worcestershire.gov.uk/bustimetables Refreshments: Two pubs, shops and a tea room at Chaddesley Corbett.

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

1Join a track opposite the Swan. Turn left at a junction, briefly joining the Monarch's Way, and keep straight on at all subsequent junctions as you cross several fields to reach Chaddesley Wood. Keep straight on through the wood, descending into a valley, crossing a brook and then climbing to a major junction where you'll find an information panel with a map of the wood. Turn left and shortly fork right. Keep straight on at all subsequent junctions until you come to a gate at the edge of the wood.

2 Turn left, walking downhill to a junction. Turn right to the edge of the wood, then left along a lane. Take a footpath on the right after 600m, just past Astwood Cottage. This path is part of the Foresters' Walk, one of the well-maintained and well-used paths in the Royal Hunters' Walks network, and is very easily followed through paddocks and pasture, soon returning briefly to woodland (Coalpit Coppice) where you turn left across a footbridge. Proceed to a junction and turn right just before a second footbridge.

3 Leave Coalpit Coppice and walk along its outer edge, with recently planted woods on your left and a large pool on your right. After crossing a footbridge the path turns left and leads to Woodcote Lane. Turn left then immediately left again on the verge beside Dordale Road. Take a path on the left at Dordale Farm, leaving the road at an easily missed gate between the farmhouse and a bungalow. Follow the waymarks through the farm and along the left edge of a paddock to a junction.

4 Go diagonally right across the next paddock, across a stile in the corner and along the left edge of the next field for just a few paces to another stile on the left. Go diagonally right to reach another junction. Again, go to the right, guided by a succession of waymarked stiles to Drollis Farm. Climb a stile on the left, impeded by hawthorn, just before the double gates to the farm drive. Walk along the right-hand edge of a field, soon passing to the right of a barn - this section of the path is partially overgrown by brambles. Continue along the edge of the next field to join a lane (you'll probably have to climb over a gate).

5 Turn left, then right on Tanwood Lane. At a T-junction, cross to a path almost opposite, which is also a private drive. Pass to the left of a house, along the edge of the garden and through a gate into a field. Go straight on to a junction and turn right, over a footbridge, then left through woodland to cross another. Turn right to cross a plank footbridge and proceed to a stile to a large field. Go diagonally right to join a track which leads to Swancote Farm and then continues towards Tanwood Lane.

6 About 100m from Tanwood Lane, turn left by a bungalow, following a field-edge path until a waymark directs you to the right, so that you are walking between hedges of holly and gorse. Beyond these, continue along a track which crosses a field to a footbridge. Keep straight on to a street, where you can turn either left or right to return to the main street of Chaddesley Corbett.

10:46am Monday 19th March 2007

Early Purple Orchid

St Cassian's Church, which was first built back in the 12th century

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