Bryony and wild clematis,

Though this is predominantly farmland, there are woods, orchards and ancient hedgerows too, adding masses of autumn colour to the landscape.

One plant to look out for is the spindle tree, which occurs in hedges and copses round Hawbridge and Wadborough. It's a fairly anonymous shrub for much of the year but is spectacular in autumn when its vivid pink fruits open to reveal equally vivid orange seeds. The two colours should clash horribly but in fact it just looks gorgeous, adding an exotic touch to the English countryside.

Spindle wood used to have several uses, its hardness and smoothness making it ideal for skewers, toothpicks, pegs and knitting needles, as well as the tool (spindle, of course) used for hand-spinning wool before the invention of the spinning wheel. The fruits were used medicinally, both as a purgative and a cure for head-lice.

Further hedgerow colour comes from the bright red fruits of hawthorn, wild rose and black bryony. The latter is a scrambling plant and the only British member of the yam family. Its shiny red berries look luscious but are poisonous to humans.

FACT FILE

Start: Hawbridge, just south of Stoulton, west of B4084 Pershore Road; grid ref SO908491.

Length: Four miles/6.4km.

Maps: OS Explorer 190, OS Landranger 150.

Black bryony and spindle.

Terrain: Flat farmland, woodland and orchards.

Footpaths: There are no major problems on this generally very easy walk, but there are inconveniences (all illegal) such as obstructions, paths not promptly reinstated after ploughing, paths which are too narrow and, in places, the deliberate removal of waymarking. It's only a short walk because the poor quality of certain other paths in the area limits the choice available.

Stiles: 14.

Parking: By the road at Hawbridge.

Buses: First 550/551/557/Astons 166 to the Bird at Hawbridge, daily; Astons 382 to the Masons at Wadborough, daily; www.

worcestershire.gov.uk/bustimetables or Traveline 0871 200 2233.

Refreshments: The Bird at Hawbridge and the Masons at Wadborough.

DIRECTIONS

1 Hawbridge is a cluster of buildings alongside the original Pershore road, long since bypassed when the road was straightened. Walk towards Pershore along the old road and when you're almost at the end of it you'll see a padlocked metal gate on your right. Climb over the wooden fence next to the gate and walk the length of a meadow, keeping close to the left edge.

2 Soon after passing a water trough, and shortly before you reach the far end of the meadow, you'll intercept a bridleway. Turn right on this, crossing the meadow then passing through a gate and across a bridge to a ploughed field. Go straight on along the right-hand edge. When you come to the corner keep straight on into Great Blaythorn Wood. The path is narrow, un- waymarked and hard to see at first, but it very soon meets another bridleway. Turn left on this one, which is well-defined. Go straight on at a junction with a footpath and turn right at the far side of the wood.

3 When you come to a waymarked junction near a farm you should be able to keep straight on along a footpath by the woodland edge, but this is currently obstructed further along. So turn left, staying on the bridleway, which is also the farm driveway. When you're almost at a road, another footpath crosses the driveway: turn right on this and walk between a wood and a field to reach a gate. Turn left into the wood and keep straight on at a staggered cross-path. After a few metres climb a stile on the right into a field and turn left along the edge. Ignore the first path branching left to the road.

4 Join the road at an overgrown stile, cross to a footpath opposite and walk across an orchard. The precise route is unclear but if you bear left to the far corner you'll find two stiles close together. You want the first of these - the one on your right if you're standing with your back to the orchard. Cross to an adjoining orchard and turn right along the edge. The path is then easily followed to a lane at Wadborough. Turn right, walk to a junction and turn right again on Station Road, passing the Masons.

5 Turn left at a gate, about 250 metres after the pub. Walk through Narrow Wood to a field and turn right along the outer edge of the wood. At the next corner, go straight on through the wood to the railway. Cross with care and proceed along the edge of the next field. When you see a hedge gap on your right, just before a large oak tree, go through the gap and walk across the adjoining field. Cross a footbridge into another field and go to the far side. You can either turn right to join a lane here, or, depending on the condition of the path, you can go diagonally across the next field to meet the lane further along, near its junction with the Hermitage Farm driveway. Turn left along the lane.

6 Take the first path on the right, re-crossing the railway and walking across a large dairy pasture. There are three prominent trees at the far side, with the two on the right fairly close together - head for a stile between these two, then go diagonally left towards a farm. Pass to the left of it then walk parallel with the farm drive until you come to a gate. Go diagonally left across the field to the far corner and join a road at a stile under a group of trees. Turn left, then take the first path on the right, just after a road junction. Follow it to Hawbridge.

9:53am Monday 19th November 2007

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