Public Transport links Other walking Information about bus services links can be obtained from: Thamesdown Transport Croft Wood Pond The River Ray Parkway - 01793 428428 is a walking, riding and Stagecoach cycling route from Coate 01793 522243 ‘walking for health’ Water to Mouldon Hill. It’s good to walk. New research clearly It forms part of the shows that walking is the ideal way to National Cycle Network Route 45 from increase the level of physical activity to Gloucester. needed to maintain health and fitness Websites A leaflet can be for people of all ages. Great Western downloaded from • How far and how often: www.forestweb.org.uk Community Forest The current recommendation for or obtained from the www.forestweb.org.uk physical activity is: Great Western • Borough Council Swindon from www.swindon.gov.uk • 30 minutes of brisk walking five times a Community Forest on Brimble Hill 01793 466324. Timberland UK Ltd week is all it takes to feel the difference. • www.timberland.com • ‘Brisk’ walking, means walking so that The Purton Timberland The Countryside Agency you breathe a little faster, feel warmer and have a Trail - the second • www.countryside.gov.uk slightly faster heart beat. Timberland Trail in this ‘walking the way to • It doesn’t need to be difficult and you should still be series follows a route • health’ initiative able to hold a conversation. from Purton to Mouldon Hill. A leaflet www.whi.org.uk Walking is the perfect activity for health; it can: describing the walk is • Wroughton Parish Council available from the • Make you feel good www.wroughton.gov.uk Great Western Give you more energy • Community Forest on • Help you sleep better 01793 466324. Ordnance Survey maps • Help you reduce stress Landranger 173 Swindon, • Keep your heart strong & surrounding area • Reduce blood pressure Explorer 169 Cirencester • Help to manage your weight & Swindon. The Swindon So, why walk: • It’s the sure safe way to health and fitness. • It’s a chance to meet people and make friends and For more information North • Almost everyone can do it • You can do it anywhere and any time call the Great Western • You don’t need any equipment - apart from Community Forest on Timberland Trails comfortable walking shoes 01793 466324 • There’s very little risk of injury or visit the website: It doesn’t hurt • www.forestweb.org.uk • You can start slowly and build up gently Wroughton • It’s free and it’s easy North Wroughton

For further information about health walks, visit

AND NORT ON H www.whi.org.uk the ‘walking the way D W N IL I T W S S H

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T L IM AI BER TR Produced by Fitzpatrick Woolmer Design - 01322 614 114 by Fitzpatrick Woolmer Produced LAND www.forestweb.org.uk modern three wheeled buggies An ancient beech tree at the The Swindon and should be able to manage this top of Ladder Lane, probably particular section. Croft Wood over 200 years old marks the North Wiltshire however, has paths suitable for most start of this section. Five people wheelchair users. can just about link arms around the base of its mighty trunk. Timberland Trails There are some stiles along the Timberland Trail but these have The Swindon and North The Wroughton been constructed to make access as Wiltshire Timberland Trail is one easy as possible for the majority of Timberland Trail of twelve trails in each of the walkers. This is a circular walk of Community Forests that have Croft Wood has level surfaced paths; been funded by a partnership exactly 6 miles that The Wish Hounds encompasses the village here there is a mix of formal and Croft Wood between Timberland (UK) Ltd Veteran beech tree at the of Wroughton and its informal tree planting with an exciting and the Countryside Agency. top of Ladder Lane surroundings. The walk sculpture ‘The Wish Hounds’ at the end of a long avenue follows the varied of trees. The Great Western Community Forest is creating a green geographical features of network of woodlands, open spaces and areas for wildlife. the area that include the Features This will create a greener and healthier environment that will bring pleasure to people for generations to come. natural escarpment of In this part of Wiltshire, the landscape is given over to Ladder Lane, Brimble Hill Entrance to Ladder Lane both livestock and arable farming. However, most of the Publications about Wroughton and the level fields at the land you walk through is managed for livestock farming, very northern edge of the Wiltshire Downs. so there is an abundance of beef and dairy farms. The • The Wroughton Parish Guide There are two perfect starting places; the first of these is fields you walk past and through reflect this; hay and • Wroughton - the Gateway to the Countryside Wroughton Footpathsh, By-ways and Bridleway from Croft Wood car park opposite Nationwide; or you can silage is cut in the summer followed by autumn grazing, • take a bus from Swindon town centre to the Park and Ride until the cattle return to their winter quarters. The All are available from the Parish Council Office at the on Pipers Way beside the Croft Wood car park. The arable fields follow a little changed traditional cycle of Ellendune Centre in Wroughton. second start point is at the Ellendune Centre in Wroughton, autumn sowing, followed by the summer harvest. where there is parking, it’s on a bus route and Ladder Lane forms part there are shops and pubs nearby. of the old cart track that From the top of Brimble Hill, the Trail tumbles linked Marlborough to down Ladder Lane, an old cart track. You may towns and villages Wroughton Village meet horseriders and cyclists along Ladder across north Wiltshire. Millennium Wall Lane; it is a popular local bridleway. Due to Carts drawn by horses, the nature of Ladder Lane, this section of the or more likely oxen Timberland Trail is not suitable for wheelchair would have once users. In addition young families with hauled goods up and pushchairs may find Ladder Lane over the hill on the way difficult, however, the to market.

Dairy cows on farmland in Wroughton The Wroughton Timberland Trail

Nationwide Building Society Head Office Old Town Swindon from Brimble Hill

Wroughton The Parish of Wroughton is one of the biggest in Wroughton the British Isles. It Park and The Check Inn Ride nestles at the foot of the Croft Wood Croft Wood and has a good diversity of village life, surrounded by The Wish Hounds impressive countryside. The village has a Croft Wood population of over 7000 Croft Wood with many shops and The M Broome public houses where 4 Manor most serve ‘real ale’ and Golf Croft Wood good food. The old part of the village supports The trees here were all Footbridge some 17th century planted in the mid 1990s. thatched cottages that Croft is a popular woodland, wouldn’t look amiss on mixing formal and informal a jigsaw puzzle. planting. As well as the trees stream running through School there are ponds, grassy the village supported banks, pathways, a sports seven mills along its ground, a pavilion, footpath route in former times. links to Coate Water Country The Check Inn is a Park and to other parts of welcome sight on the Swindon. The spectacular Timberland Trail as you sculpture “The Wish Hounds” return to Wroughton can be found at the end of over the . one of the lime tree avenues.

Burderop Wood Burderop Wood This is a typical wood found along the steep northern escarpments of the North Wessex Downs. The hillsides were not suitable for farming, Ellendune s Road so as a result they slowly Centre evize D became covered with trees. Lad

der Lane Now, Burderop Wood is a fine example of ancient semi- natural woodland. In the The Check Inn The spring, a carpet of bluebells Pitchens Wroughton cover the woodland floor, a traditional and much loved Marlb Key orou gh R feature of the English oad Timberland countryside. Trail Brimble Hill

The view from Brimble Hill