Saturday Walk - West Wiltshire Downs at their best: Tisbury Circular via Ludwell and Berwick St. John

Length: 26.3 km (16.4 mi) [with a bus option to shorten the walk, see below]

Ascent/Descent: 607 m

Net Walking Time: ca. 6 ½ hours

Toughness: 7 out of 10 

                or

Length: 17.2 km (10.7 mi)

Ascent/Descent: 340 m

Net Walking Time: ca. 4 hours

Toughness: 4 out of 10 

 

Take the 09.20 Exeter St. David’s & Bristol Temple Meads train from Waterloo (09.27 Clapham J, 09.46 Woking), arriving Tisbury at 11.06 (you have to be in the front 3 cars) 

Return trains: xx.01 (from 108 mins). 

 

This walk explores parts of the Upper Nadder Valley (also known as the Vale of Wardour) in the south westerly parts of the West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which is spectacular walking country with some breath-taking views. Heading west from Tisbury, initially it broadly follows the valley, while never being flat for long, before routing through Wardour Park with its large neoclassical mansion and romantically ruined 14^th century Castle to then bypass the Donheads via a hill crossing.

After lunch in Ludwell it is a long and steady ascent to South Wiltshire’s highest point: Win Green Hill, providing for 360°-views to the coast and the inland valleys. After a stretch along the Cranborne Chase ridge a steep descent into the Chalke Valley is followed by a re-ascent up Berwick Coombe to White Sheet Hill, followed by a steep and rough descent from the chalk escarpment. A few woods, an often-boggy brook crossing and some smaller copses are followed by the descent back into Tisbury, a remarkably unspoilt village. 

 

Bus Option: The number 29 bus (Shaftesbury to Salisbury) stops outside the lunch pub on the main walk (13.33, 15.18, 16.33), as well as in Berwick St. John later in the afternoon (15.25, 16.40, 17.55), it gets you to Salisbury Bus Station (a 10 minutes’ walk from the train station) in just over an hour. 

 

Lunch: The Forester in Donhead St. Andrew (7.3 km/4.5 mi, food to 14.00) on the short walk (Michelin Bib Gourmand every year since 2013); The Grove Arms in Ludwell (10.6 km/6.6 mi, food all day) or The Talbot Inn in Berwick St. John (17.6 km/10.9 mi, food to 14.00) on the main walk. 

Tea: Plenty of options in Tisbury; check page 2 of the walk directions pdf. 

 

For summary, walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.251