Walk Number 7 Norris Hill and Brokerswood

Map 6 6 miles 3 hours

Village Hall - Hoopers Pool - Norris Hill - Boundaries - Highest Point - Mutton Marsh Lane - Lamberts Marsh

Commentary: A long, demanding, yet rewarding walk (muddy in winter) over open, quiet, isolated and exposed farmland. The walk involves steep slopes that take you to the highest spot in Southwick at a height of 81 metres above median sea levef - so you need to be fit!

You could also make it a full day out by stopping half way round for a visit/refreshments at the Brokerswood Woodland Park, the Kicking Donkey or the Half Moon at Rudge.

1. You have a choice of two routes to Hoopers Pool. The quickest
and driest route to Hoopers Pool Farm from the Village Hall is to
turn left into Frame Road and follow the pavement for 1km
(ignoring the first left hand turning to Lamberts Marsh) before
taking the second left turning and then the next left into Hoopers
Pool Lane.

2. The alternative, field route, is more convoluted but does use
some quiet field footpaths. From the Village Hall rear car park
follow the tarmac definitive footpath to the Southfields estate.
Walk straight ahead, due west through the estate to the Wesley
Lane hedge, turn right and immediately go through the
signposted gateway on your left. Walk diagonally left to the stile
and turn right into Lamberts Marsh. After 50 metres take the
footpath on the right and walk diagonally left across the field to a
gate on the far side of Blue Bam Farm.

3. Cross the lane, go through the gateway into the next field

and walk to the double stile in the hedge on the opposite side of the field. Cross the next field to a gateway and on through the

next field to the gateway to Hoopers Pool lane, farm and pool. Turn left into the lane and walk to the buildings at the end of the lane.

4. At the bottom of the lane cross the small yard on the eastern left hand side of the buildings - you will probably have to negotiate various gates. Once in the field follow the hedge on your right, ignoring the two stiles you will see in the parallel hedge on your left. When the hedge becomes a barbed wire fence walk diagonally across the field to the far top left hand corner of the field, to the stile hidden in the hedge.

Climb the stile facing you to see a vista of open countryside, oak trees and hills. The hidden valley bottom and stream is the proposed route of the West Wilts bypass linking Yarnbrook to the Frome bypass.

5. Walk to the electric pole in the hedge on your left and the next stile which is to the right of the pole. Climb the stile, turn right and follow the hedge down and just around the comer to a double stile and bridge. Then cross the left hand comer of the next field to another double stile and bridge on the left of the gateway. Climb this stile and immediately climb another double stile and bridge on your right that lead into the same field as the gate!

6. Follow the fenced stream on your right in a southerly direction to the next double stile. Climb the stile and walk uphill to the point where the hedge on your right meets the horizon. Here you will find a gateway and stile leading into a small paddock. You are likely to find livestock present.

7. Climb the stile into a small paddock. Walk towards Morris Hill
Farm and climb the stile in the left hand corner of the field into
the lane near the duck pond. Turn right and then left after
passing Norris Hill Farmhouse. Walk along the track, passing
farm buildings to the stile on the right just before the gate.

Parish and County Boundaries

8. As you climb the stile you move across the Parish Boundary
from Southwick into North Bradley. Walk across the next three
fields passing through 2 gates to a stile. Climb the stile, turn
right and walk to the next double-stiled slatted bridge. You are
now straddling the Wiltshire/Somerset boundary! During the
return leg to Norris Hill you will cross back into the Parish of
Southwick.

Public Houses

9. From here the adventurous can, with the aid of a map, walk to
either the Kicking Donkey at Brokerswood (out on a limb but still
in the Parish of North Bradley) or the Half Moon at Rudge
(village on the ridge) within Somerset.

Turn around and follow the left hand hedge back to the stile you just left. Climb over it and walk to a stile in the right-hand comer of the field and then diagonally across the next field to a gate entrance. Continue in the same direction over several paddock stiles towards Overcourt Farm. (Note: The "court" in Overcourt Farm refers to the Elizabethan Cutteridge Court, of which only the foundations and stately driveway lined with limes and commensalistic mistletoe leading to Cutteridge Farm survive).

Brokerswood Woodland Park

10. When you reach the lane either turn right for a ten minute walk
to the Woodland Park (entrance charged) or left to start your

return to Southwick. As you pass the entrance to Overcourt Farm you are exactly 81 metres above sea level.

11. At the entrance to Morris Hill Farm climb the stile on your right and follow the hedge to a pair of stiles in the comer of the paddock. Walk across the next field to the stile on the far side. Climb this stile and follow the hedge on your left to the next stile, contiguous with a row of stone slabs used as a fence. These probably came from the quarry within Witch Pit Wood, where the Baptists used to meet and now the home of badgers.

12 Climb the double stile, walk to the comer of the wood, turn left
and walk downhill, initially following the edge of the wood, until
you meet a gate in the bottom comer of the field. Go through
this gateway and the one immediately on your left. Cut the
corner of the next field walking in a straight line between the
middle of the two oak trees to the double stile, bridge and stream
hidden in the hedge.

13 Cross the next field to the electicity pole and stile in the far left
hand corner of the field. This stile and the path to the next stile
you may remember using on your outward journey! Climb the
stile, cut across the right hand comer of the field to the next stile.
Climb this and follow the next hedge for 50 metres to the next
stile.

14. From the stile you can see your homeward route. Walk diagonally across the field to the two gates in the far corner and climb the stile between the left gate and the tree. Walk in a sweeping arc to the hidden right hand comer of the field next to the bungalow. Turn left along the lane, right into Lamberts Marsh and walk back to the Village Hall.

Reproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of The Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office Crown Copyright MC 100033342.