Knowl Hill Forest Family Walk

This walk could be a new contender for our favourite. It really is quite beautiful. We parked on the ‘Knowl Hill Bridleway Circuit’ which is a long road with plenty of space opposite a field of lovely horses. Watch out for those stinging nettles!

The path that leads to the walk starts directly opposite the Knowl Hill Bridleway Circuit, as though you were walking back up towards the direction of the Dew Drop Pub; next to the sign that says, ‘Pudding Hill’. If you were driving you would take a right turn before the Dew Drop Inn Pub, onto the Bridleway Circuit, (in a car this road is opposite the sign that says ‘The Dew Drop Inn ahead’).

There is a fairly well trodden track to follow, walking uphill to start and then eventually levelling out when you meet a chalk road, in which you turn left. You follow this road down a few paces before seeing the entry point for the walk again to the right, which leads you into the forest. It’s this part that is so pretty, walking straight and then sweeping around to the left through lush green open spaces; you will find a nice picnic spot and another pathway to follow around to the right (should you wish to!). We continued straight on the already trodden path and met the chalk road again, this time on a corner. **At this stage you can either decide to continue over the road into the forest for a longer walk **. But, we followed the road around to the right to meet up with another pathway and essentially do a circuit heading back to the pub / car. This shorter route has clearly marked tracks to follow and they sweep you around to the right which eventually leads you back to Honey Lane. You can find the pub from here along the road or there is another walking route running alongside it (if you hadn’t had enough rural views!).

**For a longer route option which is roughly 2.3 miles in total (see the extra blue loop on the map), you could follow the walk by crossing the chalk road and continuing into the forest in the direction of the Bath Road. There is a footpath at the top which you would follow in order to turn back on yourself and head in the direction of the Dew Drop Pub (Warren Row Road direction). All in all, there are a few options and our shorter walk was around 1.5 miles – perfect for walking with the kids and stopping for a hearty picnic.