Section 54
Fovant to Swallowcliffe
Walk Details
Walk Instructions
Greatstone to Gillingham Robust Ramble
Section 54 Out
Fovant to Swallowcliffe
Map: OS Explorer 118 Shaftesbury
Distance: 4 miles/ 2 hours
Start: There is no obvious parking in Fovant. Random on street parking possible through the village. The village pub, called The Greater Good, keeps promising to reopen but so far remains closed. Luckily the Royal Oak at Swallowcliffe is open seven days a week.
Comment: This walk is a change from the previous section in that it is quiet, isolated countryside with woods, field edges and enclosed paths. A solid country walk with some good distant views. An incredible number of metal kissing gates with still a few stiles.
From The Greater Good pub by the village shop, turn left, uphill on the main A30 road, passing the pub car park on your left. Immediately past the car park, turn left, off the road, up steep steps in the bank. Reach a metal kissing gate and go on to further, grassy steps then on past farm buildings.
As you go, ignore a stile off left and continue through a metal kissing gate, to follow the field edge.
Ignore a second stile off left and further on ignore a path off left down steep steps.
In the top corner of the field go through a metal kissing gate (ignoring a cross path coming up from the wood on your left). Continue as before up the field edge.
Finally, near the top of the slope, reach another metal kissing gate and turn left through it and then downhill.
In a short distance, turn right, through a metal swing gate into a sloping pasture. Follow the cattle track along the top of the field with a wood on your right. Near the end of the field, turn left downhill to a metal kissing gate by an oak tree, onto a road.
Turn right a few paces along the road, then left, down a gap through trees to a corner of a field. Here bear left down a narrow, enclosed path for some way. Cross a bridge at the bottom and soon emerge onto a road. Turn left.
Reach a crossroads and go straight over towards Sutton Mandeville. Pass a small playing field on your right. Just past the last house on your right, turn right through a rusty metal fieldgate and go up the edge of the field.
Go through a metal kissing gate halfway, then on up to a stile in the top corner. Cross and turn immediately left into an enclosed path. The path emerges from woods by new houses and continues as a drive.
Reach a road and turn right. Pass a side road going off right and continue uphill. Soon reach a footpath signed to the church. Turn right up it. It runs alongside a drive. Soon the path bears left on a concrete embankment and reaches a gate into the churchyard.
Go diagonally left up the churchyard passing the church on your right (visit if open, a charming little building) to a gate in the top wall. Continue diagonally right uphill and across the field.
Exit via a metal fieldgate and continue forward. Soon, ignore a path off down right and continue forward. Eventually drop down to a metal swing gate and continue along the top edge of a field.
Go through another metal swing gate and on, on a path enclosed between trees and a wire fence.
Yet another metal swing gate, then diagonally left across the centre of a pasture, with houses ahead.
Exit through a wooden swing gate onto a drive out to a road. Turn up left for 50 metres. Opposite Chapel Cottage, turn right through a metal fieldgate onto a grassy track.
At the end go through a metal fieldgate and bear left upto a second one. Now turn quite sharply left, uphill to a stile into woods at the top of the field.
Bear slightly diagonally right, steeply up through the woods. At the top go through a gate into a field.
Turn right along the edge with woods on your right. Go through a gap into the next field and continue as before. At the very end turn left, still along the field edge and swing around a corner.
Once round, turn left down the open field to the far, bottom hedge. Do not go through but turn right alongside it for 15 metres. Then turn left down a path through trees to a more open space.
Bear slightly right here on a feint path keeping woods on your right.
After some way the path seems blocked and diverted. Follow it – now a broad drive – sharp right and steeply downhill.
At the bottom turn left along a wide track following the bottom of the wood. Follow this for ¼ mile. Finally, the track becomes a drive and drops down past the village hall (no parking) to a road junction.
Turn right, to pass a grassy are with a seat, then on a few paces more to reach The Royal Oak in Swallowcliffe and the end of the section.
Section 54 Return
Swallowcliffe to Fovant
Map: OS Explorer 118 Shaftesbury
Distance: 4 miles/ 2 hours
Start: There is little on road parking in Swallowcliffe except for the Royal Oak which is open seven days a week and has a car park for patrons.
Comment: A return walk with some roadwalking along quiet country lanes. There is an initial pull up the road out of Swallowcliffe past an amazing Elizabethan manor house. Then a long stretch across sheep pasture. This is followed by another long stretch along the edges of large arable fields, but the path keeps to the headland so easy going and extensive views. Finally a country road into the top end of Fovant. However this is a long linear village and a steep climb takes the walk high above the houses for a long open stretch back to start.
With the Royal Oak behind, turn right, back down the road, pass the turning on the left to the village hall and keep on up the road out of the village for ¼ mile.
Pass the impressive Swallowcliffe Manor on your left. Near the top of the rise pass farm buildings on your right. Look now for two large and rather plain modern houses on your left.
Immediately past these is a metal fieldgate on the left. Go through and straight up the side of the pasture beyond. There is no waymarking here.
Pass the new houses on your left and continue up to the top corner. Go through another metal fieldgate. In the next pasture turn diagonally right across the corner of the field to a stile in the wire fence.
Continue in the same direction, diagonally left, across another pasture to gates in the far opposite corner.
Reach a collection of gates and fences. Go through in the same direction to a final pasture and continue on, to a stile in the hedge at the far side.
Over the stile, drop down a bank to a bridlepath. Turn left up this for 75 metres where the bridlepath suddenly turns right, up into a large arable field. Here go straight across the centre of the field aiming for an aerial mast at the far side.
Emerge at a road junction. Go ahead, straight up the road for 150 metres to reach a T-junction.
Here turn left on a footpath along the side of the road but raised slightly above it. This soon swing right, away from the road into the corner of a huge field.
Go forward along the edge of the field with a hedge on the left, staying up on the high ground.
Go through a metal kissing gate into the next field and on as before.
At the far end a metal kissing gate and a stile lead into the next field, ignore a cross path coming up through the wood, and continue as before.
Reach yet another metal kissing gate and keep on along the field edge ignoring any stile off left down in to woods.
Eventually a final metal kissing gate leads into a path enclosed between hedge and a stout wooden fence. This drops down to a road.
Turn left down the road, soon reach a junction and turn right for ½ mile. Eventually the road reaches Fovant village and comes to a crossroads. Turn right signposted for Salisbury.
In 75 metres turn right up a bridlepath by School Cottage. Keep steadily up through woods for ¼ mile on a muddy track.
Ignore paths off left down into the valley. At a Y-fork near the top, bear left to soon emerge into the corner of a field.
Bear left along the field edge for ½ mile with extensive views, gently downhill.
In the bottom corner, bear left into a narrow path down steps to a main road. Turn left a short distance to return to the Greater Good pub building by the village shop and the start of the section.