[1] From the car park, go left, along the road for 200 yards. Just beyond the village, climb a stile on the left into a meadow. Follow the path with the By Brook on your left, then cross it at the weir. In the following meadow, walk ahead on the lower ground with the brook to your right. Continue across a further two meadows to reach a gated footbridge over the brook. Cross, then turn left, walking with the watercourse and re-crossing via a stone footbridge. Now follow the path through woodland, passing the remains of a rag mill on your left and eventually reaching a road.
[2] Walk ahead for a short distance, turn right, following the road over the river. Now take the lane on the left, in just over 100 yards. Follow it to a right bend, where you go left, into another mill, where at least here, there appear to be signs of life!
(A) The site here was originally a fulling mill, then a paper mill, relying on the By Brook for water power. In recent years, relentless pressure to re-develop the mill as an exclusive housing estate has incurred the wrath of the residents of Slaughterford who rightly fear for the tranquility of their valley.
Pass through the mill, going right then left and following the driveway over the brook to reach a road. Turn left and walk for about 150 yards passing a property on the right, then looking for a footpath sign pointing right. Cross the stile here into woodland, then make your way on a pathless route diagonally up, away from the road and on to an open hillside. Then turn sharp right to continue the climb – woodland right – to reach a field. Keep right, with the wood to your right, to reach a stile.
[3] Cross, and go diagonally left over the following field towards a stile – at the moment out of view – near the far corner of the field. Cross the stile and cut across the corner of the next field to the point where the boundary turns right
[4]. From here, continue over the field in the same direction, losing height slightly, to reach a stile giving access to a road. Turn left and follow the tarmac as it bears right, then after passing access to a field on the left, look left for a stile. Climb over and follow the right boundary until it makes a right turn. Here, climb across the field aiming for the top right corner
[5]. Now walk with the hedge on your right as far as a road (do not go onto the road). Make a ninety-degree turn to the left here, and walk down the field (the road veering away to the right) to reach the hedge at the bottom corner. Just to the left, look for a stile (hidden) in the bushes. Beyond this, walk ahead keeping left of the field corner, to cross a way-marked stile into a further field.
[6] Now proceed along the right boundary to reach a road via an old gate. Go left down the road, keeping an eye open for a bridleway on the left, beyond a broad grassy area. Follow this downhill, through a gate into a sunken track that you keep on (with some difficulty) until you eventually arrive at a road on a bend. Continue in the same direction, passing the turning left over the bridge, and retracing for a short distance your outward route. Pass Brook House on your right, and this time keep on the road, as it swings right at the gate to Rag Mill. Walk on the elevated pathway as far as the gate on the right by the way-mark, then go through and aim for the church, passing to the right. Continue across the pasture with a farm on your right to reach a stile and steps down to a road.
[7] Cross over and go through the waymarked gate (Macmillan Way) on the left, then walk diagonally over the field to a stile in the far corner. Climb this then follow the hedge on the left, losing height, to meet with your outward route and the re-crossing of By Brook at the weir. Continue along the well-worn path to the road, turn right and retrace your steps to your starting point.