[A] Coldharbour Mill - a 200 year old spinning mill, builtin 1799 by Thomas Fox to spin woollen and later worsted yarns.
[1] From the car park, cross road to pass though a metal gate. Follow this track (the old railway line) past some houses on the left and continue until you come to the feed mill on your right where you bear around to the left, over a small bridge with a pond on your right. Just before the sheltered accommodation, turn right to take you around the outside of the common room of the village hall and out onto the road. Turn left. Walk up the road and just after the church, turn right into Fore Street to take you along past some interesting old houses. At its junction with Kitwell Street turn up left and walk towards a tall red brick building with an octagonal tower to a road junction where you turn right.
[B] The tall brick building was originally Furze's brewery and there was a maltings opposite as well. Later it was used for cider making. Mr Furze was something of an entrepreneur and provided the bricks from his own brickfield. It is now used for antique restoration and storage.
[2] Walk along this road, past the library and primary school and, after about quarter of a mile, having passed the last bungalow on your left, take the right hand fork in the road. Follow this minor road along for about three quarters of a mile. Pass one farm on your left and then Five Ford Farm on your right. Where the road bears left and goes uphill, you turn right down to a gate welcoming you to Hunkin Wood. (Hunkin wood was planted in 1998-9 by the Woodland trust as part of their "Woods on your doorstep" project.)
[3] Follow the lane and In a few yards turn left at the signpost before you reach the footbridge. Go along the edge of the wood to a kissing gate. Then go straight on across several fields, though two gates and over 1 low ladder stile. You then come to a field gate leading into a very wet lane which you follow until you reach a gate. Go through the gate and then turn sharpish left through another field gate and onto a narrow path. Follow this path, which becomes a metalled road, until you come out on the road opposite Prescott House. Turn right along the road. The road swings to the left as it crosses a stream, and then passes Prescott Baptist Chapel on the left. Shortly after the chapel, the road curves off the left - at this point turn right off the road into a field. You may have noticed streams running alongside country lanes and assumed them to have been cut out by the natural flow of water. In many cases they are man-made by the local community to bring water to their farms, mills and homesteads.
[4] Walk diagonally across the field towards the opposite hedge crossing a double stile into the next field. Turn left to follow the left hand hedgerow, through the farm and out onto a metalled road. Turn right. From here to Culmstock the road can be narrow and busy. Walk along this road turning right at the school then down towards the bridge and pub. In the ground of the pub is a 23 ft totem pole carved out of a single piece of oak by a local artist Fiona Gray. It represents the proverb "see no evil, hear no evil" with an owl on the top to represent wisdom. It was erected in 2012.
[5] At the pub and just before the bridge turn right down to the riverside area. Walk ahead and go through the first wooden gate and then take the one on your right onto the old railway line. Follow this until you reach a large metal bridge across the river. Do not cross the river - turn down right through a pedestrian gate into the fields.
[C] The Culm Valley Light Railway was opened in 1876, it was built by local enterprise. The line was purchased in 1880 by the Great Western Railway, which had operated it from the start. The line closed to passengers in 1963 but served the milk depot at Hemyock until 1975
Turn left and follow the meanders of the River Culm downstream to Hunkin Wood. Ignore the signposted footpath into the wood to your right and keeping to the banks of the Culm, walk on down until meeting a foot bridge on your left which you cross. You would expect that this stretch of the walk would be level as it is the flood plain of the River Culm. Not so – the Culm has changed its course many times over the years forming the undulations you see, called paleochannels. These are the remains of some of the older meanders. A river that is constantly changing its course is an anastomising river – apparently the Culm is a very good example.
[6] Walk straight ahead keeping a minor channel of the river on your right hand side. Cross a footbridge and go through the metal gate ahead of you. Follow the river channel until it rejoins the main part of the Culm. There now follows a series of bridges, and pedestrian gates. It is a popular local dog walk so the route can easily be seen. If you keep the river on your right hand, you will eventually come to a gate which takes you onto a bridge over the Culm. Come off the bridge and turn left and walk straight ahead, between the river and some houses and through a gate. This brings you out opposite a garage.
[D] This stretch running between the houses and the river used to be the site of one of two railway stations in Uffculme. The other is the car park of the mill.
[7] Turn left across the river on the road bridge and then turn right at a footpath sign down some slate steps and into the field. Follow the river all the way along until you come to another bridge and up onto a metalled road.
[E] Part way along this section of the route you will see the weir that sends water along a leat to feed Coldharbour mill.
Turn right and this will bring you back to the car park.