[1] Leave the car park through the vehicular entrance and when you arrive at the road immediately turn left and go downhill past the remaining walls of an old railway bridge.
(A) At the start of the walk you can see the line of the Bewdley to Wooferton Railway built in the 19th Century to transport forest goods to Birmingham and the Black Country. This is now part of the National Cycle Trail Route 45 which goes from Salisbury to Chester. It enters the Wyre Forest here and continues through to Button Oak.
[2] Continue down until the road turns sharply left follow the road ignoring the gate on the right that leads to a path that eventually meets the River Severn. This section of roadway coincides with the Geo Park Way. Continue along the road ignoring the sloping driveway on the left hand side. Cross Dowles Brook at the stone bridge bearing left at the far side and continue keeping the stream on your Left hand side. Continue along this path for approximately 1/2 mile passing a large house on the left then an open space until you reach a footbridge over the stream on the Left hand side. This is Knowles Mill.
(B) Dowles Brook is a fast flowing forest stream along which you can see a variety of birds including Dippers and Kingfishers. In the summer this stream seems quite innocuous but can become a raging torrent in winter and a few years ago all bridges over this waterway were swept away.
(C) Knowles Mill is a derelict corn mill and is the only one left still in existence along Dowles Brook. It stopped working in the 1890s. Some work has taken place in the mill to stabilize the ruin and various display boards are inside the mill telling its story. The mill and meadows near the cottage and the wooded bank behind the mill are part of a reserve owned by the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust. www.worcswildlifetrust.co.uk.
[3] Turn left off the path and cross the footbridge towards the mill. After spending some time exploring the mill take the path between the mill and cottage and follow it up the bank behind the mill. Notice the remains of the water wheel and mill pond, on the right hand side, as you proceed upwards. As you go up ignore the step stile on the left of the path and continue onwards bearing left at a bend. You will notice a fence and then disused fence posts on the right hand side continue onwards until the last post. At this point the path forks so take the right hand fork, if you look at the last fence post you may see a way-mark disk showing the way. Continue along the path until you reach a kissing gate in the fence. Proceed through the gate and bear slightly left towards another kissing gate in the opposite fence in front of Lodge Hill Farm. This is the Site Office of Natural England in the forest.
(D) This field is an example of an unimproved meadow which is quite ancient. You can see many mounds in the field which are meadow ant mounds and these indicate that this meadow has never had chemicals used on it. It is also an example of an Old Orchard.
[4] Pass through the gate bearing slightly left crossing to the other side of the lane. You will see a kissing gate on the bend in the hedge. At this point should you wish to shorten the route, for whatever reason, you could continue down the lane to meet the old railway line turn left and follow it all the way back to the car park at the beginning of the walk. To continue the walk pass through this kissing gate moving forward across a stone bridge to a further kissing gate on the other side. Proceed along the path keeping to the left hand hedge until you come to another kissing gate at the end of the meadow. Proceed through the gate and continue forward bearing slightly left. Continue along this path for a short distance (50 yards) until you meet a four path junction. You will see a pond on the other side of this junction. This area could be a good place for a refreshment stop. Rhododendron bushes used to grow here, but have recently been cleared by the forestry agencies.
Keeping this pond to your left, you will see a large tree with a marker disk in front of you.Continue straight on this path as indicated by this marker disk. It is a wide path and leads to a path crossing about 4/500 yds ahead.
Once again if you wish to shorten the route take the left hand path and this will eventually lead you on to a prepared road service near some farm buildings on the right hand side. Continue along the road past a bungalow on the right and turn left with the road until you rejoin this walk at [9],
(D) This field is an example of an unimproved meadow which is quite ancient. You can see many mounds in the field which are meadow ant mounds and these indicate that this meadow has never had chemicals used on it. It is also an example of an Old Orchard.
[5] To continue on this walk go straight over at the cross pathways and, bearing slightly left, continue through the trees. You will now be going slightly uphill and will soon see a farm clearing emerging from the left hand side. Another path merges from the right but continue straight on keeping the field fence on your left. The path bears left just after the end of the fence line and continue on. When the path widens ignore the path merging from the right and continue straight on. Ignore the path on the left hand side as you approach a mesh fence on the left. Continue on slowly climbing uphill keeping the fence on your left and when it ends turn left at the marker post for Bewdley Forest Discovery Way.
(E) Ruskin Land was named after the artist John Ruskin whose utopian fantasy lead to various parcels of land being bought by his Guild of St. George within the forest. In fact St. George's Farm and Uncllys Farm are examples of these.
[6] There should now be a fence on your left and a field on your right hand side. The path is quite well defined and continue until you come to where the path bends sharply left at another marker post.
[7] Ignore this turn and continue straight on to start going downhill. After another 600 yards or so,you should see a farm clearing on the left hand side. There is a further marker post pointing left. Ignore this sign and go straight on into the trees, going slightly down hill. Near the bottom of the slope turn left keeping a small stream on your right hand side.
(F) Just before the left hand bend notice a strangely formed tree just inside the left hand side of the trees. I have often wondered how this form was created.
[8] Follow the stream until it enters a small lake with a dam at the end. Cross this dam and bear left with the path through the woods. As the path bears right notice the buildings of Uncllys Farm. This establishment runs countryside courses on subjects like hedge laying, animal husbandry and orchard care. Continue onwards with the fence on your left passing a freshly planted orchard. You will soon come to a kissing gate at the side of a 5 bar gate. Pass through and continue on the well marked path. until it meets a roadway. This area of woodland has been fenced off to allow farm animals to graze the area as part of a woodland management project.
[9] At this point the alternative route rejoins this walk. When you emerge from the trees, via a kissing gate, turn right onto the road and continue through the wood until you reach an old orchard on the right hand side. Continue to the end of this orchard and soon you will reach the edge of the woodland. Look for a gate on the left hand side with a kissing gate at the side. If you come to a cattle grid you have gone too far.
(G) There is currently a project called "Grow with Wyre" which amongst many things is encouraging local landowners to replant old orchards in the forest with traditional local fruit tree species. You can see in this orchard there are a mixture of old and new trees. It is important to keep old trees which provide an environment for invertebrates and birds whilst the new trees mature and are able to do the same thing. More details of this scheme can be found on Natural England's website www.naturalengland.org.uk
[10] Turn left and pass through the kissing gate. You will see two paths straight ahead .Take the right path proceeding straight on keeping the farm clearing on the right hand side. Keep to this path,which is rough in places for about 500 yds or so. Ignore all tracks both left and right, until you see a marker post with a yellow band around the top.Just before this post you are at a path crossing. Our route will be straight on but it may be worth going a short way along the left hand path to see an avenue of redwood trees that were planted some time ago. After return to the crossroads.
[11] From the crossroads carry straight on passing the aforesaid marker post. Ahead you may see the dwelling, Forest Lodge, and our route passes to the left of this. You will quickly come across another marker post and ignore the path merging from the left. Continue onwards and ignore the path merging from the right. You will pass another yellow marker post and will quickly come to a fork in the paths. Take the right hand fork and you should see ahead a marker post with green and yellow bands. The path now starts descending and continue along until you reach your final destination the car park.
(H) Giant Redwood trees. These were planted some time ago and are an unusual specie for the forest and really stick out in the deciduous area of the forest. If you walk down Dry Mill Lane and look over the hedge these trees stick well above the tree top canopy. Also at this point if you look to the right and through the trees you can see another old orchard and in the summer Dexter cattle graze the meadow to keep undergrowth in check.