If starting from Danzey Green Station. Turn left out of the station car park and follow the road over the railway bridge. Turn left down Pig Trott lane. Look for the Drive to Bickers Court Farm coming down from the left by a house. You are now at point [3] of the walk.
(A) Tanworth In Arden is now a pleasant and well to do commuter village for Birmingham and Solihull. It has a beautiful large church with a 14th century tower and chancel. The benches on the green are a nice place to relax, and you can take drinks from the Bell Inn out there on a nice day.
[1] From the village green enter the churchyard via a gate at the top of some steps by the tower at the top of Well Lane.
Follow the gravel path to the right, past Nick Drake's grave, down to the bottom of the churchyard. When the gravel path ends at a gate continue ahead down the left edge of the field to a road.
(B) On the path through the churchyard you will see a large wooden sign on a tree, below which is the Grave of Nick Drake. He was a folk rock singer-songwriter in the late sixties and early seventies. Nick suffered badly from depression and died tragically aged just 26 after overdosing on anti depressants. His work has remained popular and he still has a lot of fans, many of whom pay homage to his grave and leave flowers or other small gifts.
Turn right for 25 yards then left along an enclosed path. Enter a field and continue straight ahead following the hedge on the right as it passes the edge of a wood on the left to reach a small bridge and stile. Go right around the edge of the field to a footbridge in the far right corner. Continue ahead under the railway. Cross the stile by a gate and head diagonally right following the line of trees towards the far hedge. Turn left to a kissing gate near the far left corner. Cross over and take the second of two gates on the right. Go left uphill along the field edge, with a stream in the trees to the left. The path swings left round the end of a wood then right again, still along the field edge ,to a large hedge gap. Continue along the left edge of the next field for 50 yards to a waymarker post.
(C) The railway is the Birmingham to Stratford line. It was built by the Great Western Railway in 1908 as an express line from Birmingham to Cheltenham and on to the south west. But after the line south of Stratford was closed it has now become just a commuter line with regular stopping services.
[2] The post indicates a path going right across the middle of the field to a gate in the opposite hedge. Take this path and go ahead through a second gate then uphill to a third gate at a path junction. Continue straight ahead with the hedge on the left through two more fields. At the far end of a barn on the left, immediately before the farmhouse, a stile on the left leads through to the farm track. (It can be muddy by this stile. If so, keep right in the field and walk left alongside the garden fence to approach it.) Turn right and follow the track all the way down to the road.
If you are returning to Danzey Green station, turn right here, then right along the road over the railway bridge to find the station on your right.
[3] Turn left, and take a path on the right when the road swings left. Go uphill half left to a gap in the hedge. Continue in the same direction and downhill across the field. Pass between two dead trees and then look carefully for a stile in a gap in the hedge. Cross it and follow the path ahead to a gate & stile on the right. Go through and cross the dam of the old mill pond (which is now drained and to your right). Keep right of the mill buildings (now a house) and follow the drive down to the road. (Look out for Winnie the Pooh and Piglet on the house sign!)
Take the path opposite and go half left across a large field to find a stile on the far side that leads to steps up onto the railway.
Take care crossing the railway. Look both ways and listen before crossing. If there is a group of you, do not queue up standing on the tracks whilst waiting for those ahead to cross the stile on the far side.
Cross the railway and go half left to a kissing gate. Turn left and follow the left edge of the field, by the railway at first, to a kissing gate that leads to a dirt track on a bend in front of a house.Turn right along it to the road.
[4] Turn left along the road. Just before a railway bridge turn right along a dead end road which goes to the Hamlet of Blunts Green. After passing some houses, look out for the driveway to College Farm immediately on the right. Go up it for 30 yards then left through a gate into a field. Go half right up hill to a large gate on the skyline. In the next field, go steeply downhill to the far right corner. Go through a gate just ahead on the left and then to a gate by a solitary tree in the hedge opposite that leads to a road.
Go left on the road for 20 yards then right on a path, waymarked as the Arden Way, which we will follow to Ullenhall. The path goes up the field with the hedge on the left to a gate, through which it follows the hedge on the right to Ullenhall old church.
(D) This tiny chapel, beautifully located on a hill above the village, was once the main church for Ullenhall. In 1875 they decided it was too small and inconvenient so a new one was built in the village. All that remains here is the chancel of the old church, some of which dates back to the 13th century. There are some interesting old memorials inside.
[5] From the front entrance of the church go down the lane and turn left to a T junction. Take the footpath opposite, which goes half left, crosses a small road and continues across a second field , at the far end of which it goes left round the back of some brick stable buildings to emerge on a road by some white railings. Go left, then right opposite the entrance to Brook House to emerge at Ullenhall war memorial and the Winged Spur pub.
(E) Ullenhall village is a quiet dormitory village with a variety of old and modern houses. The pub is used to walkers visiting, and has a garden to sit out in on nice days. Take a look in the phone box opposite the pub. It is now redundant but has its own entertaining personal history inside. No more than two at a time can go in though!
[6] Turn right up the main street, follow it to the end of the village and turn turn right along Forde Hall Lane. Continue along this for some distance, ignoring the right turn down Gentlemans Lane and past Mockley Manor care home.
[7] Just when the road begins to descend steeply, a path angles off to the left by some strange arched pieces of concrete. Follow the path through trees to a stile. The way ahead is officially along the the sunken path between the trees, but you may prefer to pop out into the field on the right to avoid the occasional muddy or overgrown stretch. The path eventually reaches a stile and bridge into a second field. Continue ahead with the fence to your left. Go through some bushes and scrub in the far left corner of the field to find a footbridge over a stream. Cross over and go left, keeping parallel to the fence/hedge on the left. Just before a telegraph pole by a gate into a field ahead, turn right over a small plank bridge over a tiny stream by a waymark post. Go left up to another waymark post. Ignore the path to the right. Instead, cross another plank bridge over the same tiny stream to a gate.
Follow the enclosed path uphill. It crosses a driveway twice then joins the driveway by some elegant wrought iron gates. The drive goes uphill, with nice views looking back, to a road.
[8] Go left along a concrete track then right along the drive to Grange Farm. Look for a stile on the right immediately beyond a barn on the right. Cross it and take the gate at the far end of a green barn. Cross a track and follow the left edge of the next field to a road. Cross straight over and go ahead to the far right corner of the next field where a gate leads out onto a road. Turn right into the village and right at the T junction back to the village green.
If you are returning to Danzey Green station, continue following the route from [1] and follow it to [3].