[1] From the car park, walk back to the main road and turn left, passing through the town. The road crosses the railway with Brunel’s dramatic tunnel portal on the right.
(A) At the time of opening, Brunel’s Box Tunnel was the longest railway tunnel ever built (1.83 miles). It was regarded as an impossible and dangerous engineering project and was by far the most difficult single engineering work on the entire London to Bristol route. Work on the tunnel began in 1836 and it opened to through London - Bristol traffic on 30 June 1841.
Continue a little further, turning left at a footpath sign at ‘The Bassets’.
[2] Take the right fork and pass through wooden gates at the end of the lane, then follow footpath signs bearing right to a stile. Cross to enter a field, then go ahead, exiting the field via another stile. Now go diagonally left, walking with fence on the right and a bungalow down to the left. Climb a stile by a metal gate into another field, then continue with the fence on your right to a further stile, beyond which, follow the well-worn path as it descends to another stile. Walk the length of the following meadow, to the far left corner where you climb a stile, then go ahead keeping left through a farm complex.
[3] Turn left at the farm drive and go ahead crossing the brook via a bridge. A short distance further, you come to a fork, go right, towards Saltbox Farm. As you reach the farm, the lane bears left. Go right here, through the left-hand of a pair of field gates with the ‘Macmillan Way’ waymark. In this meadow, go right to cross a ditch, then walk with the ditch on your left and the brook right. At the far end of the meadow, go through a gate and continue ahead, keeping in touch with the brook on your right, and aiming towards farm buildings. An electric fence often crosses this field, if this is the case, pass through the adjoining gate and continue to the far boundary. Here, go through the gate to reach a lane. Follow the tarmac ahead, passing a farm on the left, and then the driveway to Widdenham Farm House on the right. Here, ignore the track up to the left but continue a short distance further to where the lane descends sharp right. There is a stile ahead, climb this, then contour the hillside with the brook down to your right. At the far send of the meadow, go through a gate and continue on to the next gate where you take the lower, right-hand path.
[4] You are now walking with fences either side, and these lead you to a further gate, beyond which, cross the brook and continue to a metal gate. Go through and follow the track up to the right, passing through another gate and into woodland. Ignore tracks left and right, some gated, but continue, eventually emerging from the wood. There are fine views now across the valley to the tower of Colerne church, a mile or so to the west. When you reach a gate, go through to join a lane and follow this, ignoring a track on the right as the lane bends left, to reach Rudloe Manor.
(B) Officially occupied until recently by the R.A.F., Rudloe Manor, a listed 17th century house was once home to the Defence Communications Network and one of several sensitive military installations sited in the area.
Passing the manor, continue for 300 yards then take the lane on the right. Walk downhill passing Folly Cottage on the right, then on reaching a farm entrance, veer right before the gates and follow the narrow bridleway between the wall of the farm boundary left, and fields right.
[5] Ignore a stile on the right and continue, going through a gate then in a short distance, another. Keep on, passing through a further two gates before descending to a lane where you turn left. In a short distance at a kink in the lane, look for steps ahead and climb to a stile. Beyond, walk up the field, boundary right, to reach a road.
[6] Cross this busy road with care and climb the steps opposite, then continue your ascent along Barnetts Hill, keeping right at junctions to reach the ‘Quarryman’s Arms, a good refreshment stop.
(C) The building was originally a number of Quarrymens’ cottages in the early 18th Century, before being converted into a public house in the 1850's.
To continue, with the pub on your right, immediately take the lane forking left, passing ‘The Old Post Office’ then bearing left with cottages left. The lane becomes a path and at you pass huge disused quarry, now the location of an extended garden with tennis courts; workers toiled here in the 1830s providing stone for Brunel’s railway tunnel. Continue on, ignoring a path joining from the right, to eventually reach a road. Turn right and walk for a short distance to a junction where you go right again.
[7] Walk for 150 yards to a bend in the road where you pass through a kissing gate on the left into a field. Follow the path across the field to the far side, then turn left, walking with the wall on your right. Look for a gap in this wall after about 400 yards and go through, following the clear path across this further field and onto a driveway at the far side. This is the driveway to Hazelbury Manor, a sprawling Elizabethan house occasionally open to the public. Walk right, along the drive passing a green barn and entering the manor grounds. Follow the driveway to the right and with the house now ahead, go left.
[8] Pass a pond on the left then an enclosure where Golden Guernsey goats, a vulnerable rare breed, can sometimes be seen. Beyond here, fork left at a bridleway sign and follow the descending track to a junction with gate and stile ahead. Ignore these, but turn left and cross the bridge with a pond on your left. The track climbs, going left then round to the right, eventually reaching an open area of grassland with paths left and right. Take the right hand path for a short distance, then climb a stile concealed in the hedge on the right and walk downhill keeping with the right boundary ignoring the stile on the right. At the bottom, go up via steps and a stile to reach a road.
[9] Cross with care, going slightly left to a footpath sign to enter woodland. Follow a path up to the right where you will meet a sunken track that you drop down into. Continue your ascent left, bearing right at a high wall and soon passing a new, Cotswold stone house. When you reach Blue Vein Farm, turn right just before it and follow the clear waymarks through a gate, then ahead to climb stiles in a fence and a stone wall. You are now in a large field. Walk ahead on a gradually descending route, aiming left of the water tower on the distant horizon. As you near the bottom of the field, alter course for the lowest, left corner where you will find a stile in the wire fence.
[10] Cross and descend left, through woodland to reach a grass path. Follow this between cottages ignoring paths left and right, to reach a tarmac path with ‘Washwell Cottage’ on your left. Climb ahead to a road and turn left. Follow the road uphill for a short distance, then go right, over a stile, just before reaching the houses. Follow the path between fields with the town of Box becoming visible down to your right. When you reach a stile by a gate, climb over, then follow the descending path to a market garden, climbing the metal barrier and continuing down to the greenhouses. Pass these, climbing a stile, then veer left to a narrow path between walls leading to a road. Cross over and follow the path ahead to a lower road, the High Street. Cross with care to Valense Terrace and the car park.