[1] Park near the war memorial on the corner of Station Road and Caswell Lane, then walk back to Mill Lane on the right. Follow Mill Lane, turning right into Mill Close where, in a few yards, you go through a kissing gate on the left.
[2] Cross the field diagonally right towards the boundary hedge. Climb two stiles with a stream between, then turn left, walking with the hedge on your left. At the top of the field, go through a gate, then another (gate or stile) on the right. Continue up this next field, boundary left, to a gate and stile with track beyond. Cross the track, climb the stile ahead and continue a few yards to a path junction where you take a signed path to the right.
[3] Climb through the woodland to a path junction. Here, turn left then immediately right, climbing again to emerge at a stile with farmland beyond.
[4] Go half-right across the field corner to a gate, beyond which, veer slightly left, passing a pond on your right and aiming for a further stile in the field boundary. Cross over and aim for a stile in a new fence by a ruined barn.
[5] Climb over and turn right , walking with the fence on your right, to reach a driveway. Turn right along it with the main building of the Downs School (formerly Charlton House) now visible on the left. Turn left at the next driveway and walk for 300 yards to a stile in the fence on the right. Waymark signs offer two routes across this field. Take the one going slightly left, skirting to the left of an old hedge boundary (now a row of trees) and continuing down the field to reach a stile at the bottom.
[6] Beyond the stile, you are confronted with a broken stile (care) and then a seven-foot fence. Turn right and keep the fence to your left, soon reaching woodland on your right. Continue down, ignoring a gate into Prior Woods, then climbing steeply, then gently, and passing two fields to your left, to reach a path junction. Turn right and descend into woodland.
(A) Ancient woodland, streams and plantations can all be found in this wildlife-rich wood. In winter, a golden carpet of beech leaves cover the ground, replaced in early summer, by the sea of bluebells that makes Prior’s Wood famous. Move quietly and you may see deer beneath the trees. Prior’s Wood was part of the Tyntesfield Estate, but was not wanted by the National Trust when it purchased Tyntesfield, so it was bought by Avon Wildlife Trust.
[7] Take the steepish path down through the trees to a crossing track. Go left here and in a short distance at a fork, take the lower, right-hand path to cross a stream via a wooden bridge.(to see the best bluebells do not cross the bridge but divert down the path to the left, with the stream on your right) Returning to the broad path over the bridge it now climbs, passing a track that has been opened up on the left where the rhododendrons have been cleared. Ignore this and continue to the obvious cross track at the top of the rise.
[8] Turning left, you now have easy walking, ignoring a number of minor, indistinct turns, and going straight ahead at a crossing path, to reach an obvious fork in the track. Here, take the higher, right-hand route and walk with woodland to your left and a high, wire fence to your right, after a few metres.
[9] After 500 yards, go through a gate by a former gamekeeper’s cottage. From here, the vista opens out on your left and you have just a short distance to walk before a gate gives access to the road. Turn right and walk to the road junction and your starting point.
(B) The tall building on your left just before the road junction was a priory, dating from the 12th century. Now much altered, the existing structure is 15th century and served as a school from the 19th century until 1972.