Westow Grange

4. The track comes to a road at the end, which isn't too busy. Turn right and cross over almost immediately to the layby on the other side.

5. Here you will find another track heading left. There is a sign in the hedge but not much of it remains so who knows what it said! Head down this track with the hedge on your left. (we immediately passed a very smelly manure heap on our right!).

6. The path here in February was somewhat water-logged and we had to do some tricky manoeuvres to get through rather large puddles by hanging onto trees and branches whilst Bill looked on bemused and/ or stopped for a paddle. The end section is Hanging Hill Lane as you steadily climb up Hanging Hill. 

7. Keep on along the lane until you come to another road and turn left towards Leavening.

12. Walk along the side of the turnip field and onto the next one. At the end of this stretch you will come to a small wooded area (Guild Wood) which is managed by the Woodland Trust. Here, though, there is a stile and the gate has been padlocked! Luckily dogs (unless they are huge) can scramble under the stile, but you will have to go over it. 

13, On the other side walk along the left-hand edge of the wood until you get to the end, where you get to High Penhowe Farm House. Do not go through the gate marked 'no entry' ahead, instead swing left and the path takes you to another stile.

14. Luckily, again, Bill was able to squeeze under this stile as well, but you will have to go over on the two steps (which can be quite slippery - so be careful).

15. Immediately after this stile turn left and head down the stony pathway with the farm buildings on your right.

20. On the other side of the gate just head down the driveway for Primrose Hill, all the way down to Penhowe Lane.

21. At Penhowe Lane turn left. This is a really quiet road but you still might want to keep dogs on leads, especially at the end of this stretch you come to the busier road at Four Lane Ends.

22. Cross straight over the road towards Westow (1 mile) on Low Lane. This stretch is again quite quiet although a few cars did pass us and you have to be careful to squeeze off the road as there are virtually no grass verges and only the occasional passing place.

You will, on this stretch, pass straight by a long barrow on your right with a tumulus on your left. This is where the road has steep banks either side. 

Long barrows were built as earthen or drystone mounds and acted as funerary monuments during the Early and Middle Neolithic periods (3400-2400 BC). They represent the burial places of Britain's early farming communities and, as such, are amongst the oldest field monuments surviving visibly in the present landscape. Where investigated, long barrows appear to have been used for many different people, often with only parts of the human remains having been selected for burial.

This barrow was partially excavated by Canon Greenwell in the 1860s, but it still stands at a height of 1.5m, is 30m long and 25m wide. Greenwell recorded that the original mound contained a single grave chamber containing at least five burials; a later addition to the mound contained four more burials. 

23. You eventually come back into Westow, but you can take the 1 mile (ish) there-and-back detour to look at the church by turning right at the sign that says 'Church Only'. Either after this or not, keep heading straight on and you will find yourself back where you started.

You could then visit the Blacksmith's Arms in Westow which is lovely, and dogs are allowed in the outside areas - perfect on a sunny day! (which ours wasn't!!).