Shrewton - Yarnbury Castle - Berwick St James - Winterbourne Stoke

Sean Meek

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This walk was originally compiled by Tom Heydon. Walkingworld is very grateful to Sean Meek for taking it over.

From Shrewton you will walk westwards over the high downland, before turning southwards for possible detours to the Parsonage Down National Nature Reserve and the ancient hill-fort of Yarnbury Castle. You will follow a section of the old Salisbury to Bath coach road over Berwick Down before walking through the pretty village of Berwick St John. From here the walk generally follows the route of the River Till through Winterbourne Stoke and back to Shrewton.

There are normally lots of birds and wildlife to see over this almost undisturbed part of the chalk downs. There is also the possibility that troops may be on exercise in the area at any time.

January 2017. Thanks to Iestyn Roberts for his very useful updates.

England - South England - Wiltshire - Salisbury Plains

Features

Butterflies, Church, Flowers, Great Views, Pub, Public Transport, Wildlife

1/1/2017 - Iestyn Roberts

Delightful walk, although the sound of A303 can be intrusive on the early section. Note that the Royal Oak and the George in Shrewton have closed their doors.The Plume of Feather survives. We too found the track between 7 and 12 to be rutted by 4x4s and trail bikes - but it's worth persevering. 21, the gate takes you into a small wood, with the hedge on your right. 24, the walk along the A360 is short but can be a bit hairy.

4/16/2011 - Peter Harper

A delightful walk. In early Spring, and after a somewhat dry spell, I had none of the problems encountered by Steve when he did the walk in November 2008.

11/16/2008 - Steve McCallion

Did this walk today (16/11/2008). I started the walk from Point 12 (Berwick St James) as there was more on-street parking available there. Unfortunately, the walk along the byways between points 6 and 12 was very difficult as the 4x4 vehicles that use the byways have now caused many parallel, deep ruts most of the way along so that you now have to look carefully where you place your feet. The ground is very uneven now. This was rather tedious and I still managed to twist my ankle a couple of times, and got covered in mud!