Where to Start

There are three places to pick up this walk, depending on how you want to tackle it and whether a pub lunch is part of the plan. Button Oak is the classic starting point and gives you the full circular route in the best order. Ye Olde New Inn at Pound Green is the one to choose if you’re making a proper day of it, great food, real ales, and you’re into the most interesting section of the trail within minutes of leaving the car park. Upper Arley works well if you’d rather keep things shorter and focus on the river and forest sections without the full loop.

Option 1: Button Oak (main route start)

Button Oak is a small settlement on the edge of the Wyre Forest, around 4 miles north of Bewdley on the B4194. Roadside parking is available near the Button Oak Inn.

Starting here gives you the full circular route and puts the steep valley climb in the second half of the walk, which is the better way round.

Option 2: Ye Olde New Inn, Pound Green

Ye Olde New Inn sits on the route at Pound Green, about 1km from Button Oak, and is a brilliant alternative base if you’re making a day of it. The pub has a large car park, welcomes walkers, and serves food and real ales, including locally brewed Wye Valley Butty Bach. There’s a real fire, dog-friendly bar, and rooms available if you’re staying over.

Starting from the pub puts you straight into the horse route and cross-country jumps section within the first ten minutes, cutting out the opening woodland stretch from Button Oak. You can return here for a proper pub lunch or dinner at the end.

Option 3: Upper Arley Riverside Car Park

If you want a shorter, simpler version of the walk focused on the River Severn and Wyre Forest sections, Upper Arley is a great start point. There’s a small car park by the river (DY12 3NF). From here you can go off in either direction for an out and back or do the full loop.

Look out for the 🧭 symbol for clear navigation instructions to complete this hike.

The Start: Into the Forest

The walk begins in a quiet woodland a, heading North and slightly East out of Button Oak along a woodland trail. The woodland here is part of the managed Forestry England estate, firm, well-defined paths under a mix of oak and conifer canopy.

The descent is gentle to start. Dry leaves crunch underfoot in early spring, with light breaking through the branches overhead. Buzzards circle above the Wyre Forest regularly, you’ll often hear their call before you see them. Fallow deer move through this section in the early morning. Walk quietly and you’ve a good chance of a sighting before the route opens up.

Navigation From Button Oak 🧭

1. Follow the woodland North heading for GPS Coordinates: 52.405195, -2.363781
2. When you come to an opening by a dirt road and cottages you have arrived

The Wyre Forest has been wooded since at least 900AD and is mentioned in the Domesday Book. It was once a Royal hunting forest and still covers around 10 square miles today, making it one of Britain’s largest remaining ancient woodlands.

Common Grazing Land

After around 15 to 20 minutes the tree line opens up and the landscape changes completely. You step out onto common grazing land with wide open fields, secluded cottages in the distance, and the sky suddenly much bigger above you. It’s one of the most peaceful stretches of the whole walk. The cattle here are relaxed and unbothered by walkers. Take your time through this section.

The terrain undulates gently through wider open fields from here. The elevation stays around 97m, relatively flat, as the path winds between more scattered cottages and farm buildings.

Navigation Through the Fields 🧭

3. Take a sharp left along a dirt track as you enter the open land.
4. Follow the track for a short distance then turn right onto a footpath into open heathland.

Ye Olde New Inn, Pound Green

The route brings you down to a quiet lane and the unmistakable sight of Ye Olde New Inn, a traditional country pub sitting right on the walk at Pound Green, roughly 1.5km into the route. It’s a proper walkers’ pub: real ales on tap, home-cooked food, a real fire, and a large car park out front. Dogs are welcome in the bar. If you’re starting the walk from here, this is where you pick up the route heading south towards the horse bridleway.

Even if you’re not stopping now, file it away for another day!

Navigating Past the Pub 🧭

5. Turn left at the pub and follow the road as it curves around to the right.
6. Watch carefully for a farm entrance on your right after around 500 metres. It is easy to miss, the entrance not signposted and just a farm gate. You are looking for a stile on the left handside within 15 metres of entering. GPS: 52.24578 -2.21372

This is the trickiest navigation point on the whole walk. If you have GPS loaded with the route, use it here.

The Horse Route and Cross-Country Jumps

Through the farm entrance the path joins a field with horse cross country jumps in it, and the character of the route changes again. Follow these jumps now in more open fields with views across the Severn Valley. Horses graze in the paddock alongside. They tend to be relaxed around walkers and will often wander over for a look. Stop and say hello if they come to the fence, they’re friendly.

Finding the Stile 🧭

7. Continue across the field following the jumps, keeping between the fences.
8. Look carefully for a stile set into a hedgerow on your right at the end. It blends into the vegetation and is genuinely easy to walk past.

From around this point the elevation begins dropping more noticeably, from about 94m down to 50m over the next kilometre, as the route starts its long descent towards the valley floor.

Descending to the Severn Valley Railway

Over the stile the path passes some abandoned caravans tucked at the edge of a field. They’re a useful landmark confirming you’re on the right line. Carry on through the scrubby ground beyond and into the top of a woodland descent.

The path drops through the yard of a farm, then continues steeply down through the trees towards the valley floor. The elevation falls from around 50m to just 32m over this section as you come to the base of the Severn Valley and River.

The Railway Crossing 🧭

9. Follow the path past the abandoned caravans then right into a woodland and farm yard decending the valley.
10. At the bottom of the descent you’ll reach the Severn Valley Railway track. Cross at a foot crossing.

This is the heritage line running 16 miles between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth. It’s staffed entirely by volunteers and is one of Britain’s most celebrated steam railways. Trains give a whistle on approach but can arrive quickly. Stop, look both ways, and cross promptly.

The Severn Valley Railway opened in 1862, was closed under the Beeching cuts in 1963, and was restored to service by volunteers in 1974. It now carries over 200,000 passengers a year.

The River Severn

Through the level crossing gate, the River Severn appears directly ahead. The path drops to around 22m above sea level as you reach the bank, the lowest point of the entire walk.

This stretch follows the Severn Way long-distance footpath. The river is wide, moving with quiet purpose. The River Severn is England’s longest river, rising in the Welsh mountains and flowing 220 miles to the Bristol Channel. This stretch north of Bewdley sees very little boat traffic, which keeps it peaceful and rich with wildlife.

Follow the Riverbank 🧭

11. Turn right and follow the riverbank north towards Upper Arley.

Upper Arley: The Halfway Point

After 15 to 20 minutes of riverside walking, the pedestrian footbridge and the small village of Upper Arley come into view on the opposite bank. Upper Arley sits on the east bank of the Severn, with Arley railway station on the west side. The bridge connects the two halves of what was, for centuries, one village split by water.

Crossing the Bridge 🧭

12. Cross the pedestrian footbridge over the River Severn into the village.

The crossing takes less than a minute but pause on the bridge, the view back along the river is one of the best on the whole walk.

Upper Arley Ferry Crossing

The footbridge replaced a ferry that had served the village for more than 600 years. The earliest record of the crossing dates to 1323. It ran its final trip on 22 January 1972, when the new bridge opened at a cost of £43,500.

The old ferry used no engine. It crossed entirely by river current, its course controlled by a rudder. Children used it to cross to school. Two men lost their lives on it in bad weather over the centuries of its operation.

Upper Arley was part of Staffordshire until 1895, when it was transferred to Worcestershire — despite being surrounded on three sides by Worcestershire for most of its history.

The Riverside Tearoom

Coming off the footbridge you’ll see the Riverside Tearoom, Post Office and General Stores right in front of you, the social centre of Upper Arley village. It’s a proper, no-fuss village tearoom. Hot drinks, sandwiches, cakes, and the kind of welcome that makes you want to stay longer than planned.

We had a breakfast and a ploughman’s sandwich, which was enormous and exactly right at the halfway point. The tearoom also doubles as the village post office and shop, so check current opening hours before you visit, especially midweek.

Arley Arboretum

If you have time and energy to spare, Arley Arboretum is a short walk up the hill from the village. One of the oldest arboretums in Britain, it’s home to over 300 tree species, a restored Italian garden and Britain’s longest laburnum arch at 65 metres. The garden tearoom is open Wednesday to Sunday.

The views from the arboretum’s terrace across to the Severn Valley Railway are outstanding. It’s well worth a separate visit.

Back Along the River: Heading South 🧭

13. Head back across the footbridge to the west bank and turn left.
14. Keep the river on your right and follow the path south for around 20 minutes until the valley narrows and the tree line closes in.

Follow the riverbank south. The Severn Way path runs right along the water’s edge through scrub and open grass. The railway line climbs the hillside to your right. If steam trains are running today you may see or hear one moving between Arley station and the valley to the south.

Victoria Bridge

As the valley narrows you’ll see Victoria Bridge emerging ahead, a dramatic 200ft cast-iron arch carrying the Severn Valley Railway high above the water. It’s one of those structures you stop and actually look at.

Designed by engineer John Fowler and completed in 1861, Victoria Bridge was the longest single-span cast-iron bridge in Britain at the time of construction. The ironwork was cast by the Coalbrookdale Company. The arch has four ribs, each made up of nine bolted sections, and weighs approximately 500 tonnes in total.

The original railway line closed in 1963. The bridge was refurbished between 1979 and 1980 at a cost of nearly £95,000, with steel beams replacing the original timber deck supports and over 3,500 rivets replaced with high-tensile bolts.

Bridge Viewpoint

The Flying Scotsman has visited the Severn Valley Railway on several occasions and is famously photographed crossing Victoria Bridge. On a steam operating day you’ve a genuine chance of seeing a locomotive roll across while you’re standing directly beneath it.

Turn Off After the Bridge 🧭

15. After Victoria Bridge follow the riverside path for 500m until you pass a house and garden on your right and cross a small brook on a little wooden foothpath bridge.
16. Immediatelly turn right onto an unmarked path which begin to climb out of the valley climb. Don’t miss this turning, it’s easy to walk straight past it.
17. The path keeps the brook on your right, then turns left for a scramble up to the reservoir viewpoint. GPS: 52.404686, -2.347300

Climbing Out of the Valley

This is the steepest section of the walk. The path climbs from around 63m at the riverside to over 118m — a gain of more than 55 metres in roughly 15 minutes. The path follows what looks like a narrow leaf-covered runoff channel heading steeply uphill through dense woodland. It’s harder than it looks on a map.

Short steps and a steady pace work better than trying to power up quickly. Trekking poles help significantly if you have them, especially on the way back down in wet conditions. Keep going. It’s about 15 minutes of effort and the view at the top makes it worth every step.

Hawkbatch Viewpoint

The path levels out at Trimpley Reservoir, at around 118m above sea level, the highest point of the entire walk. The valley opens up below you with the River Severn and the railway line both visible through the trees.

On a clear early spring afternoon we watched a steam train cross Victoria Bridge from up here, the locomotive barely visible through the canopy, the sound arriving a beat before the engine appeared. It’s the kind of moment you can’t plan for.

The Managed Wyre Forest

From the reservoir viewpoint the route re-enters the Wyre Forest managed by Forestry England. The paths here are wide, well-surfaced and clearly signed, a noticeable contrast to the rougher terrain on the way down. The Wyre Forest covers around 10 square miles and is one of the largest remaining ancient woodlands in Britain. Most of it is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and National Nature Reserve.

The forest is known particularly for its butterfly populations. An impressive 58% of all UK butterfly species have been recorded here, including the rare pearl-bordered fritillary.

As you walk, look for small circular earthworks scattered between the trees. These are the remains of charcoal burning hearths, once central to local ironworks production. The forest was coppiced for centuries to keep the furnaces going.

Navigation Through the Forest 🧭

18. Follow the wide forestry tracks heading generally south towards the B4194 road.
19. Aim for the main car park on the B4194. You’ll exit the managed woodland here.
20. Cross the road and continue straight into the adjacent section of forest on the other side.

The Wilder Woodland

Cross the B4194 and the forest changes immediately. Where Forestry England’s managed side is open and well-signed, this section is more untamed, narrower twisting paths, lower canopy, younger saplings filling gaps between the older oaks. You’re unlikely to meet many other walkers from here back to Button Oak. The paths require a little more attention to follow, but the GPX route on your phone will keep you straight.

Wiggling Forest Tracks 🧭

21. The paths here aren’t clearly marked and you will be wiggling along muddy forest trails heading for the Cadbury Summer House. GPS: 52.391882, -2.358233
22. You can follow wider paths here if you choose but this will mean entering the forest at a different point

The Cadbury Summer House

Working through this wilder section you’ll come across a small, characterful building sitting in a clearing in the trees, known locally as the Cadbury Cottage. It has the look of something from another era entirely. Tucked away with no visible road access, surrounded by woodland that feels genuinely old, it has a den-like quality that’s hard to describe but immediately striking.

The Cadbury name in this corner of the Wyre Forest is not coincidental. Paul Cadbury of the chocolate dynasty donated nearby Knowles Mill and its surrounding land to the National Trust in 1938, cementing a long association between the Cadbury family and conservation in the Wyre Forest.

Back to Button Oak

From the cottage the path turns north and begins the gentle walk back towards Button Oak, this path is more well marked and you can revert to using a map again instead of GPS. After 400 metres and a left turn the paths turns into a wide forest track winding down and up out of a small valley crossing a stream. Across the forest there are patches of young saplings a few years old growing in among the older trees. The forest feels genuinely regenerative in this section.

Emerging at Button Oak 🧭

23. Follow the path as it winds north-west through the trees.
24. The sound of the B4194 will filter through as you get close. You’ll emerge back at Button Oak to complete the loop.

The Button Oak Inn is a short walk to your left. If you started at Ye Olde New Inn in Pound Green, head back along the woods and follow the instruction from the start.