A moderate route in Warwickshire. Check the GPS track on Outdooractive for full details of the route, waypoints, and terrain.
Starting Point: National Trust car park, Baddesley Clinton (SP 200 715)
Terrain: Car park, churchyard, Haywood Lane, Hay Wood, Wood Corner Farm, A4141 crossing, Abbey Farm, School Lane, Wroxall, Wroxall Abbey Hotel, St Leonard's Priory, field paths and stiles, Mousley Hill Farm, Quarry Lane, Heart of England Way, Rowington Green windmill house, road, Lyons Farm, Rowington Coppice, St Michael's church, car park Notable features: Baddesley Clinton (National Trust moated manor house), St Michael's Church, Haywood Lane, Hay Wood (ancient Forest of Arden), Wood Corner Farm, A4141, Abbey Farm, Wroxall, Wroxall Abbey Hotel, St Leonard's Priory (remains), Mousley Hill Farm, Heart of England Way, Rowington Green windmill house ("Bouncing Bess"), Lyons Farm, Rowington Coppice
A richly historical circular from one of the finest National Trust properties in the Midlands, combining the murderous medieval drama of Baddesley Clinton with the ancient woodland of Hay Wood, the ruined priory at Wroxall, and the curious converted windmill on the Heart of England Way at Rowington Green. The walk begins and ends in the shadow of St Michael's Church, whose tower was built as penance for a double murder and beneath whose doormat a 15th-century killer is buried standing up — a detail that concentrates the mind wonderfully at the start of a gentle country stroll. Hay Wood is a beautiful piece of ancient Arden, the fields around Wroxall are open and pleasant, and the ruined priory behind the hotel adds a layer of medieval melancholy to the middle section. The Heart of England Way return via Bouncing Bess and the quiet lanes past Lyons Farm is a fine, unhurried finish to a walk whose history punches well above its modest distance.