Dog Walk: Bourton Combe

This is a very special place to walk that my Dad introduced me to many years ago. It is a typical English woodland with beautiful bluebells in the spring which later make way for wild garlic – the smell of which is simply amazing, and the startling white of the flowers is quite something to behold.

Bourton Combe lane is a turning off the main A370 – if you’re after a postcode for the lane BS48 3QL will get you to the right place. There is a small lay by at the top of Bourton Combe lane where you can park, but as you’ll see it’s not the place to meet up with a group of other walkers as it’s not very big!

You can take a couple of routes. Either directly up the hill across the fields where there is public footpath signs (it’s very steep!), or my preferred route which is up the track to the right which is enclosed by the trees either side. During the wintertime it’s pretty muddy, so you will need wellies!

There are often livestock in the fields either side of this track, so if you’re not confident with your dog’s recall then best to keep them on the lead until you reach the point where the track splits off in two. I usually walk the one directly in front of me rather than turning up left, but you can do a loop either way.

You’ll now be in the most beautiful woodland. Follow the path downhill until it heads around to the left and back up the combe. It’s a steady uphill walk, with a steep bit towards the end to get you back up to the top. And there’s often some climbing over trees to be done, but it all adds to the adventure for me 🙂

The reward for your steep climb is more glorious woodland, only now it’s downhill so you can probably enjoy it all the more 😉 As you head downwards you’ll slowly find yourself back the the point where the path split into two originally and then back up the track to your car.

Today I’m grateful that my Dad introduced me to this walk, even though it makes me more than a little sad he doesn’t get to enjoy it anymore. But every time I visit it I am reminded of our walks there together, so I know from personal experience there are some very happy memories to be made in this very special woodland.