Hampton in Arden, Barston and Bradnocks Marsh

Hampton in Arden is now a dormitory village for a large conurbations of Coventry and Birmingham, but it was a country town until the middle of the last century. It has a great many charming corners, especially along the High Street, where there are several 17th century houses, some with jettied upper storeys. Other later houses are rendered, and decorated with relief plasterwork known as pargetting.

At one end of the High Street is the railway. In the 19th century, Sir Robert Peel lived at the manor house and, as a Commissioner of the railways, was empowered to ensure that some express trains would stop at the quiet little station.

At the other end of the road, on top of a gentle rise, is the church. The tower once had a spire, but this was toppled by a lightning strike in 1643. There is much Norman work in its fabric, and the nave arcade is 700 years old. In the chancel is a Heart Tomb which once contained the heart of a Knight Templar.

From Hampton, the route takes you south through arable fields and you come to the hamlet of Walsal End, where the timber-framed buildings that were once the barns and cottages of humble farmers and their labourers have been converted into elegant and desirable properties.

The route continues through the same gentle countryside. You walk through small fields that are separated by hedgerows, typical of those created in this area up to and including the 19th century.

Some hedges have been grubbed up in recent times, to in order to make larger tracks of land that are more economical to farm with modern methods. But many of these microenvironments remain, to provide homes of small animals, birds and plants. The dog rose, which provides delicate pink flowers in early summer, and clusters of shiny scarlet hips in September and October, is particularly abundant.

Less welcome are rabbits, whose numbers have increased to the point where they have become a nuisance to the local farmers, nipping the shoots of growing grain and damaging hedges and other field boundaries. Their only natural control is the foxes that live in the woods and copses and emerge to hunt at night. Though you may be lucky and see one on the late summer evening.

You pass through the fields, leading to the trim village of Barston, which received an award from Warwickshire County Council for its efforts during the European Conservation Year of 1970. The whole centre of the village, which features many 16th century cottages, is now a conservation area. The village hall was once a malt barn and was purchased by the villagers as a memorial to those of their number who died in World War One, while the village pub was once a coaching inn.

St Swithin's church was built in 1721 to replace an earlier building destroyed in a fire. It is unusual for the area, being built of red brick rather than the more common stone. The village of Barston is sited on a loop on the meandering reed edged River Blythe. The lane the route follows out of the village crosses this river via a handsome stone bridge, which was erected by public subscription in 1859.

The return journey is made along a footpath that follows the valley of the Blythe. The name derives from the Old English word 'blipe', meaning gentle. And this aptly describes the willow fringed brook, which follows a tortuous course through lush, sometimes boggy meadows. When the fields are flooded in winter, flocks of lapwings descend on to them as they search for insects.

Where the banks of the Blythe are overhung with trees and shrubs, you may sometimes see the shy and elusive kingfisher, the most vividly coloured of all British birds, which dives from perches along the bank to catch small fish. It announces its presence with a flash of metallic blue as it bullets along close to the surface of the water.

In several places around Bradnocks Marsh, the Blythe has been dammed to create large, shallow millponds on the opposite bank to that along which you are walking. These man-made lakes make ideal hunting grounds for herons, which can often be seen flying over the path, their wings beating ponderously and their legs dangling beneath them. The lakes also attract a variety of waterfowl.

The path crosses the river close to Hampton via a weathered five arched packhorse bridge. This narrow structure has stood here since the 14th century. On one of its piers is the base of an ancient cross, and the letters H and B, marking the boundary between the two parishes of Hampton and Berkswell. Just one half mile beyond the bridge, and visible across the meadows, is the tower of Hampton church, near to where the walk ends.