Top News

While I've lived in the West Midlands for almost two years now, I haven't explored much of the surrounding nature or towns. So with the goal of changing this, I made the decision to pick a random walking trail I found online and go on a sunny weekend walk.

So after a little bit of research into nearby walking trails, me and my boyfriend headed on a short drive to the village of Wootton Wawen, just outside of Stratford-on-Avon in Warwickshire to explore a nearby walking route.

What I didn't expect, however, was to come across a hidden gem, as the seemingly quiet walking trail was set on an ancient woodland, where thousands of bluebells were blooming.

As soon as we arrived in the village, I was left amazed at just how perfectly picturesque the village was, with cute cottages and the oldest church in Warwickshire. But when we'd found parking, we quickly headed on to the canal walk to get started on our walk, as we wanted to save the exploring of the village until later.

We started the walk by getting onto the canal walk, where we got to enjoy walking by the waterside, saying hi to some sheep and lambs, and just enjoy the sunshine.

We then turned right onto bridge 51 and into the magical bluebell forest. We managed to come at just the perfect time to see the thousands of bluebells blooming, and often stopped just to take in the beautiful scenery around us.

We accidentally started the walking trail the opposite way of what most people do, which meant we often were alone during our walk, and got to enjoy the sounds of nature in the early morning sunshine.

As we made our way through the bluebell forest, we soon arrived in Austy wood, which is more of a traditional woodland. We followed the trail past trees and wild garlic, and still spotted some bluebells here and there.

This is also around the time we started to cross paths with other walkers, many of which were families with kids and dogs who were out enjoying the walk together.

As we followed the path out of the forest, we were baffled to learn the path continued through a farmer's field. Following the signs, we stayed on the narrow path through the ploughed field, being careful not to walk out of it, as the signs said to be careful not damage any of the crops.

As we got back to the main route, we decided to follow the road back into the village, rather than walking through another field to get back to the canal walk, as we wanted to visit the nearby Yew Tree Farm shopping village.

There, we ended up getting some incredible bakery-made pies and sausage rolls (for about £3 each!), and the most delicious hot chocolate I've ever had from Henley Chocolate, which was located in the shopping village.

There was also a café where you could enjoy sit down meals, but we'll be saving that for our next visit, as we are sure to be back several times this spring and summer for more walks through the forest.

Overall, this walk was just over three miles long, which I'd say is the perfect distance for a casual weekend walk, as it took us around an hour and a half to complete - which included the various stops we had to enjoy the scenery.