(S/E) From the front door, turn right and walk down the main village street, passing the post office and village hall on the left. Just before the new St Chad’s Church, turn left to the football pitch car park. Turn left and walk along the left-hand touchline to steps and a kissing gate in the far corner. Continue down to a footbridge over Wybunbury Brook. Climb to a stile and cross the driveway leading to Brook House, proceeding to the top right-hand corner of the field beyond, where a stile gives access to the next field. Cross the field and turn right.
(1) At the road, turn right for a short distance before crossing carefully to a stile opposite. Pass left of a line of cypress trees, then bear right to a double-stile and footbridge in the far right-hand corner of the field. Cross the next field to a further stile and, beyond it, follow the edge of a copse on your right to its apex, where you head off across the field ahead, aiming to the right of a solitary oak. Drop down to the stream and bear right to find a stile and footbridge. Climb the field ahead, over a stile not far from the farm buildings on your right, to a second stile into the drive.
If you wish to go for a visit to Dagfields Crafts and Antiques Centre, turn right and jump to step (2) below.
Otherwise, to visit the craft centre and tearoom, turn left and follow the farm drive out to the road, then turn right for Dagfields (caution: narrow verges). You can return the same way, but for a more attractive loop continue along the road beyond Dagfields for 200 yards then turn right into Sandy Lane, just before a road junction. Follow the lane round a right-hand bend by the last house, after which it becomes a hedged track that bends left ahead of a lake. Turn right over a stile and pass below the lake to a second stile. Cross the field ahead to rejoin the farm drive by a stile and tree. Turn left and walk back down to Oat Eddish Farm.
(2) Turn left in front of the farmhouse and follow the track through a gate to the corner of a field. If the cross-field path is visible, follow it diagonally (otherwise walk round the right-hand sides of the field) to a stile next to a tree on the other side. Cross the next field to another stile between two trees. If the path ahead across the field is obvious, head for the far left-hand corner of the field, otherwise walk along the left-hand sides of the field. Go through the gateway in the corner and cross the next field in the same direction, aiming well to the left of an isolated tree (again following the left-hand sides of the field if the path has not been reinstated) to a stile in the left-hand hedge. Aim for the far right-hand corner of the next field, at the corner of Chapel Farm. Go through a white-painted gate on the right, then turn left to skirt the farm to a similar gate into the road.
(3) Cross and take a few steps to the left to a stile before the converted chapel. Walk through two paddocks then cross a field with a track running across it, and follow a fence on the left beyond to a kissing gate. Go through the gate and pick your way through some hawthorns before following a dry, shallow ditch slightly to the left, to a hedge corner. Follow the hedge ahead as it descends into the Weaver valley. After descending a steep bank, cross a bridge over the river and climb the hill opposite towards Dairy House Farm.
(4) Turn right before the buildings and follow the hedge along the top of two fields, with the river below and to your right. Beyond a stile, follow a line of mature trees to a stile. Cross a field to another stile, then bear right, downhill, to another stile, to the left of a trough and gate. Turn left to another gate and overgrown stile, then continue to a third gate. Beyond it, turn half-left, uphill, aiming right of the farm. In the top right-hand corner, cross a stile and then contour across two further fields, descending to a stile into a watermeadow. Cross the field, passing to the left of a former course of the river, then turn right over a bridge.
(5) Cross the main river at the site of a watermill, and turn right past Mill Bank Farm. Follow the drive into a metalled lane and follow it uphill. As it levels off, turn right over a stile and cross to another stile in the far left-hand corner. Turn left over another stile in the hedge and bear half-right, passing to the right of a wooded pond that conceals a further stile. Beyond the last field, cross a footbridge to the main road.
(6) Cross and turn right along the narrow pavement for 200 yards, before turning left into First Dig Lane. Follow the lane past Parklands Day Nursery until you reach the A51. Cross the main road and follow the driveway almost opposite. Just before the farm entrance, turn right over a stile and follow a field-edge path through a metal gate to a stile. Cross the next field, following the telegraph poles, to another stile. Follow the field edge to a stile in the hedge at the end, beyond which you turn left for a couple of fields. Within sight of Yewtree Farm, turn right after a stile, then cross to a stile next to the farm drive. Continue in the same direction to a double-stiled footbridge and then a further stile into Annions Lane.
(7) Turn right and follow the lane almost back to the main road. Look out for a stile 60 yards or so before the junction which leads across a field, with Howbeck Farm away to your right. Beyond a double stile, aim for the far right-hand corner of the field to a stile at the corner of a small copse. The track beyond crosses a field and gains brackeny hedges on either side, leading attractively to a road on the edge of Wybunbury.
(8) Cross the road and walk left across the wide verge to a gate on the right by a footpath sign. Cross a field to a stile, then follow a short narrow path until you meet a track. Go straight on through a kissing gate (“No cycling”) along a path running below back gardens. Beyond a wooden kissing gate, the path emerges onto a gravel driveway; bear right then pick up the signposted path along the edge of a large lawn to a further kissing gate. Cross the top of two paddocks to a stile at the end of Kiln Lane, beyond which continue along the path ahead, passing a couple of brick buildings. The path beyond continues to the kissing gate by which you left the churchyard earlier. Turn right and retrace your steps past the tower back to the Swan Inn.(S/E)
