Rainbow Inn - Route 2

(S/E) Take the footpath marked with a metal fingerpost to the left hand side of the pub (as you face it). Go through the wooden kissing gate, across a small paddock, and through another gate. Continue on the path (along the edge of the field) to another kissing gate. Go through this and climb up a steep path, fenced on the left hand side. Continue on to enter a leylandii-lined wide tarmacked track, and then through the wooden kissing gate at the top.

(1) Turn left up the lane (White Lane) to reach Bix Common Field at the top. Continue along the lane with the common on your left hand side, passing large houses on your right. At the point where the lane bears left (and with a small close of houses on the right), go straight ahead onto a bridleway (marked with a metal fingerpost).

(2) Follow this track straight ahead across a large field to enter woodland. Continue straight ahead, ignoring tracks or paths on either side for about a third of a mile. Just before Halfridge House (on the right), take the footpath on the right (going through a large farm gate) to go sharply downhill.

(3) At the bottom of this path, turn right along a wide grassy track heading gently downhill. At the end (with a fenced field ahead of you), bear right and then follow the path around to the left to continue straight ahead (fenced pheasant enclosures on your right hand side). Go through the wooden kissing gate and then straight ahead along the edge of a large field to a further kissing gate, and onto a stony path. Continue along this until you reach a wooden kissing gate on your right hand side (this is several hundred yards before the farm buildings and houses at Bix Bottom).

(4) Go through this gate (with steps), and climb sharply uphill to another kissing gate. Go through this and follow the track slightly uphill through the woods. As the path levels out, you will see a large field ahead of you. The path bends around to the left and then takes the footpath (marked with white arrows on your right hand side) to emerge into a large open field. Take the path straight ahead through the field.

(2) At the end, turn left to re-join the bridleway which you walked along on the outbound leg. Follow the Lane downhill and after several hundred meters, take the footpath on your right, through the kissing gate and continue downhill along the leylandii-lined track. Through the kissing gate, round the field, through the two further kissing gates to return to The Rainbow.(S/E)

Watch out for cattle and keep dogs on a lead.

Bix Common is owned by a group of nine householders by virtue of their ownership of houses in the parish. The establishment of the Commons dates back to 1300s and is not unique in England. In the 1800s, a small weekly livestock market took place on the Common. During the 1939-45 War the scrub was cleared and the land used for cultivation. The present owners meet periodically and decided on its management. Currently it is leased for hay making according to a strict timetable.