If parking at the "Admiral Rodney Inn" please notify the landlord first. Turn right out of the car park and walk along the road for about 5 minutes and turn right down the lane towards Horsham. Some way down the lane, where a drive goes left, there is a signpost and stile in the hedge.
START From the stile in Horsham Lane go down the field (in a direction slightly to the left of the imposing house on the skyline), to a sleeper crossing over marshy ground. Keep alongside the willows and stream on the right to a ditch crossing and stile (1). Cross over these and turn left, on the opposite bank, keeping the hedge on your left. Go to the end of the field, passing a waymark post and stile to the left and later, a post marking the junction with a path down the hill from the right. Cross the stile beyond the wet area (2) and go straight ahead to the waymark which will become visible on the far hedge corner as you breast the rising ground (3). Follow the direction along the hedge to the stile on the right (4). Cross this and traverse the field diagonally to the gate and stile. Turn left towards the farmhouse and make your way throught the often very muddy yard, over two ladder stiles (5). Walk ahed to the track and keep on this long track over two more stiles (or through gates) (Notice the old three storeyed timbered building half hidden in trees over to your left. This is believed to have been a courthouse in the 17C & 18C, the circuit judge having his lodgings on the first floor and the local miscreants being kept below awaiting trial. The first floor still shows some good pargetting in the courtroom. The judge would have forded the River Teme on horseback somewhere above Knightwick. In spite of much protest, the owner refuses to restore the property, as is his obligation. It has greatly deteriorated over the last few years. There is a photo survey in the Worcestershire Records Office).
This track eventually goes very near the river (6). In summer large patches of Himalayan balsam clothe the banks with their showy mauve flowers, an unwanted introduction which threatens to swamp other waterloving native species. Go through the gate here and further on, following the well marked track to Ankerdine Farm, where you pass throught the yard with it's hop barns. Even in 2008, hops are still grown in this area, examples of a once widely cultivated crop in Worcestershire. Continue to 'The Talbot' (7). Stop and try their famous home brews--'This', 'That', T'other' etc and lunch if you wish, otherwise turn left on the road, now following the Worcestershire Way, up Ankerdine Hill, past the (closed) church on the right, the former school on the left and row of 19th century almshouses, taking great care when the pavement ends, single file recommended. Just before the first cottage on the right (8), follow the signpost direction up into the woodland and the waymarks up the hill. We continue straight on at the junction (9), where the Worcestershire Way turns sharp right and leads up to the Ankerdine Picnic Site and a fine viewpoint. Crossing a drive of a cottage further up, continue straight, to another track by a cottage, bear left and walk up to join the main access way, continuing left. (Picnickers should turn right here, the picnic area is about 200 yards further on). Just before the track joins the road, turn right through the kissing gate (10) and go diagonally left down the field to the stile into the woodland of Nipple Coppice. Go down steeply, through the woodland, following the waymarking posts (and a path juntion to the right), to the junction at the bottom (it can be VERY muddy) and turn left (11), still in woodland. Keep on the path to the gate (12) into the field and turn left up the bank. Go through the gap between the fences and make your way up the very steep bank to the left of a bungalow. Pass throught the gate into the yard, and on up, out to the B4197. Turn right on the main road (not the small lane to the right) and quite soon (80-100m) cross over with great care to the signpost beside a cottage (14). Go down the track and over the stile by the gate on the right. Keep the hedge on your left down the field and continue down a wooded "holloway". Bear right where the track forks and continue to the next waymark on an electricity pole in the middle of a large clearing (15). Moving in the same direction, descend the hill further, keeping to the left of several mature oaks. Soon, a fine 18th century farmhouse will be visible on the high ground in the distance. Head towards this farmhouse, keeping a boundary "hedge" on the left. Ignoring a signed route to the left, cross a stile (16) and on down the field (electricity pole on right to cross the ditch and stile seen earlier in the walk (17). Immediately up the bank turn right and retrace your steps up the field, with the hedge on your right until a stile is reached which you crossed at the beginning of the walk at point (1). Cross this stile and return to the stile and signpost on to Horsham Lane.