This a circular walk from Aldermarston Canal Wharf and around Padworth College.
The walk is about 3.2 miles and took us about 1.5 hrs.
There isn't a pub on the route but the Kennet & Avon Canal Wharf Visitor Centre has a cafe.
Car Park
This walk starts on in a small car-park at the back of the Canal Visitor Centre on Wharfside.
We found parking was limited and there are only a couple of streets nearby where you can leave your car. Aldermarston train station is nearby over the road on Station Road but was empty when we went during Lockdown 2 - we assume its the locals not wanting to pay the parking charges.
The Route.
1. From Mill Lane, looking at the school take the right-hand of the two stone tracks, passing the school on your left. The stone access track leads you between a number of houses and then on through a tunnel of trees. Continue past the trout farm on your right and, immediately after this, turn right onto the signed public footpath which leads you between tall fences.
At the end of this path you will come to a series of concrete footbridges over the River Kennet.
2. Cross the bridges (taking particular care with children and dogs). The second bridge leads you over a weir and after this you will cross the salmon ladder, a narrow channel that bypasses the weir and allows salmon to travel upstream to their spawning grounds. Cross the third bridge over a sluice gate, continue along the narrow path and soon you are forced to swing left over the final concrete bridge. Pass through the kissing gate ahead and follow the grass track between fenced fields.
3. At the end of this stretch, a wooden footbridge and gate leads you into a large field (which occasionally holds cattle). A fingerpost here marks a crossroads of footpaths. Take the path across the field at about 11 o'clock, heading for the left-hand edge of the woodland. At the far side of the field, a gate and footbridge leads you over a stream and to the edge of a complex of large horse paddocks.
(At this point you will have your first view of Padworth House, a manor house set high on the hillside ahead. Padworth House occupies the site of the manor house of the Coudrays, lords of the manor since the 1200s. These paddocks would once have formed part of the impressive estate grounds. The present house dates from the 1700s and today it is the home of an independent boarding college for 13-19 year olds).
4. Walk across the paddocks following the line of the fences between horse paddocks. You're heading for the corner of the red brick garden wall at the top of the hill.
5. Continue up to the top of the hill, pass through the gate and continue on the track passing a large barn on the left and a cottage on the right. You will come to a stable block ahead.
6. Immediately before the stable block, turn left onto the tarmac driveway and follow this as it swings right. Where the driveway bends right again, turn left onto the stone and grass track. The track leads you past the beautiful St John the Baptist Church (c.1130) on your left and on to reach the war memorial, also on your left.
7. At this point leave the stone track by taking the kissing gate into woodland ahead. Follow the woodland footpath ahead for a few yards and then swinging left to reach a tarmac driveway. If you look to your left you will be able to see the front of Padworth House. Cross over the drive and take the footpath (just a little to your right) which continues through the woodland ahead. The path leads you along the left-hand edge of a beautiful pond which, it is thought, would once have supplied water for a moat around the manor house.
At the end of the pond follow the path as it turns left. Keep ahead on this main path which meanders through the woodland, leads you past the right-hand edge of the college buildings and then out through a kissing gate to reach a large meadow, the remnants of the estate parkland.
8. Walk ahead (at about 1 o'clock) for a few yards and then swing right to walk down the centre of an avenue of oak trees.
NOTE: Take care on this stretch as the ground is fairly rutted beneath the grass.
This avenue would once have formed an entrance drive for the manor house and if you glance behind, you will see the view of the mansion that would have greeted visitors. The path leads you past a disused metal gate and then bears left to reach a pair of gates. Use the smaller gate to lead you out of the parkland and turn left along the stone access lane, heading downhill.
9. Soon you will be able to see the old estate lodge, now a farm, ahead. Before the track reaches the lodge, it swings right to lead you out to a junction with the road. Turn left along the edge of this country lane, taking care of any traffic, and follow it past Lodge Farm on your left. Cross the first bridge (over a stream) and continue past Fisherman's Lodge on the left to reach the next bridge (over the River Kennet). Cross this bridge and immediately afterwards, turn left to join the signed riverside footpath.
10. Go down the concrete steps, cross the low stile and walk ahead on the grass path with the River Kennet running across to the left.
11. Across to the right you will see a series of lakes that are the remnants of gravel quarries, now reclaimed by nature. The whole of this area has high moisture content in the soil and you will notice that most of the trees are willows. Eventually you will pass a property across to the left and then emerge out to a T-junction with a stone access track.
12. Turn right along the track and fairly soon you will come to the footpath junction alongside the trout farm that you passed through on your outward leg. From this point you will be retracing your steps back to the car park. To do this, continue ahead along the stone track and follow it all the way to the road junction at the end.
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