Walk down to the river from the country park visitor centre, using whichever route you prefer, the easiest probably being to follow National Cycle Route 45 directly to a new footbridge which replaces Miners’ Bridge (1937). Don’t cross the bridge, but descend steps to the riverbank and walk upstream for nearly 2 miles (3.2km).
Follow a short track to a car park. Turn left to Hampton Loade. Turn right immediately before the former pub, and go past a house called the Haywain. Cross the garden to enter a wood just left of a stable. Continue into a field, follow the right edge and then cross to a gate in the top left corner. Turn right and cross another gate under power lines in the next corner. Proceed to a track and turn right.
After a few paces, look for waymarkers and a path on the right. Descend through woodland to Lakehouse Dingle. Cross a footbridge near a former watermill. Keep following a pebbly track, then turn right on a concrete track, to meet a lane on a bend.
Turn left, staying on the lane until you’ve passed Yewtree Cottage and its more modern neighbour. Turn left after the second house, on an obvious fieldedge track. At the bottom of the field look for a waymarked gap in the hedge, where the way descends through trees to a dingle.
Climb to meet a lane and turn right. After 100yds (91m), join a track on the right. When it bends right, keep straight on instead, along a tree-lined green lane. Before long it becomes narrower and descends to a brook. Sadly this lovely track now bears witness to the havoc wrought by irresponsible 4x4 users, and though access is now barred by boulders at the far end it is still used (or abused) by motorbikes. If you’d rather not risk meeting one, continue along the lane from Yew Tree Cottage into Alveley.
Turn left when you meet a lane and walk into Alveley. Pass the church, turn left and walk past the pub, shop and bus stop; 100yds (91m) further on, look for a narrow footpath on the right, between a stone wall and beech hedge. Follow this and it soon swings left and leads into the country park. Turn right and descend to the car park.
The Severn Valley Country Park straddles the river, linking the former coal-mining communities of Alveley and Highley. Alveley Colliery Bridge, a footbridge known locally as Miners’ Bridge, provides the physical linkage, enabling walkers to cross from one side to another. Both Alveley and Highley... have a long history of mineral extraction. Quarrying was important in the beginning, especially at Alveley, but coal mining began in the Middle Ages at Highley. It was 1935 before a shaft was sunk at Alveley, but not very long after that the mine became uneconomic. It closed in 1969, leaving high unemployment and a ruined landscape. Natural regeneration began at once, with pioneer species such as silver birch recolonising the fertile soils. Meanwhile, an industrial estate was built to provide jobs for some of the miners, while others found work in Bridgnorth or Kidderminster. Once the industrial estate was established, a landscape reclamation scheme was launched in 1988, to give a helping hand to the natural process. The transformation of the post-industrial landscape has been so successful that it’s hard to believe that the woods, meadows, ponds and wetlands of the country park have replaced a scene of spoil heaps and dereliction. The site has cultural significance too, and every year a Miners’ Memories Day is held at the visitor centre when ex-miners meet up to share their memories. Well dressing and tree dressing have recently been introduced to the park in an attempt to re-establish traditional rural customs which can foster a sense of involvement with both landscape and community. There are waymarked trails within the country park, but it also acts as a gateway to other footpaths in the Severn Valley. Towpaths run along both banks of the river, but Alveley is also at the heart of a superb network of green lanes, many of them deeply sunken after generations of use. Some use stream beds, which occupy dingles carved out by tributaries of the Severn. Though they’re often dry underfoot in summer, all are tree-hung, fern-filled refuges for wildlife. The Severn is no Amazon, yet there are places where you could almost believe yourself to be on the fringe of some great rainforest as you follow centuries-old footpaths threading their mossy way through high-banked dingles extravagantly clothed in layers of fern. Holly, ash and wild cherry meet overhead, casting a soft green shade in which wild flowers such as wood sorrel and wood anemone flourish in spring.
Perhaps nowhere else in England will you find a county so deeply rural and with so much variety as Shropshire. Choose a clear day, climb to the top of The Wrekin, and look down on that ‘land of lost content’ so wistfully evoked by A E Housman.
Walk down to the river from the country park visitor centre, using whichever route you prefer, the easiest probably being to follow National Cycle Route 45 directly to a new footbridge which replaces Miners’ Bridge (1937). Don’t cross the bridge, but descend steps to the riverbank and walk upstream for nearly 2 miles (3.2km).
1 of 6
Follow a short track to a car park. Turn left to Hampton Loade. Turn right immediately before the former pub, and go past a house called the Haywain. Cross the garden to enter a wood just left of a stable. Continue into a field, follow the right edge and then cross to a gate in the top left corner. Turn right and cross another gate under power lines in the next corner. Proceed to a track and turn right.
2 of 6
After a few paces, look for waymarkers and a path on the right. Descend through woodland to Lakehouse Dingle. Cross a footbridge near a former watermill. Keep following a pebbly track, then turn right on a concrete track, to meet a lane on a bend.
3 of 6
Turn left, staying on the lane until you’ve passed Yewtree Cottage and its more modern neighbour. Turn left after the second house, on an obvious fieldedge track. At the bottom of the field look for a waymarked gap in the hedge, where the way descends through trees to a dingle.
4 of 6
Climb to meet a lane and turn right. After 100yds (91m), join a track on the right. When it bends right, keep straight on instead, along a tree-lined green lane. Before long it becomes narrower and descends to a brook. Sadly this lovely track now bears witness to the havoc wrought by irresponsible 4x4 users, and though access is now barred by boulders at the far end it is still used (or abused) by motorbikes. If you’d rather not risk meeting one, continue along the lane from Yew Tree Cottage into Alveley.
5 of 6
Turn left when you meet a lane and walk into Alveley. Pass the church, turn left and walk past the pub, shop and bus stop; 100yds (91m) further on, look for a narrow footpath on the right, between a stone wall and beech hedge. Follow this and it soon swings left and leads into the country park. Turn right and descend to the car park.
The Severn Valley Country Park straddles the river, linking the former coal-mining communities of Alveley and Highley. Alveley Colliery Bridge, a footbridge known locally as Miners’ Bridge, provides the physical linkage, enabling walkers to cross from one side to another. Both Alveley and Highley... have a long history of mineral extraction. Quarrying was important in the beginning, especially at Alveley, but coal mining began in the Middle Ages at Highley. It was 1935 before a shaft was sunk at Alveley, but not very long after that the mine became uneconomic. It closed in 1969, leaving high unemployment and a ruined landscape. Natural regeneration began at once, with pioneer species such as silver birch recolonising the fertile soils. Meanwhile, an industrial estate was built to provide jobs for some of the miners, while others found work in Bridgnorth or Kidderminster. Once the industrial estate was established, a landscape reclamation scheme was launched in 1988, to give a helping hand to the natural process. The transformation of the post-industrial landscape has been so successful that it’s hard to believe that the woods, meadows, ponds and wetlands of the country park have replaced a scene of spoil heaps and dereliction. The site has cultural significance too, and every year a Miners’ Memories Day is held at the visitor centre when ex-miners meet up to share their memories. Well dressing and tree dressing have recently been introduced to the park in an attempt to re-establish traditional rural customs which can foster a sense of involvement with both landscape and community. There are waymarked trails within the country park, but it also acts as a gateway to other footpaths in the Severn Valley. Towpaths run along both banks of the river, but Alveley is also at the heart of a superb network of green lanes, many of them deeply sunken after generations of use. Some use stream beds, which occupy dingles carved out by tributaries of the Severn. Though they’re often dry underfoot in summer, all are tree-hung, fern-filled refuges for wildlife. The Severn is no Amazon, yet there are places where you could almost believe yourself to be on the fringe of some great rainforest as you follow centuries-old footpaths threading their mossy way through high-banked dingles extravagantly clothed in layers of fern. Holly, ash and wild cherry meet overhead, casting a soft green shade in which wild flowers such as wood sorrel and wood anemone flourish in spring.
Perhaps nowhere else in England will you find a county so deeply rural and with so much variety as Shropshire. Choose a clear day, climb to the top of The Wrekin, and look down on that ‘land of lost content’ so wistfully evoked by A E Housman.
