ISE VALLEY VAGABONDS

PROBABLY THE BEST WALKING CLUB IN THE UNITED KINGDOM 

Marston Vale Timberland Trail BWF App No PT196

 START & FINISH:  The Forest Centre, Station Road, Marston Moretaine, Bedford  MK43 0PR

OS map 153    Grid Ref TL005418    Distance 21km

Fee £1.00    Patch £2.00

Route last updated on 5 April 2008

This route description is valid until 31 December 2009

This walk has been established by members of the Ise Valley Vagabonds Walking Club (BWF Club No 70) and is a qualifying event in the IVV award scheme.  It can be walked at any time.

Notes

1                    As this is a circular trail, there are many ways and places to start it.  The description here is for a days walking from the Forest Centre at Marston Moretaine.

2                    Call in at the Forest Centre for a descriptive leaflet on the Timberland Trail before departure.

3                    A range of refreshment and information services is available in the Forest Centre.

4                    The trail is clearly marked with way-marker discs depicting an arrow with a tree superimposed and the words Marston Vale Timberland Trail.

5                    All sections of the described trail are open to the public at all times.

6                    Keep to the paths at all times, be aware and careful of traffic when using or traversing roads.

7                    Keep dogs under close control.

8                    Remember that the Forest Centre Car Park opens at 10.00 hours each day and is locked up at 18.00 hours in summer and at 16.00 hours in winter.

9                    Crossing the flat vale farmland can be heavy going in winter, as the clay will stick to your boots.

From the Timberland Trail map in front of the Forest Centre, follow the way-markers onto the park trail.  Go straight ahead on the paved path and go through a metal kissing gate.  Turn left on the path.  After 700 meters turn left through the kissing gate, cross the access road and go through the next kissing gate, still in the country park.  Follow the path as it heads towards a row of houses.  The way-marked trail will lead you out of the country park at the Jubilee Cottages footpath entrance.  Turn right to the kissing gate by the houses; these are Jubilee Cottages.  Go through the kissing gate and leave the country park, cross the road (Station Road) to the footpath opposite, to head towards Marston Church.  (Alternative in wet weather, at Jubilee Cottages turn left and ahead to take the road to Lidlington as far as Lombard Street).  Before the bridge, turn left beside the brook, to begin to cross the vale.  Marston Church will now be to your right and the Greensand Ridge in front of you.  After 100 meters, bear left diagonally across the field on the way-marked path towards the yellow marker post.  Go through the bushes and trees and go straight across the next field, again towards a yellow marker post.  In the third field, to stay on the path, bear slightly left towards the next yellow marker post.  Keep ahead through the fourth field and in the fifth field, bear left again heading towards the ladder stile beside the railway line.  Taking great care, using ladder stiles at either side of the track, cross the Bedford to Bletchley railway.  Enter Lidlington by going right towards the yellow marker post by the lamppost and house (The Grove).  (The train station is a short walk off the trail to the right, as are the shops and pubs.  The Green Man is open for lunches daily from 12.00 noon to 2.30pm daily except Mondays).  At the road, turn left; this is Lombard Street.  Go ahead to the T junction, cross straight over the road towards the wooden hut (Scout Hut) to begin the climb up Jackdaw Hill following the Timberland Trail waymarkers all the way up.  Rising and falling for about 2km, this part of the walk takes you round the car industry proving grounds, to your left – you will get occasional glimpses (scenes from the James Bond film, Casino Royale were shot here) and onto Bedfordshire’s premier route, the Greensand Ridge Walk.  At the top of the hill, at the T junction with the golf course directly in front of you, turn left.  The path soon bears right around the edge of the golf course.  The highest point of the trail is on this section, with stunning views across the vale.  As the view opens up, you will find some seats set off to the left of the trail on which to take a break. Continue ahead, generally downhill, until you come to the Greensand Ridge Walk car park and ahead to the road.

  QUESTION 1.  LOOK TO YOUR LEFT TO THE ENTRANCE TO THE PROVING GROUNDS.  WHAT IS THE NAME OF THEM?

 Arriving at the Greensand Ridge car park, turn right at the road up Station Lane.  As you enter Millbrook village, DO NOT turn right into Sandhill Close, but keep straight ahead; this is also Sandhill Close, then, after 200 meters, turn right into Russell Grove.  Keep straight ahead through the wooden gate to pass the red brick farmhouse on the left.  Go through the small wooden gate on the right, then turn left to stay on the path going past more farm buildings.  After passing the farm buildings, keep straight ahead uphill on the grass track.  At the end of this track, go through the wooden gate and turn left.  At the track crossroads, keep straight ahead, at first on the wide track then on the narrower path between fences, conifer trees to the right.  At the T junction, turn left, then in a few meters turn right and go up the steps then through the small wood.  Go through the metal kissing gate, then straight ahead across the small field towards the yellow marker post.  Go through the wooden kissing gate into Ampthill Park; there is a distinct lack of waymarkers through the park.

 QUESTION 2.  BEFORE ENTERING AMPTHILL PARK, BESIDE THE KISSING GATE AND YELLOW MARKER POST, THERE IS A LARGE STONE WITH A CAPTION ON IT.  WHO WAS THE AUTHOR OF THE CAPTION? 

Go straight ahead uphill.  Keeping in the same direction, pass to the left of Catherine’s Cross.  Just past Catherine’s Cross, the path becomes much more obvious.  Keep on it in the same direction as before.  Where the path begins to bear right, there is a marker post.  Here keep straight ahead, now on the grass. 

Do not turn left through the kissing gate to leave the park, but stay in the park walking through the trees with a fence on the left.  After 200 meters go through a wooden kissing gate and keep going straight ahead towards the houses.  Before getting to the houses, turn left onto a waymarked path through a gate between the hedges.  This path turns right, and in a few meters you enter Chapel Lane.  Go ahead downhill, bearing right at the junction then left, to the main road.  Turn left to pass the Queens Head.  This is Woburn Street.  Make time to browse the antique shops and exotic restaurants.  At the roundabouts, turn left at the first one and go straight ahead at the second one into Church Street. 

QUESTION 3.  HOW FAR IS IT TO LONDON? 

Stay ahead, turn left up Rectory Close which is opposite Church Avenue, coming to Ampthill Church on your right.  Pass the Church to continue along this road with a graveyard on your right.  In 50 meters turn off right along the public footpath towards the cemetery, then in a few metres turn left into an enclosed lane, keeping the holly hedge on the right.  At the end cross the stile and go diagonally right through 2 fields to the field corner, cross the stile and turn left onto a track; this is Gas House Lane.  Cross the cattle grid.  After 50 meters, at the way marker post on the right, turn right to head diagonally across the field, uphill, to the farm.  Cross the stile and go ahead on the grass path, with the farm on the left, towards, then beside the reservoirs big, grassy banks.  At the concrete road go left, and almost immediately right and right again onto the track towards Kings Wood ahead.  Do not miss the fabulous views of the Chilterns to the right, and across the vale to the left.  King Henry VIII used to hunt in this ancient woodland when it was a forest.  At the end of the track, go through a kissing gate into a small grass field, then through another kissing gate to enter the wood. 

QUESTION 4.  WHO OWNS THE NATURE RESERVE OF KINGS WOOD? 

Follow the way-marked permissive path through the ancient woodland, downhill to Glebe Meadow.  (In wet weather, follow the alternative way-marked trail along the right hand wood edge, also marked Timberland Trail).  Leave the wood by going through the gate into the meadow (Glebe Meadow) and turning left along the bottom edge of the wood.  A diversion to the pretty village of Houghton Conquest is an option from the Glebe Meadow, via Rectory Lane.  The village has pubs and accommodation with a restaurant.  At the end of the meadow, turn left through the kissing gate to cut across the corner of Kings Wood.  Almost immediately, turn right to leave the wood again and after a few meters turn left alongside the wood.  The wood is now on the left. The way-marked trail now takes you along field edges, which tend to be overgrown with grass and dog daisies in high summer.  At the top of the slight hill, the path turns right away from the wood.  There is now a hedge on the left.  Keep ahead until you get a small wooden bridge on the left.  Turn left to cross the bridge, the turn right and walk ahead now with the hedge on the right.  After about 100 meters, at a marker post, turn right over a little bridge and go ahead now with the hedge and a ditch on the right towards some houses.  At the houses, cross the stile into a small paddock, cross the paddock, and leave by the gate at the far side.  Then walk straight ahead on the driveway, with conifer trees on the left.  Pass to the right of the conifer hedge, and go to the footpath sign and stile.  Cross the stile and go along the narrow path to another stile.  Cross this one and then continue along the field edge to the road.  Enter onto the road with great care.  Turn right, keeping to the verge for about 100 meters, as far as the footpath sign on the other side of the road.  Cross carefully and head across the field on the way-marked trail, to the hedge on the far side and turn right, keeping the hedge on your left.  At the corner of the field, by the yellow marker post, cross the sleeper bridge and go ahead to the next yellow marker post by the wooden bridge. 

Cross the bridge and go straight ahead across the next field towards the chimneys.  Cross the next sleeper bridge and keep ahead again towards the chimneys and railway line.  Go under the railway line, the turn immediately right to walk along it.  The path becomes very narrow alongside the allotments and end at the road.  Stop and cross carefully.  Turn left.  Follow the pathway through Stewartby village, purpose-built in the 1930’s by Sir Malcolm Stewart’s London Brick Company, for its workers.  Continue ahead at the first roundabout.

 QUESTION 5.  WHERE DOES MONTGOMERY CLOSE LEAD TO?

 Turn left at the next roundabout, past the Village Hall with its impressive clock and bell tower.  Follow the road out of the village to a little way past Stewartby level crossing, then cross the road to enter the Marston Vale Millennium Country Park.  The trail is way-marked to the right, down the east side of Stewartby Lake, which affords, at the end of the day, sunset views across the water.  Following the lakeside trail anti-clockwise, you will return to your departure point at the Forest Centre.

   The Marston Vale Country Park Organisation, Timberland, the Countryside Agency and Ise Valley Vagabonds hope that you have enjoyed this walk, and will try some other delightful walks available in the area.

 The Ise Valley Vagabonds have established other Permanent Trails at Bedford (2), Chester, Daventry, Kempston, Kettering, Kings Lynn, London (2), Marston Moretaine (2),

Name of Trail:     The Marston Vale Timberland Trail

Date Completed:

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Additional  Walkers

Entry Fee:                                              ______ Walkers @ £1.00 Each    Total £

Badge:                                                   ______ Badges @ £2.00 Each    Total £

Total Fees:      (Cheques payable to Ise Valley Vagabonds)                        Total £

Insert Cards:   ( Do you want your IVV stamps on  new insert cards)   Yes   /   No

   

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                                                    1) The Correct Fee.
                                           2) A Stamped Addressed Envelope of a suitable size.
                                                    3) Your IVV Records books, or Insert Cards.

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with a normal Record card when claiming an award.
( these cards are accepted by both the AVV and the CVF.)