Castle Hill.
I parked in a layby near to Kingsford Mobile Home Park and started the walk from Castle Hill Lane. It's a muddy path, due to recent rain, and a steady incline to the 'summit' of about a mile with a few houses on the right-hand side. Near the top is an old farm house, marked as Castle Hill Farm and site of castle ruins on the old OS maps, which looks derelict with an overgrown garden to the front. Most of the land seems to be a mixture of arable and grazing land with a few stables and grazing for horses.
The footpath carries on up past the farm house, on the left, and soon plateaus out at the top. It then starts a steady decline with some mature holly trees along the right-hand side. The left-hand side overlooks arable fields with a commanding view of Arley Wood. I stopped at this point (the path eventually takes your to Starts Green and Arley Wood) and retraced my walk back to the car - total time 2 hours.
Wildlife recorded:
5 Ravens - some making their diagnostic croaking calls as they flew over. There was a total of six buzzards with one individual sat in the centre of one of the fields no doubt looking for food. A small flock of chaffinches were feeding on the ground in one of the paddocks. A great spotted woodpecker was drumming and a nuthatch was calling in a small copse just past the farm. A skylark sang overhead.
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| Footpath through hollies |
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| Hollies |
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| View of Arley Wood |
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| Looking back to Kinver Edge |
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| View of Vales Rock |
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