The Friends of The Ridgeway is an Association of people committed to preserving The Ridgeway as an ancient greenway for quiet enjoyment by the public.

Welcome to our Website, where we hope you will find all that you need to use and enjoy The Ridgeway.  Use the links in the side menu to locate topics of interest, or simply search below.

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Winter on The Ridgeway

We know that the season is changing when the last leaves fall and the warm colours of Autumn give way to Winter’s paler, subtler palette.  The trees, stripped of their leafy flesh, reveal their intricate, bare skeletons of trunks and branches.  The dead grasses and herbs show up as pale, almost ghostly fringes against the darker browns and greens of the ploughed fields and emergent crops, and the sombre greys and blacks of the hedgerows and woodland. But new perspectives open up across the vale to the north as winter’s cool light penetrates into the recesses of the woods and the pale, slanting sunlight gleams softly off the greeny-grey trunks of the beeches.  A dusting of snow or frost can have a magical effect on the landscape, but beware the slipperiness underfoot!  Darkness falls early, and a walk on The Ridgeway  is often a brief affair, in suitable clothing, with a weather eye lifted towards the fast-changing sky.  

This year, late autumn has been mild and wet, but temperatures are falling now and the winds have a cutting edge.  The heavy rain has saturated the ground along The Ridgeway, and rainwater collects in every dip and rut before draining away through the chalk.  Many of us will remember what it used to be like along the high Ridgeway before the off-roaders were barred from the greater part of the trail, when many sections were churned into veritable sloughs of despond! Now that most of The Ridgeway is restricted byway and the worst affected sections have been repaired, the trail offers walkers a firm and grassy surface, in all but the most extreme of conditions.  Only the remaining stretches north from Overton and Avebury, open to all traffic except when seasonal restrictions apply, still suffer from the ruts and other damage caused by the recreational vehicles.  We continue to urge that stronger action be taken to protect this ancient path and its underlying archaeology.

Photo copyright Nick Box

North of the Thames the damp lingers longer under the woodland canopy, and walkers here will need waterproof boots for some time to come this year.  The open track of the ancient Ridgeway to the south of the river is a better bet in these conditions, despite the bracing exposure to the weather. 

A Winter Walk Suggestion

The popular Royal Oak at Bishopstone (www.royaloakbishopstone.co.uk), a simple village pub sympathetically renovated by organic farmer Helen Browning and her partner Tim Finney, offers a rustic mood, with sturdy farmhouse tables, settles, parquet floors, exposed beams and fires blazing in the hearth.  Produce from the owners' Eastbrook Farm dominates the menu, with plenty of seasonal variation.  The village nestles close under the downs, and less than a mile from The Ridgeway.
Our winter walk, prospected by Roger Griffin, Chair of the Vale of White Horse Local Group, starts and finishes at the Royal Oak, and will set you up for a memorable lunch there.  Click here for details.