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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Spring on The Ridgeway

It has been an odd winter! After a mild January, February brought a little snow but mainly a dry and bitterly cold snap, before the mild weather returned towards the end of the month. The lack of rainfall is causing increasing concern, and the gardens and countryside are looking parched, but at least the paths are dry underfoot, and there is easy walking, even here to the north of the Thames under the woods. We have had a decent measure of crisp and sunny days when the well-wrapped walker could enjoy the wide views over the Vale.

The mild January brought all the spring flowers out ahead of time, with daffodils reported opening even at the end of December, and the blackthorn blossom starting to spangle the hedges; but the snow and the dry cold of February set them all back again. The Snowdrop Sundays at St Botolphs in Swyncombe had to be postponed for a while, but with the snow cleared away have been as beautiful as always, with the aconites mingling with the double snowdrops to delight the visitor’s eye. March should see the spring really starting, with the daffodils bright under the hedges and drifts of white blossom along the lanes, as the sun strengthens and the light gets brighter. Out on the open Downs, the air is always keen, and the re-growth of the grasses and hedges still slight and barely visible, so that the landscape seems clean and scoured; but the view out over the Vale shows the subtle changes of colour as the browns and greys of winter give way to the brighter greens of spring. Time to get out the walking boots and blow away winter’s cobwebs!

The Great Stones Way

We continue to press ahead with preparations for our proposed new path, The Great Stones Way, planned as an extension of The Ridgeway southwards from Barbury Castle, past Avebury and Stonehenge, linking the two parts of the World Heritage Site for walkers, and on through Amesbury to the great hill-fort of Old Sarum near Salisbury. This winter we established an expert Consultative Group, and obtained approvals for grants from our LEADER funders, Plain Action and the North Wessex Downs LAG, that enabled us to appoint Graham Bathe Associates to carry out an environmental impact study of the whole route. The study is now well under way, and we are confident that they will be able to evaluate, in consultation with all those concerned, both the economic potential and any issues for the natural, social and historic environment of the path.

In the meantime preparations are continuing for the improvement works proposed, mainly in the southern sections along the Avon Valley, and Plain Action has approved a revised budget and schedule for these. Despite the lengthy delays occasioned by the extended consultation process, we still hope to be able to open at least some of the southern sections of the path before the summer. Click here to see the Community Up-date recently circulated.

See also our new Great Stones Way web-site.