MILLS ‑ PAST AND PRESENT ‑ 3.6 miles
From the Chipping walk towards Wotton until you
reach Penn House. Take the footpath 7 through the field opposite, keeping close
to the right‑hand hedge. Abbey Mills is on the immediate left and the
restored Langford Mill a little further on. After two stiles, the path becomes
a track and passes through several gates until the road is reached at the
"Round House". Turn left, cross the road and follow the pavement as
far as the exit from New Mills.
Follow the recently diverted footpath 5 under the
large pine trees and beside the iron railings across the front of the site. The
next section of footpath has been equipped with new kissing gates. Leaving the
site by the first of these, enter a field, and bear right, footpath 5, to a
second gate across the works access road to footpath 4.
The path continues through a third gate, past
recently planted trees, to a fourth gate, and then passes just to the right of
Lower Barnes Farm to a further gate. A final kissing gate in the far corner of
the field brings you to a lane and the site of Ithells Mill, where herons can
sometimes be seen. Cross the lane and a small paddock to the stream, footpath
1. Then cross the large field keeping to the left of the black farm buildings and
exit through the farm gate.
Cross the road and take footpath 6 to the left of
the factory. Continue on this path skirting round the left side of Elbury Hill.
Where the hedge turns sharp left go through a gate then diagonally up the
slope, keeping Grange Farm on the right, to a stile next to the farm drive. A
second stile takes the footpath diagonally across a field to a gateway.
Cross two small fields, each with a stile at the
end. Bear right at this point on footpath 12 and head for a gate in the corner
of the field. A stile, in the left hand corner of the next field, near to a
house, brings you back to The Chipping.