Walks you can reach from Maiden Newton by train

Somerset Levels fringes, hillock, quiet residential streets, charming market town, dry green valley, ancient holloway, pastures, shallow river valley, hillfort plateau, steep ascents, large WWII airfield remains and broad plateau with views.

Time: 7h

Warnings: Steep ascents and descents.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

South Somerset pastures, wooded ridge forming the Wiltshire/Somerset boundary, hanging woods, landscaped estate gardens with lakeside walks, grassy U-shaped valley and honey-coloured stone-built town.

Time: 5h30

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Recommended: A great walk. A great walk with a good variety of open fields, woodland, stony tracks and a disused-railway cycle track and with very little on roads. Muddy at some points; a very steep climb with steps from the cycle track up to Combe Down if walked from Frome.

Hilly: a quarter on high ground, rising above the surrounding land.

Woodland: a fifth under tree cover.

Time: 6h–12h

Lunch: A pub at Norton St Philip, mid-route, makes a good coffee stop.

Warnings: A very steep climb with steps from the cycle track up to Combe Down.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Recommended: The huge view of Weymouth Bay and over to Portland opens up suddenly and exhilaratingly from the top of the South Dorset Ridgeway; the views are spectacular. Undulating but easy walking, mostly on tracks across intensively farmed arable hills and with a roady margin leaving Dorchester. Climbs to the South Dorset Ridgeway before dropping through a holiday park to the coast and a long promenade walk. Follows the Hardy Way and the Jubilee Trail. Passes a reedy bird reserve behind the coast path. Trains roughly two-hourly. Worth a diversion to view the Osmington White Horse.

Time: 4h–8h

Lunch: A couple of pubs on the way, and plenty of chip shops on the Weymouth seafront.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Fine views over the surrounding countryside. A very rural route following the Macmillan Way: pasture and arable farmland, quiet lanes and footpaths through Honeycombe Wood. Poorly maintained and overgrown in places, with muddy fields and field exits and fine countryside views. Follows the Macmillan Way; combines well with the Yetminster-to-Crewkerne route.

Time: 2h30–5h

Warnings: The trail is poorly maintained: expect overgrown stretches and stiles, many through reclaiming hedgerow (difficult and low for tall walkers), and nettles. Fields and Honeycombe Wood get very muddy in the wet, and some paths are hard to spot. Cattle (including a bull on one occasion) graze some fields.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Reverse direction: Visit Dorset.

Field paths and flat and easy-going.

Time: 3h30–7h30

Walk details: Railwalks.

Significantly more attractive. A quiet, safe route to the west of the B3090, slightly longer than alternatives but avoiding busy-road crossings and partly alongside Orchardleigh lake.

Time: 5h–10h

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Rural walking through fields, but with a section in the middle that is hard to follow on the ground without GPS or map and compass and can be impassable, with bramble nests and blocked stiles and overgrown hedges. Can be reached part-way at South Brewham.

Time: 5h–10h

Warnings: A section in the middle (between Jerrards Farm and Hentshill Farm, and around Colinshayes to South Brewham) can be completely overgrown and impassable, with blocked stiles, forcing a road diversion. Not a beginner's route; navigation aids are essential.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Field paths and a quiet lane, including a long section of the Macmillan Way, through farmland. Field paths can be planted with high maize or overgrown and some paths around farms have been fenced into paddocks. Follows the Macmillan Way for a longer section; avoids a difficult overgrown stretch behind the Creamery via Lullington Lane.

Time: 4h–8h30

Warnings: Fields can be planted with tall maize forcing a walk around overgrown field margins; footpath signs are absent and the route fenced off into horse paddocks at Hoopers Farm.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Excellent views of Cley Hill. A generally pleasant route following the River Frome, then open countryside on field tracks and quiet roads with crops and before a final 1.75-mile stretch along pavements beside a busy road into Warminster. Excellent views of Cley Hill; a couple of fields are easier to walk round the boundary than across.

Time: 3h30–7h

Warnings: Cattle and 'Beware of the Bull' signs in some fields. Care needed crossing the busy two-lane A361. The footpath has been rerouted around Heath House Farm, which can cause confusion.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

South Somerset pastures, wooded ridge, hanging woods, landscaped estate gardens with lakeside walks and grottoes and classical temples.

Source: An alternative variant of Bruton Circular via Stourhead – the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).