Walks you can reach from Castle Cary by train

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).

Chalk downland, dry hanging valleys, rounded hills, broad ridges, chalk streams, picturesque villages and historic churches.

Time: 7h

Warnings: Six hilly ascents.

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

Chalk downland, the Pewsey White Horse hill figure, the River Avon and a quiet village, with spectacular views.

Pewsey White Horse: A 20th-century chalk hill figure cut into the downs above Pewsey.

Walk details: Visit Pewsey Vale (photos).

Chalk downland, Iron Age hillforts, five hills, Salisbury Plain military range, abandoned village and sweeping views over Wiltshire and Somerset.

Time: 7h

Warnings: MOD closures apply.

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

A walk in open country and Devon green lanes linking the city's two outer stations, climbing out of the suburbs through Mincinglake Valley Park and over Stoke Hill, with superb views opening up over Exeter and down the Exe Estuary before a long descent past the University to St David's.

Mincinglake Valley Park: a wooded valley park and Local Nature Reserve climbing out of the city, with views opening back over Exeter.

Exeter

Time: 2h30

Lunch: Pubs and shops at the start (the Queen's Head by Polsloe Bridge) and at the finish (the Jolly Porter and Great Western, opposite St David's station).

Walk details: Avocet Line Rail Users Group (PDF).

Recommended: Some great views. Mostly across fields, some arable and some pasture but largely empty and with stretches of quiet lane walking. Well maintained and easy to follow. The ground can develop short muddy sections in winter. Mostly follows the Macmillan Way, so it is well waymarked. Passes through the landscaped estate of Melbury Park.

Time: 4h30–9h30

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Reverse direction: Railwalks (inc. GPX).

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.

Great views; picturesque. Hill and moorland paths and with substantial climbs.

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

Time: 5h–10h

Walk details: Railwalks.

Great views back over the Goring Gap. A long, varied country route through fields, woodland and along a canal, with few road sections and those mostly quiet country lanes. Crosses the undulating North Wessex Downs, with a couple of hills; the steepest is Streatley Hill near Goring. Mostly easy underfoot in dry weather and though some sections can be tricky in winter and a few paths have brambles to push through. Crosses the North Wessex Downs AONB; passes close to a shooting range at Growcroft Copse where dogs should be kept on leads. Can be broken at Yattendon, roughly two-thirds of the way along.

Woodland: a fifth under tree cover.

Time: 7h–14h

Lunch: There are also a convenience store at Yattendon and two pubs at Cold Ash, roughly a third of the way along.

Warnings: Cattle are present in fields along the route, including a field west of the Pot Kiln at Frilsham, where some walkers have been approached by a frisky herd; alternative footpaths can avoid this field.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Magnificent views. Canal towpath and with moderate climbs. Part of the Mid Wiltshire Way.

Time: 5h–10h30

Walk details: Railwalks.

A flat, easy canal towpath walk, mostly dry and firm underfoot but with some seasonal mud after wet weather; one short section can be especially bad. Some uneven ground and kissing gates and a narrow bridge. Railway stations at both ends make it an easy there-and-back by train.

Waterway: nine tenths along the Kennet and Avon Canal.

Time: 2h–4h30

Lunch: A cafe in Great Bedwyn, but it closes at 3pm.

Warnings: A railway crossing and a section of road through Great Bedwyn with no pavement, though traffic is light.

Walk details: Slow Ways.