Walks you can reach from Westbury by train
Wiltshire · South West England
MapA day hike is just a simple train journey away — plan your next day of green.
Alternatively, view walks directly from Westbury.
Salisbury Circular via Stonehenge (Wiltshire)
30 minutes direct from Westbury.
Highly recommended
Time: 4h30–9h
1 lunch spot: the Bridge Inn (2h30–5h30 in; excellent)
Warnings: Have lunch a café or pub next to the river. Return from Stonehenge to Salisbury by bus (very frequent & reliable but check times).
Adapted from: The Rough Guide to Walks in London & the South East (3rd edition).
Pewsey Circular via Pewsey White Horse (Wiltshire)
15 minutes direct from Westbury.
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).
Castle Cary Circular via Cadbury Castle (Camelot) (Somerset)
15 minutes direct from Westbury.
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).
Bruton Circular via Stourhead Estate (Somerset)
30 minutes direct from Westbury.
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).
Bath Spa Circular via Dundas Aqueduct (Somerset)
30 minutes direct from Westbury.
Disused railway path, tunnels, viaducts, canal towpath, river and historic city centre.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Reading to Henley-on-Thames (Berkshire)
1 hour direct from Westbury.
Flat Thames towpath, riverside parks, wooded sections, pasture fields, meadows and riverside gardens.
Waterway: four fifths along the River Thames.
Time: 4h–8h
Warnings: Flood risk sections.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Reading to Shiplake (Berkshire)
1 hour direct from Westbury.
Flat Thames Path riverside countryside, the Horseshoe Bridge and the historic Bull Inn at Sonning (of Three Men in a Boat).
The River Thames: England's best-known river, whose towpath (the Thames Path National Trail) carries long stretches of nearly every walk in this set.
Time: 2h30
Warnings: Shared with cyclists between Reading and Sonning; walkers only beyond.
Walk details: Reading to Basingstoke Community Rail Partnership (turn-by-turn directions).
Chippenham Circular via Lacock (Wiltshire)
30 minutes direct from Westbury.
Flat fields, river meadows, canal path, farmland, small woods and residential streets.
Warnings: Can be muddy.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Romsey to Chandler's Ford (Hampshire)
45 minutes direct from Westbury.
Hampshire countryside and quiet lanes — a canal path, Tadburn Meadows, the boardwalks of Emer Bog and Knight Wood.
Time: 3h
Warnings: Nine stiles; can be boggy after wet weather; not suitable for wheelchairs or pushchairs; take care at road crossings.
Walk details: Three Rivers Community Rail Partnership (PDF).
Polsloe Bridge to Exeter St Davids (Devon)
1 hour direct from Westbury.
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).
Bath Spa to Frome (Somerset)
30 minutes direct from Westbury.
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.
Bath Spa to Melksham (Somerset)
30 minutes direct from Westbury.
Recommended: A long, wheelchair- and pushchair-friendly route that is largely Kennet & Avon Canal towpath, with pavement out of Bath and into Melksham. Avoids the stiles, fields and crops and livestock of the shorter cross-country alternatives.
Waterway: nine tenths along the Kennet and Avon Canal.
Time: 7h30–14h30
Lunch: Bradford on Avon at the mid-point has multiple pubs, restaurants and facilities.
Walk details: Slow Ways.