Things To See & Do
Westbury White Horse Walk
An Exhilarating Downland Walk to a Famous White Horse.
Distance: 4 miles (6.4km)
Level of Difficulty: Medium
Minimum Time: 2hrs 30mins
Ascent / Gradient: 557ft (170m)
Terrain: Field paths and downland tracks, 1 stile
Landscape: Downland
Suggested Map: Ordnance Survey Explorer 143 Warminister & Trowbridge
Start / Finish: ST 914523 (Bratton)
Dog Friendliness: Let dogs off lead on top of Westbury Hill
Parking: Jubilee Hall in Tynings Lane, Bratton, just off B3098
Public Toilets: None on route
Plan of Bratton Camp and Westbury White Horse.
Image from English Heritage
What to look for:
Make sure you pause at the viewpoint pillar on Westbury Hill, especially on a clear day, as you will be surprised just how far reaching the view is. Walk this way in spring and early summer to see the grassy downland summit and slopes alive with chalk loving plants, such as bird’s foot trefoil, and butterflies like the Chalkhill Blue.
While you’re there:
Make the short trip east along the B3098 to Edington to see the impressive, cathedral-like Church of St Mary, St Katherine and All Saints. It is an architectural treasure, built in 1351 as part of a priory founded by William of Edington, Bishop of Winchester, for Augustinian monks. There is much to marvel at including a rare wooden screen of 1500 and one of the oldest clocks in England.
DIRECTIONS:
1. Turn right out of the car park to the B3098. Turn left, then almost immediately left again up Butts Lane. Fork right into Upper Garston Lane by the Oratory of St Giles then, just before the lane dips, take the path left, waymarked to the church. Descend steps, cross a brook, then climb steps to the church gates. Take the narrow path right and ascend through trees. Ignore the stile on your left and climb the stile ahead into pasture at the base of downland.
2. Follow the permissive path half-right up the field, passing through a belt of trees, then climb diagonally up the scarp slope to the fence at the top. Keep right alongside the fence, go through a gate, then turn right through a metal gate to follow a sunken track around the top of Combe Bottom. At the lane, turn left uphill and soon take the track, right, on to the outer rampart of Bratton Camp. Bear right to follow the outer rampart path to reach the Westbury White Horse hill figure.
3. Shortly, leave the rampart and pass through a gate on to Westbury Hill. Keep to the path, passing benches and a viewpoint pillar, and soon reach a track. Turn left, pass the car park entrance and turn right at the T-junction. Pass White Horse Farm and turn left along the track to join the Imber Range Perimeter Path.
4. Keep to the track for ¾ mile (1.2km) to a barn and take the bridle path left through a gate. Follow the track past a copse into a field and keep to the left-hand edge to a gate. Bear right steeply down a sunken track towards Bratton. Go through a gate and descend through trees and keep ahead on reaching a metalled lane. Turn left at the T-junction, then bear left up a cobbled path (The Ball) between cottages. At the road, keep left back to the hall and car park.
Discover more about the history of Westbury, download the Blue Plaque Trail leaflet here.