Distance: 4.1 miles
Difficulty of the terrain: hard
Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps or download the gpx. file from Dropbox
Walk between the west Worcestershire villages of Martley and Knightwick crossing meadows with views towards the Malvern Hills, through the wooded Ankerdine Common, and down Ankerdine Hill.
The Story
Route Notes
Getting Back
Ankerdine Hill
By Worcestershire standards, especially in the west of the county, Ankerdine Hill, in the River Teme valley, not far from the county boundary with Herefordshire, is not especially tall.
Standing 149 metres above sea level at its peak, Ankerdine Hill is a rocky outcrop jutting out towards the River Teme above the little village of Knightwick.
Ankerdine Hill’s steep sided promontory extends from the hamlet of Sunningdale out towards the River Teme.
For many years the hill has been managed as a country park. However, legally speaking much of the summit and the steep sided woods on either side are a common: Ankerdine Common.
As well as its qualities as a woodland nature reserve the most spectacular and interesting thing about Ankerdine Hill is the views down its steep sides out across Worcestershire and Herefordshire alike. Despite the thick tree cover there are places on the hillside from where it is possible to take in a 270 degree panorama of the landscape surrounding Ankerdine Hill.
Route Notes
Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps or download the GPX. file from Dropbox
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This walk in rural, hilly, western Worcestershire from Martley to Knightwick in the River Teme valley, via the strikingly prominent Ankerdine Hill, begins from the bus stop in the centre of Martley.
Upon alighting the bus walk along the main road through the village past The Crown pub, passing some new housing estates and Martley’s sports ground.
Soon you reach the B4197 where you turn left. Follow this road heading steadily uphill towards the hamlet of Berrow Green. The grass verge beside the road is consistently quite wide so it is reasonably safe to walk along the road.
Walk straight through Berrow Green, until you reach a footpath running off on the left, heading downhill across fields. This forms part of the Worcestershire Way long distance footpath, whose waymark you now follow all of the way over Ankerdine Hill to Knightwick beside the River Teme.
Turn onto this footpath and follow it. There is a striking vista towards the Malvern Hills in front of you.
At the bottom of the hill in a little valley you turn right, heading up towards a lane which you cross, heading down across a couple of meadows, the Malvern’s still arrayed impressively to the left.
Soon you reach a lane where you turn left walking downhill past a smattering of houses.
Presently on the left after some distance you come to a gate leading to a steep bank running downhill towards woodland.
Head through the gate and walk straight for a short distance until you turn right, heading down the bank towards the trees.
Cross a small brook and head into Nipple Coppice, which forms the first part of Ankerdine Common that you cross.
Once in Nipple Coppice turn left and follow the path around through the trees, presently reaching a footpath which runs steeply uphill.
Nearing the summit of the hill you see the scattered houses inside the upper part of the hamlet of Sunningdale ahead of you.
On reaching the houses turn left and follow the lane towards the small car park on the edge of Ankerdine Hill.
Walk straight across the car park and follow the wide footpath along the top of the hill.
Presently, deep in the trees, you reach a steep path on your right which winds its way steadily down to the side of the B4197.
Upon reaching the B4197 turn left and head downhill, soon reaching the main part of the village of Knightwick.
Once in Knightwick walk straight ahead past the village’s large pub to reach the footbridge across the River Teme.
After crossing the Teme you walk straight ahead along a cul-de-sac past the village hall to reach the side of the A44 where there are bus stops.
This is where the walk ends.
Getting Back
At the time of writing in May 2026 there were numerous buses, Monday – Saturday (no Sunday service) between Knightwick and Worcester, with a smaller number of buses each weekday and Saturday to Hereford. The final bus of the day departed Knightwick at 17:10 to reach Worcester and 16:06 to Hereford. Both Worcester and Hereford have mainline railway stations with connections across the country and are major regional bus transport hubs.