Staunton's Stones

1 From the parking area head along a track into the woods. Where the track goes sharply left, turn right on to another track. Follow this for just under ¾ mile (1.2km), until you see large boulders on your right. Turn right to follow a waymarked path up the slope passing first the Suck Stone and then, at the top, the Hearkening Rock. These are just two of the many giant stones that you will pass on this walk. Composed of a quartz conglomerate - a mixture of quartz and Old Red Sandstone - they have mostly been formed by natural weathering over millions of years. The Suck Stone is thought to be one of the largest single boulders in the country with estimates of its weight varying from 4,000 to 14,000 tons. From the Hearkening Rock, keen-eared listeners are supposed to be able to hear messages whispered from the Buckstone (seen later on the walk).

2 Go up behind the Hearkening Rock and, with your back to it, follow a path through the trees to a forest track. Turn left and immediately right, on to a path back into woodland. Stay on this until you come to a T-junction. Turn left and go right at a fork to continue to a forest track. Cross this to enter Lady Park Nature Reserve. Creation of the nature reserve is not the first incidence of 'conservation' in the Forest's history. Back in 1668 depletion of the trees prompted a Dean Forest Reforestation Act.

3 Once in the reserve, follow a path fairly steeply to the valley bottom. Turn right and follow this as it rises for just under 1 mile (1.6km) until you come to a crossroads of tracks. Turn right. After 100yds (91m), just before a telegraph pole, turn left on to a rising path, which you follow as it intersects other paths and arrives at a track at a bend. Turn left and follow this for 550yds (503m). At another crossways of tracks turn right on to a grassy path for 200yds (183m). Turn right along a path and continue to the Long Stone beside a road. The Long Stone is artificial, probably created during the Bronze Age. Some 7ft (2.1m) high, it stands at the side of the Mitcheldean to Monmouth road and is thought to have been part of an ancient cemetery.

4 Turn right for a few paces and then cross the road to enter the woods on another path. Follow this to emerge at a junction of forest tracks. Turn right and then immediately left to follow the rising track. Where it begins a shallow curve to the left, turn right on to a path alongside conifers. At the junction of tracks turn right and almost immediately arrive at another track. Turn right and follow this down to a farm track with Staunton before you. Turn right and then left to walk into the village. At a junction turn left. Go ahead to turn sharp right, up to the White Horse Inn.

5 Turn left along the pavement and then left on a 'No Through Road'. After a stile turn right up steps to follow a climbing path to the Buckstone. This used to be celebrated as the 'rocking stone', poised on its 3ft (90cm) apex, but in 1885 some lads heaved it over. Continue forward but, after a few paces, leave the track to find another in the undergrowth with the wall on your right. Emerge left of a house, go down to a track and turn right. At a fork bear left and, just before a gate, turn right on to a path. Where the path divides just before a telegraph pole go right.

6 Take a path left before conifer trees to return to the road. Cross and turn right to return to the start.