Wimborne Water-meadows

1 Walk towards the River Stour and turn left, over a stile. Follow the path beside the river for ½ mile (800m), on the Stour Valley Way, crossing three more stiles before reaching the football ground, up to your left. This gives way to allotments. The mottled brown towers of the Minster are now seen ahead. The allotment track runs into a little side road. Turn left at the end, towards the town centre, passing through a residential area of Victorian villas and modern houses - this is Julians Road. Emerge opposite the Pudding and Pye pub and cross straight over the junction into West Street. This winds round past the back of the King's Head Hotel into the town's main square. Turn right here, into Church Street, passing the Oddfellows pub and then toilets on the left, with the Minster straight ahead.

2 Go straight ahead to visit the Minster; its squat, square towers dominate the town centre. The building's foundation dates back to ad 705, when Cuthberga and Cwenburga, sisters to the King of the West Saxons, set up a mixed monastery here. The present building dates from some 400 years later. One of its most fascinating features is the library, founded for the free use of the townspeople in 1686, and consisting of 350 (mainly theological) volumes. To prevent theft of such valuable items, the books were chained to the shelves. The chains were made by orphans in the workhouse.
After exploring the Minster walk past the Yew Tree Tea Rooms, on the left, to meet the High Street. Follow this round to the right, to the junction with King Street and East Street. Turn left here, with a glimpse of the stream on your left. Pass the Rising Sun pub on your right, cross the river and keep straight on, picking up Stour Valley Way signs set fairly high on the lamp-posts.

3 Bear right down Poole Road. Pass a large thatched pub, the Coach and Horses, on the left, and a stoneware centre on the right. Cross the River Stour on a footbridge to one side of the old arched road bridge.

4 Just for a moment you enter the Borough of Poole. Almost immediately turn right, down a narrow path between houses, signposted 'Lake Gates'. This emerges on to a bungalow estate; follow the green waymarkers straight on through. Next, bear right on another footpath which takes you across the bottom of a children's recreation ground. Cross a stile to continue ahead along a line of trees, above an attractive bend of the river. Turn right over the next stile to walk around the edge of a field, with extensive water-meadows below - look out for cormorants in the river. Cross a stile and turn up left, along the edge of some woods. Emerge at a lane and turn right (unfortunately, it's noisy from the bypass which runs parallel). Zig-zag under the bypass and go up to a gate.
Go through and along the road, past Merley Hall farmhouse on your right. At the end of the lane cross over a road and turn right to reach a roundabout.

5 Cross straight over with care and look for the fingerpost pointing into the bushes, signposted 'Stour Valley Way and Pamphill'. Cross the stile and follow a grassy track as it bends to the right. Cross another stile over a fence, staying on the broad green track. Bear left to cross a footbridge and stile, then bear right on a path over the grass. Pass through an old hedge-line and soon turn right, to cross a stile in the fence.

6 Head straight across the meadows towards the river. Meet the corner of a field and continue straight on down the hedge and fence. Bear left to cross a stile, within earshot of the weir again. Steps lead up to a footbridge over the river. On the opposite bank a surfaced riverside path leads off to the left. Bear right on this path to return to the car park at the start, passing a slipway for launching small craft.