The Seisdon Square - a great walk for Autumn colour

This walk is just over 5 miles, fairly flat, with good, far-reaching views at times, and beautiful Autumn colours throughout. It takes in the pretty villages of Trysull and Seisdon, and follows the Staffordshire Way along Abbots Castle Hill (more commonly known locally as Tinker's Castle)
Note (I did this walk before the colours were at their finest - to give you a chance to walk it at its best)

The best place to start the walk is here, by the church in Trysull , 5 miles SW of Wolverhampton.

The church would repay a visit, but I was keen to start walking.

I turned left, past the old cottages, to Manor Farm. 

... where I turned left again onto a path between intriguing outbuildings

The path keeps going in straight line (SW). I couldn't work out what these stacks were for - they seemed not to be used - but they served as a useful reference point as you can see them from many points along the route. It's reassuring that you are still on the right track.

The path is clear, and as it rises steadily, the views start to open up. This is over towards the Black Country, very leafy from here.

A totally useless stile - leans far too much, and everyone walks round it anyway

Reaching the top , I turned right, onto the Staffordshire Way

The views are great from here - as far as Shropshire's Brown Clee, 20 miles away

The path then followed a wooded ridge, with the sun just peeking through

Very easy to follow

If you wanted to continue seeing the views west over to Shropshire, you'd have to walk in the Winter, as there are too many leaves in the way! 

But there are plenty of views the other way - as I walked, Wolverhampton sparkled on the skyline.


Crab apples covered the ground - quite skiddy to walk on.

The end of the Ridge section heralded another right turn, down Tinkers Castle Road for a short way.

...then onto a farm track with the Staffordshire Way clearly, if somewhat drunkenly, marked on the signs

The weather began to close in, so I speeded up!

The Staffs Way then carries on down Post Office Road (leaning signs seem to be becoming a theme of this walk)

This house marked the third corner of the square (still Post Office Road though). I could have carried on along a path, but preferred to follow the road, past some lovely houses

Some of the which had spectacular gardens

And I loved this Victorian post box

Through Seisdon, and onto Church Lane, marked as a road on Google maps

 It definitely isn't a road though!

At the end of the road, the fourth corner, over the Smestow Brook bridge, with its 1904 weight limit sign

And from there, it was a hop and a skip back to the start, by the church

Today's walk: 5.4 miles through easy countryside. No steep climbs, but I expect it could get quite muddy. The walk is roughly a square shape. Start at Trysull Church, onto the footpath at Manor Farm, and follow this line (left for a short distance along a minor road (Cockington Lane), and then continue the general line right to the ridge by the B4176 (Locally, the Rabbit Run) Turn right, following the Staffs Way, to turn right at Tinkers Castle Road. After about 200 metres, turn left onto a farm track and then turn right, following the Staffs Way signs into Seisdon. Follow the minor lane, (Post Office Road) through Seisdon (or the footpath by the Smestow Brook if you prefer) Then follow what was once Church Lane, now a footpath. Turn right to get back to the start.