Call in at the tea rooms on your lockdown walk from Kidlington

Now they are urging others to do the same at a time when activities have been limited by repeated restrictions.

Elaine Steane, chairwoman of Oxford City Ramblers, has recommended one of her favourite walks from Kidlington to the canalside village Thrupp, and is urging people to take up walking to stay healthy.

Elaine Steane at Thrupp swing bridge

She said: “I love this three-mile walk because it combines an easy riverside and woodland walk with the welcoming mid-point of Annie’s Tea Rooms or the Boat Inn.”

She added: “Take the 2A bus from central Oxford to get off at the Glebe House stop in Mill Street. Walk 500 yards along Church Street (east), to reach the car park tucked-in north of the church. From here, go left through the kissing gate signposted Hampton Poyle, away from the church and through the wood.”

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The path leads to a large pond with a wooden bench, dedicated to John Brucker the ecologist, who recognised the value of this reserve.

Mrs Steane added: “At the pond, turn left over the bridge, into the field then turn right (north), to follow the left hand edge of the wood. Continue on, almost to the River Cherwell. Turn left (north west), before the river to walk 500 yards along the bank before entering the woods. Here are fine examples of crack willow. Follow an avenue through the ash trees. At a division of tracks keep to the right to follow the river for 0.75 miles until reaching the railway bridge.

Woods near Thrupp

“Go under the bridge and on into the village of Thrupp.”

Annie’s Tea Rooms are in the Canal Yard. Beyond the tea rooms is an opportunity to sit by the Oxford Canal near the swing bridge, or to turn left alongside the canal to reach the Boat Inn on the west side of the village. After tea, walkers can retrace their steps past the tea rooms, under the bridge and then taking the second path marked with yellow signs, turn right through a mixed woodland.

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Mrs Steane added: “We had fun identifying false buckthorn, common dogwood, coppiced hazel and many more. In March we were excited to see our first sighting of a tortoiseshell butterfly feeding on a dandelion. In June there will be bees feeding on the nectar of the white wild privet flowers. Last year I saw a comma, tortoiseshell and several small copper butterflies, as well as a variety of bumble bees.

Elaine Steane

"Continue through the woods to turn right at a short wooden post into a field where there is a path going diagonally across the field. Go through the wide hedge gap to turn left to keep to the left side of the field always with St Mary’s church spire ahead as a guide.

St Mary’s Church Kidlington

"Continue through a second thick hedge gap and across a meadow, still travelling in the same direction. You arrive back to the nature reserve and turn right at the John Brucker bench to the car park."