If you drive from Bicester towards the A43 and M40 you will, like me, have passed signs for the village of Bainton many times. The OH has mentioned the ford in the village for years, so back in May I worked out a walking route from home to we could spend time exploring footpaths on our doorstep to take in Bainton Ford and beyond.
We began our walk from our doorstep and headed along the Fringford Road which runs along the edge of Caversfield. The hedgerows were looking so vibrant.
It was so peaceful and we got to just stand at a gate to a field and just enjoy the view.
As we reached the end of the village we headed across the road and followed the footpath across the fields heading towards Bainton. There was great excitement as my son found a burrow of some sort. We tried to imagine whether it was a rabbit burrow or maybe even a badger set.
We’d often felt cooped up during lockdown so it was so wonderful to see my son running on ahead, having the freedom to just be a ten-year-old boy without a care in the world. A scene I’ve often taken for granted.
He’d stop every so often to make sure he was heading in the right direction, then once I’d given him the nod, off he’d go again.
Although he always managed to find the time to play around with dandelion seed heads. Simple pleasures.
As we got closer to Bainton the hedgerows got a little wilder and seemed to swallow my son at times.
When we reached Bainton we headed along a B road in search of the ford which lies just on the outskirts of the village.
We had so little rain at that time that the ford wasn’t overly full but it was still something a little novel to find on our walk.
We had originally planned to just retrace our steps on the way home, but when I looked at my OS Map app I realised that there was a bridleway which ran close to the footpath over the fields, but this would take us a slightly different way and would see us rejoin the Fringford road slightly further along than where we’d left it.
As we passed alongside some farm buildings we could just see a pond through the trees.
We got to see some sheep as we passed one field.
At one point the footpath skirts around what appears to be the farmer’s back garden with his own duck pond. It did feel a little intrusive but was definitely the correct route.
We then walked along the path from the farmhouse back towards the Fringford road and said our goodbyes to the ewes and their lambs as we passed.
The Fringford road would take us back to the edge of Bicester, and home again. Exploring footpaths on our doorstep – Bainton Ford and beyond was a lovely walk, easy to follow the route which covered just over 9kms.
It looks like a wonderfully peaceful place for a family stroll. Especially if the weather is kind. Thanks for sharing
It’s a lovely walk
Another lovely walk. It’s exciting spotting burrows along the way – Sophie loves finding them too. It looks like you had beautiful weather for it. Lovely to see your son running on ahead and just enjoying being outdoors and blowing dandelion clocks is always fun. Fords are always interesting things to come across too. Thanks for sharing your walk with #CountryKids
They always fascinate me