Parish Walks
The Shinfield Parish Volunteer Group have created some Parish Walks for our community to enjoy, the walks are listed below. The walks are generally short and not too taxing so are for everyone.
You can download the leaflets by clicking on the links below or obtain some hardcopies from Reception at the School Green Centre. School Green, Shinfield, RG2 9EH.
Please rotate your device to see full description.
Parish Walks | Distance | Info/access | What3Words | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Walk No.1 – Shinfield Village & Ryeish Green | 3 Miles | No stiles | ///pace.humble.claim | |
Walk No.2 – Shinfield Village & River Loddon | 3.5 Miles | No stiles | ///pace.humble.claim | |
Walk No.3 – Grazeley | 3 Miles | No stiles | ///debate.trucks.income | |
Walk No.4 – Spencers Wood & River Loddon | 3.5 Miles | 4 stiles | ///doors.spike.store | |
Walk No.5 – Three Mile Cross & Woodcock Lane | 3 Miles | No stiles | ///during.knots.lights | |
Walk No.6 – Pearmans Copse & Nores Hill | 2.5 Miles | No stiles/ 3 steps | ///anyone.puff.makes |
Easy History Walks | Distance | Info/access | What3Words |
|---|---|---|---|
Walk No.1 – St. Mary’s Church & Deardon Orchard | 1 Mile | Accessible | ///normal.target.porch |
Walk No.2 – Three Mile Cross | 3/4 Mile | Accessible | ///fade.festivity.scenes |
Walk No.3 – Spencers Wood | 3/4 Mile | Accessible | ///teeth.local.deck |
Walk No.4 – School Green |
Easy For All Walks | Distance | Other info/accessible |
|---|---|---|
Walk No.1 – Langley Mead (SANG) | up to 2 miles | Accessible & car park |
Other Walks | Distance | Other info/accessible |
|---|---|---|
A Walk Up Basingstoke Road |
Footpaths
Shinfield Volunteer Group Footpath Report - July 2026
Welcome to our July report.
It’s a bit fraudulent to call this a report because I only have one item.
Shinfield Footpath 6
This footpath forms part of the Shinfield Parish Walk number two. Members of the community reported that they were being stopped from walking along the footpath at the U bend adjacent to the E.R.R. Reading University have engaged a contractor to install a track across one of their fields. Freed up with the conclusion of two major tasks I led elsewhere in the borough, I was able to go and take a look myself. I researched the situation in advance and I knew that the contractor had not applied for a temporary closure order. This would have triggered notification to Shinfield Parish Council and the Loddon Valley Footpath Officer. More crucially it would have meant official WBC notices at either end of the footpath with the closure details.
On my visit the first thing I encountered was an illegal sign implying I had to keep out. I was then stopped at the U Bend and told the footpath was closed. I advised the gentleman that it could not be because no temporary closure order had been applied for so he was operating illegally and obstructing a definitive public right of way. We agreed to differ and I continued my walk. As I walked eastwards, I was horrified to find our expensive kissing gate we installed had been ripped out and was worthless. Timbers had been cut from what looks like a dead tree and laid in an oblong fashion that was obstructing the definitive footpath line. When I reached the eastern end of the footpath it was clear there were no signs telling me to keep out. I raised all of this in the appropriate place and was quickly told it would all be sorted.
I revisited on Monday August 3rd and the only visible change was some Heras fencing to steer walkers’ westwards. No warning notices from the east and still the misleading sign in the west. All an illegal operation. I have raised it again so we wait to see what develops. It guarantees a topic for my August footpath report.
The one good thing as I completed walk number two is that our Ranger friends at the Countryside Service have been doing a grand job with the foliage cutting.
We are still struggling in the SVG to encourage helpers to attack the foliage and that really explains why we are finding it difficult to support the WBC Countryside Service at this time. We could do with half a dozen volunteers that are willing to give up the odd hour or two to cut back, mainly brambles. If that is something you could join in with, please contact me on the email address below.
If on your travels you encounter an issue with the footpaths, please let us know because we may not be aware of it. I can be contacted by email at ramblerray@gmail com or you could advise Elaine Butler or the parish office and they will pass on your report.
Elaine’s number is 0118 988 2771
Regards, Ray Sharp
Shinfield Volunteer Group
Cycleways & Walking Maps
Organised Walks
Loddon Valley Ramblers
Loddon Valley Ramblers is one of the numerous groups affiliated to the national Ramblers charity. The group’s members are principally residents of Wokingham Borough. There are eight other groups in Berkshire. Loddon Valley is the largest of these with over 400 members.
The main aims of the group are:
- Protection and maintenance of public rights of way in Wokingham Borough to the benefit of all who use them
- Promotion of walking/access and its benefits for all, in line with central and local government health strategies, including seeking new rights of way and wider access to the countryside
- Provision of group walks for members
- Organising walking holidays and related social activities for members
The group looks to achieve these aims:
- Through a Footpath Officer and a team of 13 footpath wardens to monitor rights of way (one for each parish (including Ray Sharp in Shinfield), but excluding Woodley which has a very limited number of footpaths) – we regularly walk the paths and report problems (e.g. blockages, overgrowth, fallen trees etc) to Wokingham Borough Council. We seek to ensure that Wokingham BC fulfills its statutory obligations in relation to rights of way, including taking enforcement action against landowners (e.g. rights of way across fields are blocked by crops or fencing)
- By seeking to expand the rights of way network in Wokingham Borough, with both a practical and a campaigning aspect – we monitor planning applications and development proposals to identify options for new routes, and we are currently involved in seeking to restore “lost” routes to the network.
- By undertaking practical work to improve the path network through our group of volunteers, including path maintenance, gate installations, sign installations – we clear overgrown paths, improve path surfaces, install kissing gates and install signs. For example, we have recently:
- resurfaced the path running from the A33 south of the M4 across the fields to Church Lane, to create a new walking route for local residents;
- installed gates on the footpath alongside Shinfield Studios off Cutbush Lane; and
- installed new footpath signs in Grazeley.
In the past few years, we have replaced a number of stiles across the parish with kissing gates. The removal of stiles and their replacement with gates is particular important, as people with restricted mobility find it difficult to negotiate stiles.
- By seeking to raise funds locally to help fund our practical work, including the Borough Council and town and parish councils.
- By organising a substantial programme of shorter and longer walks for our members in Wokingham and the surrounding area, with walks every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday throughout the year. The walks are in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Surrey (with a few in Greater London). We are a very friendly group, and these walks fulfill an important social function , alongside the pleasures and benefits of walking.
- By organising 4 walking holidays/weekends per year for our members – recent trips have been to Devon, Wales, Cumbria, the Peak District, and we even organise foreign holidays (e.g. walking in the Pyrenees)
- By organising other social events – e.g. quiz nights, barn dances etc.
Recent activities of note have included
- Installing over 50 kissing gates to replace stiles in the past 7 or 8 years – we would like to install 25 more, but the requisite landowner permission is not forthcoming.
- Installing around 10 new public footpath signs across the Borough this summer (to assist Wokingham BC) and putting up roundel signs where required.
- Helping Wokingham Borough Council produce its new online definitive rights of way map, checking and verifying routes, and monitoring the accuracy of the definitive map
- Creating and continuing to maintain the Wokingham Way circular path round Wokingham Borough
- Creating sets of self-guided walks for publication on town and parish Council websites – e.g. for Earley and Woodley.
Loddon Valley Ramblers is run at local level by a small Committee.
To join our group, please join the national Ramblers – see https://www.ramblers.org.uk/membership Once you have joined at national level, you can elect to join our group.
For more information about our group, including details of our walks programme, please visit https://www.lvra.org.uk
If you encounter any problems with rights of way in Shinfield, please contact Ray Sharp, footpath warden for Shinfield at ramblerray@gmail.com
If you encounter problems in other parts of the Borough, please contact our Footpath Officer, Steve Vale at stevevale1@aol.com.
