Great Bedwyn and Wilton Windmill Walk

5 miles (8 km)

This circular walk visits Wilton Windmill from Great Bedwyn. The walk starts in the village near the train station where you can pick up the Kennet and Avon Canal Walk.... Follow the towpath south towards the lock at Crofton before turning south east towards Wilton village and the windmill.
The route then returns to Great Bedwyn via the woodland of Wilton Brail.
The walk begins in Great Bedwyn, a historic Wiltshire village that dates back to the Saxon era and once served as an important market town with its own royal residence. Joining the canal towpath brings you past Crofton, home to the famous Crofton Pumping Station which houses the oldest working steam beam engines in the world, originally built in 1809 to pump water to the canal's highest point. The destination at Wilton Windmill features the only working windmill in Wessex, constructed in 1821 after the building of the canal disrupted the local watermills, and it still produces stone-ground flour today.
The diverse environments along this route support a rich variety of local wildlife and historic flora. The slow-moving waters and reedbeds of the Kennet and Avon Canal provide excellent habitats for water voles, kingfishers, and herons, while mute swans can frequently be seen nesting near the locks. Transitioning into the ancient oak and beech woodland of Wilton Brail, walkers can observe a vibrant carpet of bluebells and wood anemones during the spring months, alongside a healthy population of roe deer, kestrels, and woodpeckers nesting in the mature tree canopy.