A Love Letter To Rowberrow Warren
![A Love Letter To Rowberrow Warren](/content/images/size/w2000/2022/01/20210124_102125---Copy.jpg)
Rowberrow Warren is an utterly gorgeous piece of woodland sitting east of Shipham, west of Beacon Batch in the Mendips.
![](https://leave-the-road-and.run/content/images/2022/01/image-1.png)
It is part of the West Mendip Way and the Big Cheese half marathon, whilst providing a route through to the highest point in the Mendips (Beacon Batch), the Cheddar gorge and the ancient woodlands of Black Rock.
On the low-lying west side a stream runs north-south with trails either side.
![](https://leave-the-road-and.run/content/images/2022/01/IMG_20220102_093732.jpg)
Going eastwards the woodland becomes dense as it climbs up (and up and up!) towards the commons
![](https://leave-the-road-and.run/content/images/2022/01/20210124_103346.jpg)
For a trail runner it's an excellent practise ground with everything from flat technical trails to long climbs and descents, whilst it's also popular with walkers and mountain bikers.
![](https://leave-the-road-and.run/content/images/2022/01/20210124_104652.jpg)
But why, of all woodlands, does it stand out to me?
Finding Rowberrow
It was a sunny Sunday in August, 2020 and I was enjoying training by way of long trail runs on the weekends.
This was my first run in the Mendips, having previously hiked around the gorge with Zoe, and I was LOVING it.
I passed through Charterhouse and the peaceful Velvet Bottom to Black Rock then climbed up the northern side of Cheddar Gorge.
![](https://leave-the-road-and.run/content/images/2022/01/20200809_072055.jpg)
Ran into some goats enjoying their breakfast then cut north past the quarry and over the hill towards the Common.
After a particularly hairy, overgrown section I'd come out onto Warren's Hill Road and saw this woodland full of giant trees climbing the hillside. I wanted to go there badly, and set out to find a way in.
![](https://leave-the-road-and.run/content/images/2022/01/20200809_074737.jpg)
OK now in hindsight there are much, much easier ways to get into the woods from where I was, including a trail not 100 meters from where I turned left.
However I was new to the area and ended up going on a merry tour away from the woods towards Shipham, before slowly cutting back towards the woods (over some barbed wire fences 🙈)
![](https://leave-the-road-and.run/content/images/2022/01/image-2.png)
Going through the woods, I had no idea they connected to Beacon Batch and was pleasantly surprised when I got out the other side of them!
Since then I've crossed Rowberrow Warren multiple times and always enjoyed the area for it's trail running. Â I'll look to do a route focused on the area soon, but for now here's the Big Cheese route recommendation which cuts through it nicely.