Donnington Castle is an excellent option for a dog walk in Berkshire

The gatehouse of 14^th century Donnington Castle in the small village of Donnington is an impressive view and it offers a number of different footpaths you can enjoy with your dog. The site is an excellent option for a dog walk in Berkshire.

Distance	Total Time	Difficulty
3.24 km	00:50	Moderate

Overlooking the Lambourn Valley, the castle is situated in an important strategic position and from there you can see miles ahead besides offering very pleasant views.

The castle is a fortified residence, and an important part to play during the English Civil War when Sir John Boys was dispatched to take possession of Donnington in 1643. In the war, the castle was badly damaged during a 20-month siege.

Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were reported to have stayed in the castle in 1539 and 1568 respectively.

Only the gatehouse stands now but you can see the base of the wall that made up the castle. It was easy to imagine the life of people living and visiting the castle in the past. A great little place to visit and the many paths around are great for a dog hike.

Don’t forget to check the post notes at the bottom of the page, with maps, a detailed table about the hike and links to everything mentioned in the post.

The Hike

We started the hike at the car park (Postcode: RG14 2LE) which is just by the gate. This time we didn’t follow a set trail but instead went first to check the gatehouse going up the small hill following the path from the gate.

After that, we went around the castle walls and down the other side of the hill following a path through the woods until we got to a small road by a golf course. The golf course is not public. Instead we crossed the road, turned right and kept following the path.

The path took us around to a set of nice-looking barns and we kept walking back towards the castle. We got to the car park again and continued on one of the footpaths which led us around a lovely area around the castle site and some farmland.

We saw a few people walking their pooches around, although it was not busy at all, maybe because the weather wasn’t very good or maybe it is just a quiet place.

The walk is mostly easy but the last part of the trail we chose had some steeper sections and at points, it was very muddy hence marking this hike difficulty as moderate. 

Overall, it was a good walk, with varied terrain and great views. Our girls seemed to have loved it too.

Cheers,

Ademar