Devizes – according to a rather bland description painted by Wikipedia – "is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire, in the southern United Kingdom.

"It has a population of about 15,000. Devizes has the feel of a much larger town. It serves as a centre for banks, solicitors and shops, with a large open marketplace where a market is held once a week. It has more than 500 listed buildings, a large open green at the heart of the town, splendid churches and an elegant town hall. Its development has grown around an 11th century Norman castle."

I much prefer the old adage that reads "Devizes, Devizes, full of surprises" with its hints of interest and intrigue at every turn. These surprises would include Wadworth Brewery, housed in red-brick premises that paint a picture of England's industrial past. Pop into the visitor centre and you can discover everything and anything about one of our best independent breweries. There is also the Wiltshire Heritage Museum that is home to the best Bronze Age archaeology collections in Britain.

Here visitors can see artefacts from some of the very first archaeological excavations at the World Heritage Sites of Avebury and Stonehenge.

One of the town's major attractions is the Kennet and Avon Canal, or rather the 29 locks to the west of the town that raise this waterway some 237ft in a distance of just two miles. The highlight of this flight is Caen Hill, a spectacular staircase of 16 consecutive locks that mark the final ascent to the town. The K&A Canal Trust has a museum at the Wharf in Devizes where visitors can learn about the various stages in the development of what is southern Britain's finest inland waterway – why the K&A was needed, its construction, its heyday, its decline and its recent restoration.

From the Wharf, this walk heads across country to reach Oliver's Castle, with the downland escarpment providing a dramatic backdrop along the way.

The humps and bumps on the ground hereabouts are quite unusual, and numerous theories purport to explain their origin. The most plausible is that this corner of Wiltshire was the former southern limit of a vast ice sheet during the Ice Age.

The meltwater pouring forth from the snout of this glacier was responsible for moulding this most unique of landscapes. Oliver's Castle, incidentally, is an ancient hillfort that commands the most amazing of views stretching from the Cotswolds to the Mendip Hills, and from Salisbury Plain to the Avon Vale.

The hillfort sits on the extremities of Roundway Hill, another noted historic landmark. Had you been walking here in 1643 then you would have soon been diving for cover.

This open downland was the scene all those years ago of a battle during the English Civil War. It was here that Sir William Waller and his Parliamentary troops were attacked by Royalist forces. Sir William fled the site, endowing it with the name 'Runaway Hill' – later to become the Roundway as it is known today. It is difficult to imagine this hilltop site as being the scene of so much bloodshed and violence, with as many as 600 parliamentarians being killed here on that fateful July day 366 years ago.

From this lofty hilltop perch, Quakers Walk – a charming, historic tree-lined bridleway – marks the final return into Devizes. The walk is believed to go back more than 700 years to the reign of King Edward I.

The Gates and Lodge at the canal end of the walk are Grade II listed and originally marked the southern end of Lord Roundway's Estate of which now only the converted stables remain. Developers have plans afoot to close this path for up to six months while a sewer is constructed into neighbouring fields to make way for the inevitable housing estate … so head east to Devizes quickly to experience the peace of this ancient path before its solitude is lost forever.

Visit www.qwpg.org.uk to discover more about Quaker's Walk.

Nigel Vile