The road passes through the villages of Knowle and Braunton, before becoming dual carriageway standard at Ashford, which continues for the short distance to Barnstaple.

Tiverton Parkway railway station is situated close to the junction with the motorway in order to give easy rail connections for people driving from north Devon.

Here it is signposted alternatively via Trowbridge or through North Bradley and Yarnbrook (which could have been reached if the Frome bypass had continued to follow the railway) to merge with the A350 before diverging towards Devizes.

[7][8] On entering Lechlade, the road crosses the Grade II listed Halfpenny Bridge,[9] which marks the navigable limit of the River Thames for powered craft.

Lines painted onto the panels on the bridge parapets indicate the border between the ceremonial counties of Wiltshire (to the south) and Gloucestershire (to the north).

Sections of land were purchased in the 1970s after the road was upgraded from the B4038 to the A361 to straighten out some of the sharper corners but the vast majority of these works were never done.

Once the A45 leaves Daventry for Coventry, the remaining section of single carriageway ring road is signed as A361, before it once again turns north to Kilsby to terminate on the A5 at its northern end.