Self-Guided Walk The Gloucestershire Way

Transcription

1 Self-Guided Walk The Gloucestershire Way A lovely, long walk from Andoversford back to Bourton on the Water, using field tracks, parkland paths and quiet lanes. You will also have the opportunity to explore some secluded Cotswold villages. Bel Glover, route researcher Key Information : 11.9 miles (19.km) Time: allow 6 hours plus stops Route Grading: Start: Andoversford Cattle Market Bus Stop. (Catch the number 801 from the Newsagents on Bourton High Street.) Finish: Harrington House From the bus stop, walk back along Station Road to the junction with Old Gloucester Road. Turn left, cross the main A40 with care, and turn right to a footpath on the left. Follow the path, keeping woodland on the left, to a gate. Footpath on the left to a gate

2 Gloucestershire Way Page Continue up the field and aim for a gate to the right of farm buildings. Walk along track until reaching a stile on the left. Continue until reaching a stile to an enclosed track which leads to the road at Shipton.(A) Turn left, follow road through the village, and where it forks, go left to reach a crossroads at Shipton Oliffe. (B) Road at Shipton Shipton Oliffe Follow the track, straight on until, just after passing a cottage named Tortmoor, the Gloucestershire way forks left, to a lane. Cross the lane and follow the Gloucester Way sign post, along the track to Lower Hampen Farm. Forks left Along the track When the road bends left to Hampen Manor, follow the footpath straight on through the farm to a signed footpath on the right. Drop down to a stream and then up to a stile on the lane. Turn right and immediately after a left bend, take a signed restricted byway on the right. (C) Restricted byway

3 Gloucestershire Way Page At the cross road, go straight on, and continue to the war memorial at Salperton. (D) Turn right. Cross the cattle grid and continue on the main path, through parkland, to cross a second cattle grid. Continue straight on until the track runs out at Farhill Farm. War memorial at Salperton Go forward to a gate and descend on the same line to a further gate. Turn right to a lone tree, and join the Diamond way Go through the gate, turn left, and walk uphill, continue past the barn and eventually arrive at a lane, opposite the entrance to Notgrove Lodge. Turn left and shortly right, signed Notgrove ¼ mile, to reach a crossroads, and a lane ahead signed Manor Farm/Glebe House /Church. (E) Forward to a gate Lone tree Notgrove Lodge Lane ahead

4 Gloucestershire Way Page Continue along the lane as it bends round to the church, and follow the Gloucestershire signpost on the left. Go down the dip and then up towards the left edge of woodland and so reach a gate onto a track. Turn right, and shortly left along an avenue of beech trees, to reach a lane. Turn right and continue in the same direction until reaching the Plough Inn and a road junction at Cold Aston. (F) Gloucestershire signpost Avenue of beech trees Follow the sign for Bourton on the Water along the road until it starts to descend, and look for a Gloucestershire Way sign on the left. Walk with the hedge on the right for 2 fields until reaching a footbridge on to a farm track. Cross over and continue with the hedge on the right until reaching the A436 Junction at Cold Aston Gloucestershire Way sign Cross with care and follow the path, with hedge on the right to a lane. Turn left. At a junction of paths, turn right on the Windrush Way. Cross the stream and follow the track to the end of the mill buildings, where it curves right to a path junction.(g) End of the mill buildings Path junction

5 Gloucestershire Way Page Follow the signs right for the Windrush Way/Gustav Holst Way, and continue along the well marked path through woodland and field edges to an enclosed track on to the main road. A429. Cross with care and walk along Landsdowne Road. Take the footpath on the right, signed Windrush way, just after the mill. Cross the bridge and follow the path along the river until it enters an enclosed path to emerge opposite Harrington House. Footpath on the right Harrington House Local Information Refreshments: Andoversford: Several pubs and cafes. Cold Aston: The Plough Inn Places of Interest: Andoversford was once famous for its cattle market. The village has a community atmosphere and several meeting areas (pubs, schools, church, social club, play ground, etc) as well as annual events. These include point to point events on the point to point course, an annual pig roast, and a music festival (Andoverfest). Shipton Solers has a small church, St Mary s, extensively restored in the 1930s. Built in the 13th century it was turned into a cowshed in the 19th century before restoration. Shipton Oliffe has a startling Methodist chapel in bright red brick, and a pretty church, St Oswald s, overlooking gardens by the infant River Coln. Hampen is a very quiet hamlet dominated by the Grade II listed buildings Hampen Manor and House. Salperton has a European style War Memorial, commemorating local residents killed or missing in World War I (20 names) and World War II (2 names). It is known as a calvary.

6 Gloucestershire Way Page 6 Salperton Park regularly hosts international dressage, show-jumping and cross country horse trials. The Manor House, built around 1760 in a Palladian style, was much altered in the 19th century and quite recently converted into flats and a social club. Notgrove is a high upland village, spread thinly round a village green. Nearly Folly Farm has a fine collection of rare poultry breeds and wild fowl something to do on a free day if you re interested in chickens. St Bartholomews Church is built on the site of a Roman burial ground and then a Saxon church. Most of the current building is of Norman origin. Cold Aston village centre is dominated by a huge sycamore tree. In the Domesday Book it was called Estone, but by the mid 13th century it had become Cold Aston. In 35 it had become Aston Blank, but in 1972 it reverted to the name of Cold Aston. The majority of the walk is on the Gloucestershire Way which first came into being in the early 1990s and runs for 100 miles, from Chepstow to Tewkesbury. The route is north through the Forest of Dean, and then easterly to Gloucester. It continues east, nearly reaching Bourton, before turning north and then west to Tewkesbury. The route is well signposted and way-marked, and is based on a theme of Forest and Vale and High Blue Hill from a poem by F.W. Harvey. Altogether there are 19 long distance walks that pass through some part of the Cotswold District. Parts of this route are shared by five other long distance trails: The Diamond Way is a circular 60 mile walk through the north Cotwolds, devised by members of the North Cotwolds Ramblers group to celebrate 60 years of walking in the area in The Macmillan Way runs 290 miles from Boston in Lincolnshire to Abbotsbury in Dorset, sharing our route between Cold Aston and Aston Mill. The Sabrina Way is a fairly recent 203 mile bridleway, linking the Peak District in Derbyshire, through five counties, to Great Barrington in Oxfordshire. Watch out for little blue discs en route. The Windrush Way is a modest 14 miles from Winchcombe to Bourton, which we use on the last leg of our walk today. Please Note: All self-guided walks and cycle rides are undertaken entirely at guests own risk. Route directions are supplied in good faith; however HF Holidays cannot be held responsible for any errors contained within. HF Holidays Ltd, January 20 Harrington House, Bourton On The Water GL54 2BY. T:

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