The Cotswold Hills offer excellent walking and a wealth of historic monuments and buildings from prehistoric times to the present day.
These five walks include visits to Stone Age burial chambers, Iron Age hills-forts, Roman villas, medieval churches, market towns, manor houses and the canals and mills of the industrial revolution.
Each day’s walk is around eight miles, leaving ample time for sightseeing and admiring the ever-changing landscapes of one of England’s areas of outstanding natural beauty. PLEASE NOTE THAT OTHER DATES ARE POSSIBLE FOR PRIVATE GROUPS OF 4 OR MORE.
Tour Itinerary:
Sunday 13th July 2008: Arrive in Chipping Campden.
Your guide Dr Steven Blake will meet you in the afternoon and give you a brief introduction to the Cotswolds.
Monday 14th July: Chipping Campden to Buckland
Our first day’s walk begins in Chipping Campden, the finest of the Cotswold ‘wool’ towns, where we visit the 15th-century parish church and see the 17th-century almshouses and market hall, and the ruins of Campden House, destroyed in the English Civil War.
From Campden we follow the Cotswold Way to Dover’s Hill, the site of the ‘Cotswold Olympick Games’, first held in 1612, and on to Broadway Tower, an 18th-century folly with extensive views across the Vale of Evesham. We then descend via Broadway, with its wide main street and stone-built houses, to Buckland, where the church has some of the finest late medieval glass in Gloucestershire. Return to Chipping Campden for overnight.
Tuesday 15th July: Belas Knap to Stanway
A second day on the Cotswold Way, beginning at Belas Knap long barrow, the finest stone age burial chamber in the Cotswolds. From Belas Knap we walk past the site of Wadfield Roman Villa to Winchcombe, an important Saxon town, with its Cotswold stone houses and another large ‘wool’ church.
From Winchcombe we follow the medieval ‘pilgrims’ way’ to the ruins of Hailes Abbey and the adjoining Norman church, which has some of the best medieval wall-paintings in Gloucestershire. Finally, we walk across Beckbury Camp, an Iron Age hill-fort, to Stanway, where the manor house dates from the 16th and 17th centuries.
Return to Chipping Campden for overnight
Wednesday 16th July: Bibury to Chedworth Roman Villa
We begin our walk at Bibury, with its famous Arlington Row, a group of medieval weavers’ cottages. From Bibury we follow the River Coln through a succession of attractive villages, visiting the medieval churches at Winson, Coln St Dennis and Coln Rogers.
We then cross the Roman Fosse Way and walk through woodland to the large Roman villa at Chedworth, with its impressive mosaic pavements.
Overnight the Bear at Rodborough
Thursday 17th July: Leonard Stanley to Owlpen
Today’s walk begins at the small medieval priory church of Leonard Stanley, which has some of the best Norman carving in Gloucestershire. From there we climb Frocester Hill to the Cotswold scarp and visit two more Stone Age burial chambers – Nympsfield long barrow and Hetty Pegler’s Tump.
The remainder of our walk, which commands wide views across the Severn Vale to the Forest of Dean, takes us via Uleybury Iron Age hill-fort to Owlpen Manor, perhaps the most romantic manor house in the Cotswolds.
Return to the Bear for overnight
Friday 18th July: Coates to Chalford
A day exploring the Cotswolds’ early industrial heritage, beginning with a visit to the remains of the 18th-century Thames and Severn Canal and a walk to the village of Sapperton, which has close connections with the 19th-century Arts & Crafts Movement.
From Sapperton we follow the ‘Golden Valley’ into Chalford, with its steep streets, weavers’ houses and 19th-century canalside mills.
Return to the Bear for overnight.
Saturday 19th July: departure after breakfast
Your guide for the week will be Dr Steve Blake.
Before taking early retirement in March 2006, Steve worked for 30 years at Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, where he eventually filled the post of Museum & Collections Manager and curator. He has a particular interest in local and social history, and has published and lectured widely on the history of Cheltenham, and in particular the building of the Regency and Victorian town.
His other great passion is medieval history and architecture, especially churches and the whole subject of medieval pilgrimage. To pursue these interests, he has travelled extensively within Britain and Europe and has walked large parts of the pilgrim routes from France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
Steve has been involved with Gloucestershire’s local history scene for many years. He is a past Chairman of the Cheltenham Local History Society, jointly edited the Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society for seven years and serves on Gloucester Cathedral’s Fabric Advisory Committee. He is a Fellow of the Museums Association and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
During your holiday you will stay in the centre of Chipping Campden in a nice Cotswold hotel and 3 nights on a bed and breakfast basis and three nights in The Bear at Rodborough in Minchinhampton in the Stroud Valley on a dinner bed and breakfast basis.
Lunch will be provided on each walking day – either pub or picnic lunch.
Notes:
Airfare is not included in the tour price.
What's Included:
Accommodation for 6 nights in high quality accommodation - in the centre of Chipping Campden and three nights at the Bear Hotel in Minchinhampton. Services of Steve Blake as guide, breakfast each morning and lunch on walking days, 3 dinners and transfers each day in order to do the itinerary as outlined above.
Walking:
Each days walk will be approx. 8 miles and this should give enough time for people to be able to enjoy the churches, villages and ancient site you will visit.
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