Our last summer walk was a perfect circular walk off the Cotswold Way. We started in Stanton and walked to Snowshill, then on to Buckland, and back. We couldn't have picked a lovelier day or a more picturesque part of the Cotswolds.
Our first stop was to the town of Stanway which is spread out along the road towards Stanton, with no really discernable village centre beyond the church. The church and manor of Stanway are right next to each other so that it is hard to know where one ends and the other begins.
The 12th century parish church of St Peter (with Victorian updates)
The manor is home to Stanway Water Gardens, a baroque garden featuring a 300 ft high fountain and a grand canal beside the lovely manor house. The house and garden were closed since the summer season had ended. It's on my list to visit next summer.
The Cotswold Way National Trail is a walking trail that runs along the length of the Cotswolds, starting in Chipping Campden in the north, and finishing at the front of Bath Abbey in the south.
The trail is 102 miles long and winds through many picturesque villages, such as Snowshill, Cranham & Painswick. The Cotswold Way also passes close to a significant number of historic sites, for example the Roman heritage at Bath, the Neolithic burial chamber at Belas Knap, Sudeley Castle near Winchcombe, Hailes Abbey and many beautiful churches and historic houses.
I would love to walk the entire Cotswold Way, but for now, we keep returning to do circular walks that are part of the trail so we can start and end in the same place. There are several amazing loop trails that take in part of the Cotswold way and we are slowly chipping away at those.
We started our walk at the Cotswold Way signpost towards the top of the village, just down from the Mount Inn. We did things a bit backwards in that we had an early lunch at the Mound Inn (great food) and then walked from there. I'm so glad we did because the Inn was closed by the time we returned late in the afternoon.
Stanton is one of the prettiest villages in the whole of the Cotswolds. It's a village frozen in time with little changed in 300 years. It has a very pleasing long main street with several delightful corners where the ancient houses are built in typical Cotswolds style with the honey colored limestone walls. It looks like it should be a film set for a BBC period drama.
The walk from Stanton toward Snowshill leads though several fields and meadows, some woods, then up over a hill with beautiful views.
Before long you can see Snowshill in the distance -- another idyllic Cotswold village.
Snowshill is best known for Snowshill Manor and the lovely Lavender farm just a mile or two from town. Both are well worth a visit. Click here to see more about both from a previous blog.
Following our directions: "Pass through this delightful village
between the pub and the church,
past the car park and at the
entrance to Snowshill Manor you
will see a kissing gate leading into a
field..."
More directions: "After two more kissing gates
and delightful views down the valley
the path turns rather more steeply
downhill, crossing a stream. Bear left
to wind up through the woods,
ignoring a gate to the left. This
stretch can be muddy after rain.
Soon after emerging from the wood
pass through a gate and then climb
the steepening path up a short hill
with fine views. Eventually the path
levels out and you exit the field by
an old iron kissing gate. Turn right
and follow the track for half a mile
until you pass through a field gate."
"Turn right along the track
down towards a field gate, and
continue downhill along the steepsided
path. Be careful to watch your
footing along this track, but also
not to miss the awe-inspiring views
(over Stanton to the Vale of
Evesham and even across the
Severn into Wales) and the
magnificent diversity of wild flowers
lining the path in the spring and
early summer. Once tasted, this
slice of Cotswolds will never be
forgotten."
We finally circled around back to Stanton and it's church of St. Michael. It's been said that this church, dedicated to St. Michael (the archangel who fought the devil), sits upon a sacred pagan site. Stanton is actually at the intersection of two ley lines (geographic lines along which many prehistoric sights are found).
We ended the day watching the town's cricket game. What a great last summer walk in one of my many favorite places in England!
Click here for the map on directions for this walk.
Click here for information on more circular walks on the Cotswold way.
Encounters by Ivor Gurney
One comes across the strangest things in walks,
Fragment of Abbey tithe barns fixed in modern,
With Dutch-sort houses, where the water baulks
Weired up, and brick-kilns broken among fern.
Old troughs, great stone cisterns bishops might have blessed
And baptized from, most worthy mounting stones;
Black timber in red brick, surprisingly placed
Where hill stone was looked for, and a manor's bones
Spied in the frame of some wisteria'd house,
And mill-falls and sedge-pools, and Saxon faces
Stream sources happened upon in unlikely places
And Roman looking hills of small degree.
The surprise, the good in dignity of poplars
At a roads end, or the white Cotswold scars.
Sheets spread out spotless against the hazel tree.
But toothless old men, bubbling over with jokes
And deadly serious once the speaking finished.
Beauty is less after all than strange comical folks
And the wonder of them never and never can become diminished.
