Going for a Walk: The quieter side of the Cotswolds
The first of many posts on walking, a personal interest for my Substack
At the start of May I wrote how the whole of the month is a time to celebrate all things walking, a chance to showcase one of my personal interests.
The piece is still available to read and I mentioned how walking is a relaxing activity for me where I do take an interest in the landscapes, a space to breath and you cannot beat a footpath just waiting to be explored.
I can add that walking does bring together another interest, which is history. A charming church, old railway paths or stories told by the routes we tred - there is so much to discover.
Walking should not just be confimed to one month though, which means throughout any season I’ll be sharing my own walking pieces. There are many walks to write about, including routes that are outside Gloucestershire, but for this first entry it makes sense to write about a walk in the county.
A Cotswold Way route from Great Witcombe
The charm of the Cotswolds means that summer is always going to be the prime season for tourism.
We are incredibly lucky to have a beautiful landscape on our doorstep which not only encapsulates Gloucestershire but also parts of Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Somerset.
So many places in the Cotswolds have become huge honeypot sites, where I am sure you’re familiar by now how Bibury and Bourton-on-the-Water are going through their own tourism problems. Whether this is good business or bad for residents who live in the community, there is sadly no happy medium.
For walkers like me though, there is a way to escape the hustle and bustle of the crowds in the summer - all you have to do is follow the limestone ridge of the Cotswold edge and you’ll find a path very popular with walkers.
The Cotswold Way at 102 miles from Bath to Chipping Campden is ideal during any season, a long-distance path you could do in a week or as I do, break it down by sections.
Lesser-known towns and villages are on the route and this walk I’m writing about is a perfect example of experiencing the Cotswolds via quieter routes travelled.
At Great Witcombe, the remains of the roman villa built in AD 250 is the main attraction, although the site is actually now closed due to pending emergency Conservation and Health and Safety works.
But what you will find walking above the villa is the Cotswold Way itself, a good stretch through miles of woodland, Witcombe Wood to be specific. There are no immediate long distance views walking along the trail here, but what I do find appealing about this walk through the woods is its serene quietness.
Witcombe Wood can be dark on a winter’s day but in late spring and early summer coupled with a moderate breeze it is peaceful. The uprights of the dense trees rising above your head while looking from the Cotswold edge, this is one of the best woodland stretches of the Cotswold Way. It’s not too step, it’s not flat either, but it is a great circular walk.
Birdlip Hill is the final stretch of this walk, a mini off the beaten track vantage point. Views of the Witcombe Reservoirs, Gloucester, Cooper’s Hill and May Hill in the distance, overall this is the quieter side of the Cotswolds, a route which showcases one of the best stretches of the landscape’s few woodland patches.
It is a reminder that the Cotswolds is not all about honeypot sites, celebrities, expensive days out and typical open fields - there are little nuggets of charming beauty not usually spoken of.
This was one of my earliest favourite walks, when I first moved to Cheltenham many years ago. However, the combination of wet weather and horses churn up the bridleway into a total mudfest at the slightest provocation! I love nearby Cooper's Hill woods in autumn too; the paths on this side of the hill are drier in wet weather and the beech trees turn 100 shades of russet, gold and bronze.