to descend to the plain and then climb up again. There are field paths, woodland trails, old drove-roads and saltways, green lanes and minor roads winding between hedgerows lively with sparrows and wrens, fragrant with honeysuckle in spring and early summer, and with huge panoramas across the plains.
From Stanway there’s an up-and-down stretch to the ruins of Hailes Abbey and across undulating farmland to Winchcombe, with its pretty cottages, village stocks and gargoyles round the church. After Winchcombe there’s Belas Knap (worth half an hour of anyone’s time), then on to the highest part of the whole route on Cleeve Common.
Cleeve Common leads to Leckhampton Hill, another lofty belvedere overlooking Cheltenham, with the eye-catching digit of the Devil’s Chimney jutting from a lower scarp terrace. South of Leckhampton is Crickley Hill, where history, in the form of a hill fort, lies partly exposed, and an observation platform provides an opportunity to look back a thousand years and more.
Between Crickley Hill and Cooper’s Hill the way crosses just below Birdlip, which sits astride the Roman route of the Fosse Way. Woods conceal the broadest views, but the approach to Cooper’s Hill still allows plenty to gaze at, with a soft light flooding through the trees. More woods stretch along the escarpment, but the way emerges onto Painswick Beacon, open and green, splashed with silver birch and birdsong. Down then to the whitest of all Cotswold towns. Painswick has a churchyard known far and wide for its table tombs and exquisite yews – but there’s much more besides.
From Painswick a climb leads onto Scottsquar Hill and to what many consider the finest vantage point of the whole walk, Haresfield Beacon. This is indeed a tremendous knoll from which to gaze out over the Vale of Gloucester, the River Severn and the Forest of Dean. After absorbing all you can from here it’s back to woodland for a downhill stretch into an industrial valley overlooked by Stroud.
From cloth mills on the River Frome to woodlands hanging from the steep scarp slope takes only an hour or so. Peace and serenity are restored as you regain the escarpment, where huge views look out to a pair of outliers, which soon have to be crossed. Near Hetty Pegler’s Tump the Cotswold Way plunges down the scarp, then climbs up and over Cam Long Down before swooping down once more – this time into Dursley.
Flat-topped Cam Long Down captures your attention when seen from the Coaley Peak picnic site (photo: Lesley Williams)
Dursley leads to Stinchcombe Hill, and from there to North Nibley, Nibley Knoll and Wotton-under-Edge. (What names there are to conjure with in the Cotswolds!) Wotton has its millstreams, and the stage beyond Wotton explores a narrow valley lit by a lively little stream that once powered several mills, one of which is passed on the way to Hawkesbury Upton.
Out of Hawkesbury you follow the old trading route of Bath Lane. Tiny Horton is next, closely followed by Little Sodbury and Old Sodbury, through Dodington Park and up to Tormarton, sitting pretty on the edge of a motorway hell. Dyrham seems all but forgotten in its leafy dell. Cold Ashton smiles out to the south and, as you leave it along Greenways Lane, so a luxurious bowl of countryside draws you on.
It’s not far then to Bath. Over the Battlefields, along the escarpment once more, round a golf course and across an Iron Age hill fort and you come to Prospect Stile, with the first view of Bath lying in its hollow. Best of all is the view onto Kelston Round Hill, one of the finest of all hills seen since leaving Chipping Campden. The onward route leads round its shoulder and down to Regency Bath, along a maze of elegant streets until at last you come face to face with that gem of an abbey. That sight alone is worth walking the Cotswold Way for.
STAGE 1
Chipping Campden to Stanton
| Start | Chipping Campden |
| Finish | Stanton |
| Distance | 10 miles (16km) |
| Approximate time | 4–5hr |
| Maps | Harvey’s Cotswold Way 1:40,000, OS Landranger 151 Stratford-upon-Avon & Surrounding Area, and 150 Worcester, the Malverns & Surrounding Area 1:50,000. OS Explorer OL45 The Cotswolds 1:25,000. |
| Refreshments | Broadway and Stanton |
| Accommodation | Chipping Campden, Dover’s Hill (2 miles/3km), Broadway (6 miles/9.5km) and Stanton |
On this initial stage of the walk you will experience the very essence of the Cotswolds, the mellow glory of its buildings and the enchantment of the breezy wolds with their extensive panoramas. Chipping Campden is surely the loveliest of all Cotswold market towns but even on this first stage there will be other places, other villages, similarly designed to slow the pace and distract with delights – Broadway is one, Stanton is another.
As soon as Campden’s streets are left behind, the route climbs onto the escarpment where Dover’s Hill rewards with a long view across the Vale of Evesham to the distant Malvern Hills. Breaking away from the scarp edge the way continues along what is known as the Mile Drive, over fields and across the A44 on Fish Hill to the base of Broadway Tower and more fine views. Broadway lies below the tower with field paths leading directly to it, thus allowing an opportunity to walk its famous street before returning to the hills again above Buckland. The continuing route takes you along the scarp edge on a clear track for a while, but on reaching Shenberrow Hill you leave the uplands once more and wander down through lush green meadows to the manicured perfection that is Stanton.
The walk begins or ends at the Parish Church of St James
The official start to the walk is by the Market Hall in Chipping Campden High Street, but it would be more satisfactory to begin at the Parish Church of St James, which is found at the north-eastern end of the town (grid ref: 155 395).
Leaving the church, and the gateway to the long-destroyed Campden House next to it, walk along Church Street passing a row of 17th-century almshouses on your right and a cart wash on the left. On reaching the High Street bear left, pausing as you walk along it to admire the numerous attractive features which make Campden such a delightful place.
BUILDINGS OF CHIPPING CAMPDEN
The elegance of Chipping Campden stems from the wool trade, for many of the finest buildings owe their existence directly to it. The open-sided Market Hall, built in 1627, is an eye-catching feature. Nearby is the 14th-century Woolstaplers’ Hall, which houses the town’s museum; opposite stands Grevel House, dating from 1380. William Grevel, whose home it was, has a large memorial brass in the parish church – reckoned to be one of the best examples of a Cotswold ‘wool church’.
Next to it stand the fanciful gateway and onion-topped lodges that mark the entrance to one-time Campden House, built by Sir Baptist Hicks for an unbelievable £29,000 in 1615. Thirty years later it was burned down by Royalist troops during the Civil War. Alongside Church Street, on a raised pavement, stands a row of attractive almshouses, also built by Hicks, at a cost of £1000, to house 12 of the local poor.
Passing Sheep Street, which breaks away to the left, continue ahead along Lower High Street, but leave this to take the first road on the right by St Catherine’s Roman Catholic Church. The road soon bears right, with Birdcage Walk and Hoo Lane branching left by a thatched cottage. Walk along Hoo Lane, and when the surfaced lane ends a farm track continues ahead, rising easily uphill. This is soon accompanied by a footpath, which begins by some barns and eventually brings you to Kincomb Lane. Bear left for about 100 metres, to find a signpost directing you across the road and between fields on an enclosed footpath.
The path leads to a kissing gate, through which you then turn left