[1] From your starting point at the village hall car park, walk left along the road, passing the Beaufort Arms on your right. At the war memorial, take the left fork then in a short distance, left again into Back Street. Continue along this road out of the village to a junction, where you cross to a footpath.
[2] The path descends right to a kissing gate. Beyond, continue in the same direction and follow the track down the hill, passing through two further fields. As you approach the third field, go through the wooden gate, and then continue heading downhill to a stream, crossing by the footbridge.
[3] Now go right and walk with the stream to a stile. Beyond here, keep to the broad valley bottom with the stream on your right to a bridge. Cross, then walk with the stream to your left to cross-tracks then continue a short distance to reach a road.
[4] Go left, passing a lane on the right, then Corn Mill Farm. Ignore a ‘Cotswold Way’ sign on the left but a little further, a millstream runs to your right and as it parts company with the road, look up to your left for a footpath sign as you approach Stream Cottage on your right.
[5] Climb steps to a stile, cross and go right, uphill, past a redundant stile to another. Now go half-right to cross a third stile then walk along the field edge keeping close to the left boundary to the far end, where you go through the gate.
[6] Continue, keeping to the bottom edge of the field and passing two ponds on your right, until you see a stile as you approach the far corner. Cross, and proceed in the same direction, keeping to the valley bottom and eventually picking up a track. Beyond a wooden gate, the track becomes more pronounced and you now climb to reach a road, with a monument up to your left.
(A) The Somerset Monument was built by Lewis Vulliamy in 1846 in memory of Robert Edward Henry Somerset (1776-1842), a general who fought in the Peninsular War and commanded the Household Cavalry Brigade at the Battle of Waterloo. He was a nephew of the Sixth Duke of Beaufort (whose ancestral home is at Badminton).
[7] Turn right and walk on the grass verge, following the road to the brow of the hill. Cross with care to a footpath sign and go through the field gate. Up to your left is a small wooden gate, ignore this and walk a few paces further to a second gate hidden behind the bushes.
[8] Go through and turn right, following the field boundary downhill. When you reach a stile, slightly hidden, on the right, climb it, then another, and cross the field to a lane. Now walk left to reach a T-junction.
[9] Here, go through the gate ahead and follow the track that will eventually lead you to Hawkesbury church.
(B) The grassland up to your left is known as ‘The Sands’, where medieval tenants ploughed their strips of land. These lynchets can be clearly seen as terraces on the hillside. At the end of the track, you pass Church Farm on your right. Part of this dwelling has been identified as a portion of a monastic grange, constructed about 1500. There are also three large medieval fish ponds behind the house.
(C) St.Mary’s Church is of Early English style, 12th-13th century, though with many additions. The neatly trimmed yew hedge around the churchyard has been a notable feature for many years.
[10] Proceed in the same direction skirting the churchyard wall on your left and climbing a stile into a field. Go half-right to the graveyard wall then walk with it on your left to the next corner, where you then proceed half-right to the far corner. Go through the kissing gate, down steps, and take care as you emerge onto a lane.
[11] Go left along the lane, for a short distance, and then turn left onto a stony track. Go over a stile, next to a gate, to enter access land. Continue uphill, passing through several gates to eventually reach a T-junction. Here, with the houses of Hawkesbury Upton visible across fields, turn left onto the track.
[12] Follow the track (The Cotswold Way) to a road. Turn right, passing an ancient drovers' pond where beasts were watered en-route to market. Keep right to the main road then going right again, walking back to your starting point.