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Snowshill and the Cotswold edge.

Difficulty Leisurely

Walking time 2 hours 15 minutes

Length 7.6km / 4.7mi

Route developer: John Clift

Route checker: Andy Page

Start location Public car park, Snowshill, Cotswold. WR12 7JU.
Route Summary The walk starts in the attractive village of Snowshill, at the head of a valley cutting into the western Cotswolds. When you reach the main escarpment there are wide views over the Severn valley extending as far as Shropshire and the Welsh border.
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Getting there

By car: The large village of Broadway is easily reached from the A44. Once in the centre of Broadway follow signs for Snowshill. The car park is 300 metres past the entrance to the National Trust property of Snowshill Manor.

By public transport: Services in this area are very limited. The nearest bus stop is on the B4632 at the turning for Laverton. You could walk through Laverton village. The main street continues as an unsurfaced byway which climbs up hill to a junction with the Cotswold Way where you join the main route. Buses on service 606 from Cheltenham to Broadway operate past the Laverton turning approximately every three hours on Mondays to Saturdays. There is no Sunday service.

Description

[1] Leave the car park by the pedestrian entrance at its south end and walk towards Snowshill village. Take the right fork where the road enters the village and walk along the rear of Snowshill Manor. Pass the Snowshill Arms on your right and village church on your left. Disregard a road on the left that runs round the back of the churchyard. Continue out of the village going uphill until you come to a road junction where you take the road that heads down slope to the right.

Go past a triangular junction with a road on your right then, 100 metres later, turn left into a farm drive with a public bridleway sign. Pass to the right of farm buildings and follow a grassy strip along the left hand edge of a large field. When you reach a field gate you should go through and follow the left hand side of the field boundary from this point on. Approaching a woodland strip you go through a bridle gate out to a road and immediately turn right onto a footpath running between the trees. Continue on this path as it emerges from the woodland and climbs gently up slope along the right hand edge of a field.

[2] At a track junction turn right onto a byway that runs north over Shenberrow Hill. Although you hardly notice, this byway runs over one of the high points of the Cotswolds, at just over 300 metres. You do have views to your right over the dip slope of the Cotswolds, largely devoted to arable farming, and should be able to make out Broadway Tower to the north east. Where the byway joins a tarmac lane you turn left and shortly right, following a Cotswold Way signpost, onto an unsurfaced track. Follow this track down Laverton Hill. You pass disused quarries on the right and then the entrance to Laverton HIll Barn. At this point the route is close to the top of the escarpment and you have wide views to the west. The flat top of Bredon Hill should be obvious. Further south there are the wooded tops of Dumbleton and Oxenton Hills. Depending on the clarity of the air you may make out the Malverns, the Sugarloaf and Hay Bluff, the Clee Hills and the Lickey Hills amongst others. Continue down the Cotswold Way and disregard a track leading off to the left.

[3] You reach a signpost at the junction of by-ways. Continue downhill on the Cotswold Way. (The other by-way leads to Laverton). You reach a field gate and continue on a track along the bottom edge of a grassy field. Immediately after a second field gate turn right through a metal kissing gate onto a path waymarked as part of the Winchcombe Way. Follow this path diagonally across the next field.

Go through a kissing gate and turn right along an unsurfaced track. Go through a gate and follow the track uphill. The track transforms imperceptibly into a minor road.

[4] After just over a kilometre there is a kissing gate on the left with a signpost for a footpath on the Winchcombe Way. Follow this path downhill through grassland. You can see Snowshill village at the head of the valley to your right. Go through a gate at the bottom right corner of a field and continue down through woodland. This section of the walk can be muddy. Go through a gate out of the wood and climb up across a grassy field, aiming for a gateway beside a National Trust sign. Go through the gate and follow a clearly defined path up slope through part of the Snowshill Manor estate.

You emerge at the entrance to the Snowshill Manor car park. Go out onto the road and turn right. Look out for traffic as there is no footpath. After 300 metres you will be back at waypoint [1].

POI information

Snowshill Manor in its present state was the creation of Charles Wade who purchased a semi-derelict property in 1919 and restored it to house his ever expanding collection of antiques and curios. The main part of the house was built around 1500 and there have been frequent extensions and renovations. The Manor is now in the care of the National Trust and if you wish to visit you need to go down to the car park entrance.

The narrow streets of Snowshill village focus on the triangle around the church, which was built in 1864. The use of local stone has ensured harmony between buildings of different dates. The oldest cottages, with their characteristic low roof lines, date back to the seventeenth century.

For more information about the Manor, including admission prices and opening times, see http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/snowshill-manor/

Notes

Refreshments: The route passes the Snowshill Arms were refreshments may be obtained. The restaurant at Snowshill Manor is also an option for National Trust members or those who have decided to visit the Manor.

 

Acknowledgements


 

  • Snowshill
    Snowshill
    By - John Clift
  • Cotswold corn fields
    Cotswold corn fields
    By - John Clift
  • On the Cotswold Way
    On the Cotswold Way
    By - John Clift
  • View from Laverton Hill
    View from Laverton Hill
    By - John Clift
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