[1] From the Village Hall, go left and follow the road to a right turn. Take this and walk downhill, passing a turning and school on the right, to reach a junction with ‘Hawks Lane House’ ahead. Turn left and follow the road to a waymarked stile on the right that you climb.
Descend towards the bottom left corner of the field and another stile. Climb this, then go ahead, passing through an old hedge boundary with the river on the right and continuing over the meadow to the far side and with houses ahead, you aim for the top left corner of the field to climb a further stile. The field may be fenced off with an electric fence (so take care), but there is a good margin to go around the edge of the fence without danger. This also allows you see a field of Llamas off to the right!
Your route now takes you up and over the embankment of the defunct Cheltenham to Cirencester railway.
(A) This picturesque line was closed in 1961 and the viaduct which spanned this valley has been removed.
On the far side of the embankment, climb a stile then go immediately right over a further stile. Walk up to the left boundary and follow it to climb another stile, beyond which there are stables on the right. The footpath now goes ahead, keeping to the right of the conifer hedge, to pass through a stone gateway onto a lane. You may catch a glimpse of the water mill straight ahead. At the Seven Tuns Inn, a few metres to your right, take the footpath up the hill, passing cottages to reach a road and St Andrew's Church beyond. Walk through the churchyard
(B) The church is worth a visit; the pulpit, with its very tall pedestal is one of about sixty medieval stone pulpits left in the country. Carved from a single block of stone over seven feet high, it is enriched with tracery and canopies, a beautiful example of what is known as the Gloucestershire wineglass style. In a glass case was one of the best copies of the Breeches Bible in existence. This translation was made in 1560 by English exiles in Geneva and was the most popular translation until the authorised version appeared in 1611. The name was derived from the account in Genesis where Adam and Eve made themselves breeches out of fig leaves!
Through a gate in the wall to the left of the church yard, get a glimpse of the manor house, which has medieval origins, though the present building dates from the 17th century.
Exit the churchyard through a squeezer stile into a meadow and aim for the skyline, then continue on to climb a stone stile in the wall at the top of the field. Beyond the wall walk along a grassy avenue of fine beech trees to a stone stile from where you gain access to a lane. Turn right at the lane to walk along a track with a cricket pitch to your right. Continue to the end of the track, past a metal gate to where another metal gate gives access to the edge of a disused airfield, vie the 'Clarke Covert', planted in 2007.
(C) Chedworth airfield was opened in 1942 and was one of the utility airfields planned during the early war years. It had two runways, two curved ‘blister’ hangers and extensive dispersal sites for safe aircraft storage. Initially, Spitfires of 52 Operational Training Unit were stationed here, latterly, Mosquito, Mustang and Typhoon. After the war, the grass areas were returned to farming use although the Central Flying School used the airfield for a number of years as a practice forced landing field. In the 1970’s Chedworth fell into disuse; both the hangars still exist, used for agricultural purposes but the other buildings are now derelict.
[2] Waymark posts guide you across the ploughed and cropped field – expect mud here in winter. These signposts can be hard to spot. Cross the perimeter road and follow the waymarks over a further field to the crumbling concrete that was the main runway. Go straight ahead to another waymark post and cross the field aiming for the low, black, corrugated iron building. Climb the stile to the road and go right, passing a young conifer plantation on the right. Beyond the last of the airfield buildings on your right, the road drops down towards woodland and you now have easy walking along this quiet road.
Look out for bluebells in the woods and primroses, violets and wood spurge on the roadside banks.
(D) You are now walking along the ‘White Way’ a Roman road also known as ‘Salt Way’ from the time when salt was in short supply. It was used to transport this commodity from the Roman town of Salinae, now Droitwich.
After three quarters of a mile, in the valley at the bottom of the hill where the gradient levels and the road bears slightly left, look for a footpath on the left of the road, sign directing you right. (If you miss this, 200 metres further the road crosses the course of an old railway, the same one you crossed earlier in the walk, via a bridge, in which case retrace your steps.)
[3] Climb the stile in the fence and follow the path as it drops down between the trees. When you reach a beech coppice, the path broadens and curves up to the right, while down to your left, there is a partly buried culvert that carried excess water under the embankment of the railway which at this point is high above you on the left. The path now climbs steeply for 100 metres or so, then bears left and levels out. You have easy walking through pleasant mixed woodland for about 700 metres, when the deciduous trees give way to conifers.
Recent forestry activity has opened out the woods. A strong smell of fresh pine remains.
The paths are muddy at this point. Eventually, the route descends steeply to a path junction and here you go left, down a stony, sunken path, shortly to walk beneath the railway. At the far side, a set of steps climbs the embankment to the nature reserve – you may like to investigate.
(E) The Gloucestershire Trust for Nature Conservation purchased this one mile stretch of disused railway line in 1969, a few years after the last train ran. The cuttings of oolitic limestone are rich in fossil shellfish from the Jurassic period.
[4] Leave the railway behind and continue downhill for a short distance to reach the site of the Roman villa.
(F) A gamekeeper digging for his ferret discovered the remains of this impressive villa in 1864 and excavations have continued here ever since. It is thought to be the centre of an agricultural estate deriving its wealth from wool and built in the second century AD, then enlarged in the third. It was a two-storey house built of Cotswold stone and tiles, with two bath houses, underfloor heating and a temple. The adjacent museum houses smaller items.
Beyond the villa, a driveway takes you past a bridleway on the right, to a road junction. Go right here through green painted gates of the Stowell Estate and follow the drive for a little over a mile, with woodland to your right and the pretty River Colne darting around on the left.
[5] After passing through a further set of green gates turn left onto the road and cross the river.
Yarnworth Mill is on your left, no longer a woolen mill, the caged dogs in the barn and the kok-kok of the pheasants that you have been hearing give a clue to the mill’s new source of income.
Take the path on the right opposite the mill and follow the field edge keeping the hedge on the right. At the field corner, go through the hedge ahead, continuing in the same direction. You soon have a low stone wall to your right which allows you to appreciate the view over the meadow to the river and the woodland beyond. This is easy walking, although the footpath has been damaged by the riding of horses so may be muddy after rain. Keeping the boundary on the right, you eventually reach a lane on a sharp bend through a wooden gate.
The gates on the Stowell estate have quaint 'pendulum' latches.
Take the next wooden gate on the right into a meadow, then cross to the far side, following the line of the stream. On the far side, a wooden gate gives access to lane, cross and go through the gate opposite and follow the track ahead. Cross a small stream in 200 metres then continue parallel to the wall on the left with Stowell House, a fine Elizabethan mansion, beyond. The track eventually leads you through a gate in the wall, where you turn right and proceed now with the wall immediately on your right. Continue ahead, through another field gate and walk with a stand of conifers to your right through a further gate.
[6] There is woodland on the far side of this field, climb half-right to reach it, then keep the fence to your left, as far as the corner where you will see a waymark. Here, the fence goes left, follow it up the hill to the gates at the top of the field. Either gate will do.
Once through, go right with the fence now on your right and a cropped field on the left. After about 150 metres, with conifers on the right, you pick up the remains of a surfaced track and in 100 metres where this goes left at the field edge, go ahead along a path through Camp Wood.
(G) Around you are the concrete and brick remains of a war-time camp. This was the site of an American army hospital, built to cater for anticipated WW2 casualties. In 1947 it became a Polish ‘displaced persons’ camp, where girls whose education had been disrupted by the war were resettled to finish their schooling. By 1950 there were over 400 girls, all living in Nissen huts, but with a well-equipped school, medical facilities and chapel nearby. By July 1954 all pupils had completed their courses and the school was closed and eventually dismantled. The woodland you now walk through was planted in the 1990s and covers what remains of the site.
When you come to a cross path turn right and walk for a few metres to the edge of the wood which you leave via a gate into parkland. To your left is a high stone wall, beyond which the traffic on the busy A429 can be heard. Walk down the hill to the bottom where you reach a track, go left along it to leave the estate though green painted gates; you are now on the main road, the Fosse Way.
(H) The Fosse Way is a Roman road, shown by excavations to have been built partly on earlier tracks. It crosses the country diagonally from a point near Axminster to Lincoln, passing though Bath, Cirencester and Leicester, all Roman stations. This ancient crossing point was used as a watering stop and has had an inn beside it for centuries. The present old coaching inn has remaining 15th century structures and inside there are the original oak beams, fireplaces and flagstone floors.
Go right to cross the River Colne at Fosse Bridge, then pass the Inn and a road on the right.
[7] Immediately beyond the road, take a gravel driveway right and go immediately left into a field, then walk round the edge with the boundary to your right, passing cottages then following a hedge. At the end of the field go through a metal gate and continue, now with a wire fence to your left while down to your right, a delightful brook hurries on its way. This pleasant path leads you past a pond on the right, although it may be overgrown. Cross a stile and turn right, keeping to the river valley along Hedgley Bottom.
Now, a wooden fence is to your right, then a dry-stone wall with screen of conifers, then a stile gives access to a lane where you turn left. Walk up the lane, eventually passing a road joining from the left.
[8] On the right, there is a redundant phone box, now converted by the Parish Council into a public information point, lost property depot and book exchange. Continue to the top of the hill, where there are minor lanes left and right, which you ignore. Continue, bearing left and starting to lose height. A few metres further, opposite a cottage on the left, look for Saffron Hill House on the right (the name is low down on a wooden board). There is a footpath and stile on the right just before the house, but you need to take the grassy path beyond the house, keeping it to your right, and then climb the stile on the left at the end of the path into a meadow. Cross to a wooden field gate and into a further field, then contour across the centre to climb a double stile.
Go ahead, contouring the field with a stream down to your right, climb a further stile, then cross the following meadow on an obvious ascending path, aiming for a gate where you gain access onto a narrow lane. Turn left along the lane, bearing right as it climbs to a junction. Take the road up to the left, to ‘Hawks Lane House’ then, reversing your outward route, pass the school on your left and climb to a T-junction. Go left and walk along the road to the village hall and your transport.