[1] Leaving the car park under the height barriers, turn right along Rissington Road, and take the next footpath left between houses and pass tennis courts. Go through a wooden gate and straight on along an enclosed path. At the junction with a lane, turn right, then bear left at path junction along a hedged track through two gates to emerge at the corner of a lake.
[2] Pass behind the boat house and follow path with the lake on the right. Leave this area by a gate and boarded walkway through a copse.Go through two gates, turn right and through another gate. Take the wheel-marked grass track to a farm gate then ahead, into Greystones Farm Nature Reserve (A) . Continue ahead with the hedge on the left through fields to a second information board at a cross path.
(A) Note the information boards about the history and management of the reserve. The posts at the entrance gates have a raised picture at the tops which can be used for “brass” rubbing, using paper and a soft pencil.
[3] Turn right, now on the Oxfordshire Way, to follow the big hedge on left, over water meadows, to the two river crossings. First is the River Eye and then the River Dikler.
(B) These two small rivers join the Windrush to the south of Bourton, The whole area has been exploited for sand and gravel and the fishing lakes are the result of reclamation and development when extraction ceased.
[4] After the second river, immediately turn left along the field edge, following the river which is down in a ditch on the left, and leaving the Oxfordshire Way which goes straight on.
(C) On the right, just visible is a slight mound in the grass field. This is all that remains of the Iron Age settlement of Salmonsbury. This may have been only a refuge for the animals if the villagers were under attack.
Continue with the ditch on left. In the second field, continue for approximately 150 metres then look for a stile in the left hedge, cross this into an enclosed path. In the next field, keep the hedge on right and continue to the road. Cross the stile, turn left and follow the lane to the main road.
(D)To your right along the road is the village of Wyck Rissington, with its wide grass-lined street and houses set well back. The church is interesting and worth a visit. The Oxfordshire Way passes by the churchyard.
(E)To the left is the former railway bridge . The line, which ran between Banbury and Cheltenham, was fully opened in 1887. The link to Bourton was open in 1862. There were some passenger services but the main traffic was freight - iron ore from the Hook Norton area to South Wales and cattle to Banbury market. After a decline in trade, the line closed in 1962.
At the main road, turn right along the pavement for 200 metres. After the last house on the left (north-west side) look for a footpath. Cross with great care to the stile, go along the field-edge to the left-hand corner stile. Cross this, keep the same line with hedge on right for three fields.
[5] Through a field gate, turn right along the hedge to another gate into a stand of trees.
(F)This is a footpath diversion that (at 2012) does not appear on the OS map yet. (The path used to go diagonally across the field.) At the far corner of this field, the route crosses the line of a Roman road. It is not visible on the ground but is marked on the map. Ryknild Street was built between Bourton-on-the-Water and Derby and York. Some sections are now roads and some just footpaths or bridleways.
Turn left along a grass track to houses in Lower Slaughter. Join the road ahead and round to the right on the pavement.
(G) Lower Slaughter is another pretty village. The River Eye provided power for the Mill, which now houses a museum, shop and café. The brick chimney was built when steam power replaced the waterwheel. This last is still on site and can be seen still turning. The mill can be found by turning right, upstream, alongside the river to the far end of the village.
[6] At the river bend, take the bridleway signed left along a tarmac path. Continue ahead when the river swings off to the left and carry on to a gate. Here, leave the hard core path, which goes straight on, and bear right on a grassy bridleway along a track, slightly uphill to a gate at the road. Turn left along the lane for 250 metres. At a fingerpost on left go through the gate and follow the direction indicated, diagonally right, down across the field towards a gap in the big hedge, to find an old stone stile and steps . Continue over a second field to trees lining the main road (Fosse Way again).
Cross again with care, through a gate into school sports area. Take the signed path right of trees ahead, up and over the old railway embankment. At the path junction go ahead between buildings to the road in the village (Lansdown) . Turn right then left at a footpath sign to a path passing the former mill, then going downstream along the right bank of the river Windrush.
(G) ]The river Windrush rises above the village of Taddington some miles to the north. There were several mills along the first stretch. Some wool and fulling mills belonged to the Knights Templar in Kineton and Barton. Others were for just wool and corn.
(H) The small, triangular paddock, just before the houses, is known locally as ‘conigers’ but the origin of the name has been lost in time. Possibly there were lots of rabbits in this and neighbouring fields as other place names with a rabbit connection have ‘coney’ in them.
Swing away from the river bank, leave a small meadow by a metal kissing-gate to an enclosed path and emerge onto Sherborne Street, opposite Harrington House (The HF Holidays house).
[7] Turn left, pass the Duke of Wellington pub and, before crossing the river bridge, take the path to right in front of buildings, including several eating places.
Continue alongside the river, cross a road , then cross the river to the left bank near the ford, turn right alongside the river, which is now on the right, and return to the car park.