Walking in England - Cirencester – Miserden, Saturday 1998 August 8

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From the hotel, we were dropped off by Mike, a part-time driver (when he’s not working for the County cutting grass). He chatted with me all the way, since I rode in the front of the van. Peter is our guide.

We walked along well-defined paths and roads. Houses and beautiful gardens were seen with some frequency. These groups of houses are nominally villages, although none have any services beyond a mail box and a (red) phone box. Most of the houses have been extensively refurbished, repaired, and extended. Apparently they are expensive. Some villages are farm yards, in which all the outbuildings have been converted to houses. We saw this in Devon, too.

To get to lunch we walked along a paved road to the Highwayman Inn, an old coaching house, now adjacent to the new motorway. We were walking on the old road, coming in at the back.

The walking became more challenging in the afternoon as we entered the Cotswolds more properly. With a few exceptions, the paths were still well-defined, but they went up and down the hills and the valley. The second part of the afternoon featured a long, beautiful walk from Syde Church to an aristocratic property – Miserden. Every time we came to a height of land, we could see back to Syde Church. In effect we walked down into the valley, past the Game Keeper’s Cottage, across a “river” (minor stream), and up through the park.

View map of this day's walk.

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Photos

Mother sheep
Eager lamb

Anglican Church of St Mary the Virgin in Syde 12 century
Smallest church in Gloucestershire

Arlington Row, Bibury
Originally built in 1380, housed weavers in the late 17 century

Arlington Row cottages
Nearby Rack Isle used for drying wool cloth

Arlington Row
Preserved by the Royal College of Arts in 1929 and restored by the National Trust in the 1970s

Restored buildings
Arlington Row

Mildly curious sheep
Walking through fields

Longford House
Traditional design using golden Cotswold stone

Historic font
Anglican Church of St Mary the Virgin

Looking back to Syde Church
On top of a hill at 3:20 pm

Looking back to Syde church from Miserden
On top of the next hill at 4:30 pm

Comments

[Isabel Gibson]

Lovely scenery and mortar-less wall. Love the red phonebox. I wonder if they still have them now. I was wondering how far people living in those wee villages would have to drive/travel to work - from your map, it looks like bigger centres are all around. I got a kick out of the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty - I've never seen or heard that terminology but it's sort of straightforward, isn't it?