Stow-on-the-Wold (From Worcester News)

Stow-on-the-Wold

2:48pm Monday 25th January 2010

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STOW-on-the-Wold is one of the loveliest of Cotswold towns, its honey-coloured stone buildings unchanged since the days when The Square thronged with sheep instead of cars, when it was still the site of one of England’s largest livestock markets.

Stow now welcomes tourists instead of sheep and it is packed with cafés and pubs, including the Royalist Hotel which claims to be the oldest in England.

If the claim is true, they’ve been serving pints in this delightful establishment since 974.

The surrounding villages are much quieter than bustling Stow, but just as notable for their architecture.

This walk uses green lanes and well-maintained field paths to visit seven of them, all set in lovely rolling countryside.

First up is Lower Swell, named after the freshwater springs which feed the river Dikler.

The valley of the Dikler is a delight, blessed with extensive areas of parkland, magnificent trees and a lake which attracts abundant wildfowl.

Lower Swell’s charming little church of St Mary, built in about 1100, is well worth a visit.

The carvings above the door and around the chancel arch are particularly notable.

St Nicholas’ Church at Lower Oddington is interesting too, with a fascinatingly gruesome 14thcentury ‘doom painting’, depicting the torments of Hell.

Icomb, a hillside village with fine views, used to belong to Worcestershire, though it was an enclave, completely separate from the rest of the county. This anomaly came to an end in 1844, when the Detached Parishes Act transferred it to Gloucestershire.

FACT FILE

FACT FILE Start: The Square, Stow-on-the-Wold, grid ref SP192257. Stow is south-east of Evesham and Broadway, via A44 and A424.

Length: 14 miles/22.5km.

Maps: OS Explorer OL45, OS Landranger 163.

Terrain: Farmland, parkland and woodland; some slopes but never steep.

Footpaths: Mostly excellent, although waymarking is poor in places.

Stiles: 10.

Parking: There are car parks by the Fosse Way (A429) on the northern edge of Stow and by Maugersbury Road on the southwestern side.

Public transport: Train to Moreton-in-Marsh then bus 801 or 855 to Stow. Alternatively, take the train a little further, to Kingham, then make the short walk to Bledington to join the route there. To go all the way by bus, take 550/551 to Evesham, 559 to Broadway, 21/22 to Moreton and 801/855 to Stow; Rail Enquiries 08457 484950, Traveline 0871 200 2233.

Refreshments: Stow, Bledington, the Oddingtons.

DIRECTIONS

1 Leave Stow on the Gloucestershire Way, walking along High Street from the north end of The Square. Cross the Fosse Way then take the B4077. Walk downhill on a wide grass verge on the left until the Gloucestershire Way enters a field. Descend by the left edge, cross the river Dikler and proceed to a junction. Turn left, along Heart of England Way/Donnington Way. The path follows the Dikler through fields, only occasionally waymarked but well-trodden and unmistakeable.

After leaving the fields, join an access track and continue in much the same direction.

2 When almost at a road (B4068) turn right across a field, aiming for a point to the left of St Mary’s Church, where a gate gives access to a track to Lower Swell. Turn left along a lane, then straight on at a junction, past the village green, then turn left, signed to the Slaughters. At the far end of the village turn left on a bridleway (still Heart of England Way/Donnington Way). When you come to Hyde Mill, cross the river Dikler and turn right on Macmillan Way/Donnington Way. Walk to the Fosse Way, cross over and turn left on the footway. Turn right after 300m, still on the Macmillan Way. Walk to a crossroad at Maugersbury.

3 Turn right, then soon right again on a bridleway. Fork right at Oxleaze Farm, and follow the bridleway to a lane. Turn left, soon left again and then next right into Icomb. Turn left by the war memorial, then take a path to the right of the church. The path shares space with a private road at first, then runs through fields and young woods, waymarked with the blue diamonds of the Diamond Way. Keep straight on at a junction, crossing the Oxfordshire Way. After a series of small fields, turn right at an unsigned junction then turn left through Church Westcote.

4 Turn left opposite the church, following the Diamond Way through fields. Waymarking is patchy here, but if in doubt anywhere just keep straight on.

After three-quarters of a mile, turn left on Seven Shires Way/Diamond Way, initially following a bridleway but soon going through a gate to take a footpath instead.

Walk through woodland and scrub, then across fields. Cross Westcote Brook and turn right, joining the Oxfordshire Way which leads across fields to Bledington. Pass the church and turn left. Continue across the village green and alongside the B4450 before taking the Oddington bridleway on the right. Stay on this bridleway at all junctions, ignoring several footpaths and another bridleway which branches right.

5 Turn right on meeting a wide track at a major junction, and walk to Lower Oddington. Turn left through both Lower and Upper Oddington. Take a footpath (Macmillan Way) on the right after Fox Furlong. Walk along a passageway, diagonally left across a field and through a gate to the adjacent field. Walk along the right-hand edge to a hedge corner then diagonally to the left corner of a reservoir. Proceed along a fenced/hedged path and along the edge of playing fields. Leave the Macmillan Way when it turns left.

Keep straight on instead, then turn left in the corner of the playing fields and follow the waymarked (and diverted) path along field edges before cutting across a driveway to the road. Turn right, then soon left. Walk to Maugersbury and turn right to Stow.

Worcester News recommends the use of OS Explorer Maps, your ideal passport to navigating the countryside. This walk is based on OS Explorer OL45.

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