Stanton to Winchcombe

Our final day of walking of this long weekend and it was delightful, if again extremely muddy in places. It wasn't sunny, but it was dry and reasonably bright all day, and visibility was actually better than yesterday. We parked one car in the long stay car park in Winchcombe (at SP024284 - the guidebook says parking is free here, but it actually cost us the princely sum of £1) and the other at the village hall in Stanton (at SP067344 - here the guidebook says there is a charge for parking, but although there is a charge of £1 if you are close to the village hall, in the outer area parking is free!). We pottered a little bit more around the delightful village of Stanton, peering at the Manor House beyond its manicured hedges and visiting the Church with its jumble of styles and levels, then set off across the ridge and furrow fields towards Stanway.

I've always liked trees and, since we walked the Yorkshire Wolds Way, I've developed a Hockneyesque fascination with the way trees sit in the landscape; between Stanton and Stanway there were attractive groups of trees and the landscape gradually became less farmland and more parkland. We joined a minor road and walked past the idiosyncratic thatched cricket pavilion, apparently a gift to the village from the author J.M. Barrie.

We passed the entrance to an impressive group of buildings including the Church and - probably - Stanway House, but unfortunately we didn't stop to look properly. We passed the Tithe Barn and then turned left past the Church and an extraordinary gatehouse - but we couldn't see anything more of Stanway House. We cut off a corner, past an old mill, and emerged onto the B4077. Up to this point, we'd walked today's route before (perhaps on a circuit from Snowshill?), but we think that our return route on that occasion continued on the road and then climbed up through Lidcombe Wood, whereas today we crossed the road and walked across fields of sheep towards Wood Stanway.

Wood Stanway is a tiny little place, though they are converting Whitfield House into a hotel, something the locals don't seem very pleased about! We stopped to take off layers of clothing (it was amazingly mild for January) and turned right uphill, past a riding stables. The climb continued for some distance and quite steeply, but it was good to get some exercise and lovely views opened up behind us. We climbed around the house at Lower Coscombe, and eventually we reached the advertised bench at the top of the slope and stopped to admire the view, including down to another house nestling by a wood.

We continued the short distance through trees to Stumps Cross. Yesterday we had parked here, right next to the stump of the cross, wondering what to do about the smell of burning from my car. It's a good little lay-by and there is more parking just across the road, but today we kept walking. Yesterday Richard had jumped out of the car to help a horse-rider through the gate; today, as we walked away from the road along a rather boring track we were following a horse and rider, perhaps the same person.

We took a right hand turn from the track and followed around the edge of field, with good views down to Stanway House and the lake that houses its fountain. There was a muddy section in a gateway near the Iron-age fort of Beckbury Camp, then we reached a clump of trees and a stone monument. The guidebook describes this as having "a little niche where passers-by can rest"; I think you'd need to be a thinner passer by than me in order to take advantage of this! There was a good view down to Winchcombe and a steep descent through the trees.

After passing through Hailes we took a track and managed to find a tree-stump on which to sit for a rather precarious lunch. Then we crossed two extremely muddy fields. The final field of the walk was grassy and less muddy, but it was deceptive; as we descended to a little footbridge I very nearly slipped over, then Richard did! After wiping off the worst of the mud, we walked down into Winchcombe. The route took us straight down the main Hailes Street, whose double yellow lines meant that there weren't the usual parked cars, though there were quite a lot of moving ones! We left the route of the Cotswold Way and turned right, back to the car. We had passed a couple of cafes etc. and I wanted a cup of tea - but Richard was still very muddy and it was my car parked here, so he didn't have a change of clothes. Overtrousers to the rescue! We had our tea and coffee at the Food Fanatics delicatessen and coffee shop, then set off back to Bedford, ready for work tomorrow.

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