The Cotswold Way: Leg Two
Broadway to Stanway (9.72km according to OS map App, Strava stopped recording!)
Sunday 22nd October, 10am. Elevation gain 879 Ft, 14,024 steps
8 walkers at the start in Broadway
In October eight walkers, a mix of polers and non-polers met in a lay-by just outside Stanway in order to drive together to Broadway to start our second leg of the Cotswold Way Challenge, leaving a few cars in Stanway for the end.
After parking our cars in the long-stay car park we set off to begin where we ended last month and take our start selfie! With a much better weather forecast than in the September, we set off from the signpost in Broadway with our waterproofs stashed away!
We head down the High Street in Broadway towards the village green, turning left onto Church Street and past the Crown and Trumpet pub, taking in all the gorgeous creamy Cotswold stone!
Broadway
We turn right onto a path, joining the Wychavon Way and continuing along the path crossing a road and then we begin to head uphill. The uphill heads towards Broadway Coppice and at the top we return our gaze back towards Broadway for a stunning view.
View back towards Broadway
Once through the Coppice the path heads out across farmland on a farm track which is muddy in places, but nowhere near as muddy as we had feared!
Heading through Broadway Coppice with it’s beautiful Beech Trees. Spotted a benchmark on a Cotswold stone pillar!
The next part of this part of The Cotswold Way is relatively flat with a few small undulations and mostly on firm tracks, we pass several disused quarries or medieval skate parks as we have renamed them! We also passed the site of Shenberrow Hill Camp, a Iron Age defended settlement, probably a Hill Fort. Thankfully we were descending the hill!
This area provided wide, flat firm tracks - perfect for Nordic Walking! The weather was clear and provided excellent opportunities for beautiful views across to the Malvern Hills in the distance.
We took a pause at the top of a hill to get our breath back and have a snack before continuing with some interesting downhill sections - bit slippy!
The weather was glorious by this point and layers were being discarded! The horses were definitely enjoying the sunshine! We’re heading into the village of Stanton and civilisation.
Stanton is a quintessential Cotswold village with many gorgeous 16th century honey-coloured buildings, thatched rooves and surprisingly quiet streets. We take advantage of the stunning scenery and sunshine and perch round the medieval cross to eat our lunch.
Polite sign in Stanton!
After walking through the picturesque village of Stanton we continue through land belonging to the Stanway Estate. We walked through a field still showing the ancient practice of ridge and furrow farming - the grass looking like corduroy! (top left)
What a stunning old oak tree, one of several majestic trees we passed walking through the estate and not something you see everyday - a thatched cricket pavilion! This was a gift from the author JM Barrie who stayed at Stanway House in the 1920’s, it’s built on staddle stones. Such a beautiful day!
We soon reach the village of Stanway, dominated by the impressive Stanway House, a Jacobean manor house, which has the single highest gravity-fed fountain in its grounds (300 feet if you’re curious). I rather liked the gateway! Stanway also has a fully restored 13th Century Watermill, I feel a return trip in the Summer when both the house and watermill are open to visitors might be necessary! St Peter’s Church in Stanway is primarily 12th century, late Norman style, it has lovely Yew trees surrounding it.
Walking up past the watermill towards the main road, lovely mossy old dry stone wall!
We happily finished this section of our Cotswold Challenge here at the Stanway WW1 memorial. There is a bronze sculpture of St George and the Dragon mounted on a stone column and plinth. The sculpture was created by Alexander Fisher. What a lovely few hours spent exploring this section of the Cotswold Way!
