Jul 12th - Cheltenham to Winchcombe

Yay!  Our first day of walking and we successfully reached our destination of Winchcombe AND all in one piece! 😅

Leaving town bright and early it wasn’t long before we were walking through the town’s main public gardens, the lovely Pittville Park.  Moving on from here it was only a short distance before we came across the famous Cheltenham racetrack.  With its three racecourses it’s enormous and it took a while to walk around it, but then, once we’d got passed it wasn’t long before we found ourselves on the ‘Gustav Holst Way’ (he was born here!) and on our way to Winchcombe. 

With hills, woodland, farms, and streams, this was a lovely walk.  At one point we were walking on a fairly flat area that ran along a ridge and we could see for miles, the views were fantastic.  There were also huge numbers of wild flowers and butterflies and, although we could hear loads of birds, we didn’t get see that many close up.  We did however get to see quite a few birds of prey hovering, which is always a majestic sight. 

On our hike we came across ‘Belas Knap’, a Neolithic’Long Barrow’ (a burial chamber), constructed around 3000 BC.  Discovered in the 1860’s it still housed the remains of over 30 bodies and, although not particularly spectacular to look at, it’s pretty impressive to think that it’s over 5000 years old!

Bottom photo not mine!

Just as we were approaching Winchcombe our first sight was of the parish church, and just as the bells were being rung as well.  It was a lovely sight and sound and so, once checked in to our accommodation, we took off to visit it.  Built in the 1450’s, this was much larger than I would have expected from a town this size, and, seemingly, that’s a common thought around this part of the world.  Apparently the reason for this is that most towns in the area got rich from the wool trade and could afford to spend big on their churches, and so they did!

After visiting the church we took off for a wander around to see the rest of town.  With its many stunning sandstone properties, it’s ‘Olde Worlde’ Tudor High St, and some magnificent old pubs, this really is a beautiful village, I love it! 😊

Comments

  1. Lyn WalpoleJuly 12, 2023 at 10:57 PM

    Just curious. Did they have the Symphony 'The Cotswolds' emanating quietly across the landscape? Just a thought ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jane-0July 13, 2023 at 12:17 PM

      Nothing as flash as that Wal - the silence was enjoyable though.

      Delete

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