June Walks Giveaway: Tetbury, Cotswolds

RSS

This walk is reproduced from our popular walking book 'Guide to the Cotswolds Pub Walks'.

📥 To download this walk and take it with you, click here!

TETBURY, COTSWOLDS

Distance: 5 miles

WALK HIGHLIGHTS

Tetbury is one of the prettiest towns in the Cotswolds. Wealth founded upon the 15th-century wool trade led to the construction of many of the town’s fine buildings, with Market House dominating the town centre.

This is as good an example of a Cotswold pillared market house as can be found anywhere in the area, and is used to this day as a market. It is still a town of independent shops, with its butchers and bakers, its fine bookshop and Prince Charles’ very own Highgrove Shop. A section of the former Tetbury Branch Line takes the walk out of the town for a pastoral excursion around a gently undulating landscape. Never far from view is another fine building, Tetbury church, whose elegant spire is a landmark for miles around.

RECOMMENDED PUB (in case you’re reading this in the future, when pubs are open again)

The Royal Oak, GL8 8EY www.theroyaloaktetbury.co.uk

HOW TO GET THERE & PARKING

Tetbury lies on the A433, 16km south-west of Cirencester. In the centre of the town by the Market House, follow the signs to the Old Station car park, where parking is free. The Royal Oak is located at the entrance to the car park.

Sat nav: GL8 8EY

OS MAP: Explorer 168 Stroud, Tetbury & Malmesbury. Grid ref ST894933.

THE WALK

1. Leave the car park and turn right along Herd Lane, immediately before the Royal Oak. Keeping to the left of an electricity transformer along the way, continue for 550m to a gate and Preston Park. Walk ahead along a hilltop path before dropping downhill, keeping to the right of a fence, to cross a very infant Bristol Avon. Continue to a gate on the right, turn left and follow the former Tetbury Railway for 1.2km to a gate and lane by the A433. Turn right and follow the lane for 1.6km, keeping ahead at one crossroads signposted to Crudwell.

2. Just beyond a track and footpath on the left, keep ahead for a few paces before crossing a stile on the right. Follow the right edge of a field, initially passing a pond, to a stile at the bottom of the field by some telegraph poles. Cross the next field to a gate, Tetbury church in the distance, before crossing the next field towards some barns. Bear right just before these barns then in a few paces left to follow a track between farm buildings. In 320m, ignore a track on the left veering off to a farm – keep ahead on a path running alongside a field to a gate and stile. Continue following the path down past some cottages and onto the B4014.

3. Turn right and just before a bridge, turn left along a cul-de-sac lane. Having passed a number of properties and crossed a river, veer right up to a handgate. Walk ahead for a few paces before turning right to follow a path alongside some trees and a stone wall. Beyond a stile, cross a field to a stile and the A433 by the Old Toll House. Immediately before the main road, turn right onto a side lane and drop downhill to reach some arches. Pass under what is the main A433 and turn right up Blackhorse Hill before turning right along West Street to reach the A433. Turn left into Tetbury town centre, keeping ahead at a crossroads past the Market Hall into Chipping Street.

On reaching the Chipping, head across to the far right corner of a car park before dropping down Chipping Steps to a road. Turn right back to the station car park.

PLACES OF INTEREST NEARBY

Take time to explore Tetbury. Look out for Top Banana Antiques Mall, home to over 30 dealers, the Tetbury Police Museum and much more besides. www.visittetbury.co.uk

← Previous Post Next Post →