Little Sodbury; the Ploughboy's bible - Miles without Stiles

Go through the lych gate and cross St John’s churchyard for a wonderful view across the Vale of Berkeley.

Through the church kissing gate bear diagonally right on the grass downhill towards (but not through) a kissing gate 1 in the hedge at the bottom. Thirty metres before the kissing gate turn right to head north alongside a large depression on your left which was a medieval fishpond. Carry on through a series of gates until you see a lane ahead. The gate is a little to your right under a pylon 2.

Cross the lane into a meadow and head to the right of a white house behind a hedge. Take the gate onto a lane ahead into Little Sodbury and St Adeline’s Church 3. It’s only 150 years old, but is based on the medieval chapel of Little Sodbury Manor, where William Tyndale was chaplain and tutor while starting to translate the New Testament into English. Don’t leave the church without reading his letter from a Flemish prison cell (asking for a warm coat, a candle and his Hebrew bible) before he was burned at the stake. It hangs on a nail beside the lectern.

From the church go back along the lane (following Cotswold Way signs) as it bends left and climbs to two stone gateways on the left. Just past them 4 take a wooden gate on your left into a small orchard and follow the Cotswold Way into the woods and a short climb towards the fort above you. When the slope eases, turn right on an easy path below a stone  building, through another gate and you are at the entrance to the fort 5.

The Cotswold Way goes straight across the fort but you can walk round the high ramparts on your left and rejoin the Cotswold Way on the far side 6 at a gate. The path drops quickly out of the wood and turns sharp left 7.

From here it’s an easy walk with views on your right. The next gate leads into a short muddy path between the school and the church back to the start.

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