Chipping Campden to Blockley

Start outside the Noel Arms Hotel and walk through the archway and out onto George Lane.

Walk up George Lane and continue straight up along the narrow road / path until you reach the main road. Turn left into the field, then immediately right to follow the hedge line. At the end of the hedge, continue straight on up the hill, then take the right fork to Broad Campden.

Pass through the gate and on to a path that crosses a private drive to a second gate which leads to a lane. Follow the lane past the Quaker Meeting Room on your left before reaching the small church. Turn right along the road to get to the start of the Monarch’s Way just past the Bakers Arms pub 1.

Opposite the Baker’s Arms pub there are two signed paths . Follow the Monarch’s Way. Walk up the track to a field gate marked Northwick Estate. Go through the gate, past a waymarker post to the top of the hill, through another field gate and bear right onto a track. Walk up to the main road and turn left. This road can be very busy and care is needed.

After approx 200 metres turn left through a gap in the wall (by a way marker post), turn right through a gap in a low wall, then immediately left. Continue down the left-hand edge of the field passing a small wood on your left to reach another small wood. Turn right at the waymarker post and after approx 100 metres turn left into a field, keeping the hedge line on your right.

Continue down the edge of the field to join a track. After approx 200 metres meet a crossroads in Norcombe Wood 2.

Carry straight on and exit the wood, continue straight ahead along the track. Cross the road, pass through the field gate and follow the bridleway along the left-hand edge of the field. At the waymarker, turn left and follow the path down the right-hand edge of the next two fields. Before the end of the second field the path turns right through a gap in the wall to join the house drive.

Turn left on the drive and where the drive turns sharply left continue straight on, across the field into Shales Coppice on the far side.

Follow the path bearing left through the coppice, crossing another path and exit into a field. Continue down the centre of the field and join a bridleway, bear slightly right to follow the track down into Blockley (Day’s Lane) 3.

At the bottom of Day’s Lane turn left into the High Street and follow for approx ¾ mile (1.2km) through the village. Pass the village shop and cafe on your right and the village green before passing into Park Road to leave the village.

Blockley has its own charm with its architecture reflecting the village’s past history associated with mills and silk production. Blockley was a main centre of the silk industry in the C18 and C19 with several mills using the water of the brook to power the mills.

Opposite the last cottage on the right, turn left over a stile by a field gate and then right over a stile. Follow the path diagonally to the left across the field for approx 200 metres to a point roughly in the middle, left of three large trees. From here you can see the field gate near the right-hand corner of the bottom of the field. Walk down to the gate, the path is indistinct 4.

Head up the next field, to a field gate in the top right-hand corner (not the earlier field gate onto the road). Pass through the gate, turn right over a stile into some trees and then immediately left. The path leaves the small copse and after approx 200 metres emerges in an open field. Follow up the left-hand edge of this field for approx 200 metres to meet a track. Continue straight ahead to a junction and bear slightly right on the track, passing a disused quarry on your left.

The disused quarry is now the home for an anaerobic digestion plant, a sustainable process of recycling food. Bacteria feed on the food waste and produce biogas which is captured and used as fuel.

Continue downhill and bearing left to approach Campden Hill Farm. Just before the farm buildings turn right down some steps and through a gate onto a bridleway and follow alongside the buildings up to a gate 5.

(If the ground is very wet then the best return route is to go through this gate and walk up the hedge line to re-join the Monarch’s Way that you started out on and retrace your steps back to Broad Campden).

Turn right before the gate and follow the path through trees continuing through a kissing gate and past an enclosure with iron railings.

After the enclosure, the footpath bears diagonally half right downhill towards the bottom left-hand corner of the field into trees and a way marker.

Follow the path across the field to a wooded area crossed by two stiles. Continue directly across the next field, aiming for the left-hand corner of the fenced area and then follow the right hand edge of the field as far as the stone wall.

Continue alongside this wall, turn right at the end and exit the field through a gate with the Baker’s Arms directly ahead of you. From here retrace your footsteps to Chipping Campden via the outward route.

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