Winchcombe and the Sudeley Valley - Miles without Stiles

Stride past Sudeley Castle then up and around the valley for elevated views across to Cleeve Common and Charlton Abbots. Walk through tranquil countryside full of wildlife and flowers.

Distance

5 miles / 8.05 km

Duration

2.5 hours

Difficulty

May be steep slopes, moderate fitness

Mobility aid rating

Stile free

Shape

Circular

Start

Address

Willow Cottage, Cowl Ln, Winchcombe, Cheltenham GL54 5RA, UK
View start on Google Maps

OS Grid Ref

SP024284

What3Words

surprise.insist.automatic

Public toilets

Next to the library in Back Lane car park.

Refreshments

Refreshments in the town.

Travel Info

Winchcombe (near Cheltenham) Back Lane car park (charges apply) behind the library.

Navigation

From the car park follow Cowl Lane into Abbey Terrace. Turn right on the raised pavement and after 100m cross the road and take Vineyard Street down to cross the river and go straight on until the road veers right. Here go straight on close to a gatehouse along the castle drive which becomes a metalled lane.

After crossing a stone bridge, climb briefly to two metal gateposts where the drive bends to the left. Here go through the gate on your right 1 signposted Wardens Way.

Follow the grassy path close to the play fort and go straight ahead through a wide gate alongside the fence. Continue to a metal kissing-gate and footbridge where you turn left, and go through a kissing-gate opposite. Follow the path ahead along the field edge.

At the corner turn right to reach another kissing-gate on your left. Go through and climb towards a pair of cottages. At the lane turn right and immediately left 2 along a signed wide track which climbs gently to a lane.

Turn left onto the lane and climb up and around the valley for about 800 metres (½ mile) passing above Parks Farm in a small wood. At a junction 3 where the Wardens Way turns left uphill on a lane, take the signed footpath ahead across a field, and not the wide track that goes slightly to the right towards fruit cages.

At a stone wall, your climbing is over. Here turn right and follow the wall steeply downhill on grass through a wide gate where the path bears left on a gentler descent to the valley. Keeping the fence on your left carry on to a signpost, with a kissing gate and bridge on your left 4.

Here turn right across the field and go through a conifer plantation with two kissing-gates. Carry on straight ahead towards some farm buildings. Go through a wide gate on the left and take the farm track and lane, passing a reservoir on your left. Where the farm track turns right go through a gate on your left 5 and continue in the same direction with the fence now on your right, when you’ll soon see the castle ahead. Carry straight on through two kissing gates and over a footbridge back to Sudeley Castle drive and retrace your footsteps back into Winchcombe.