26/12/2020 - Stanton, Stanway and Snowshill - The Cotswold Classic

Distance - 9 Miles

Geocaches - 3

Walk Inspiration - Cicerone Walking in the Cotswolds - Walk 3

Wasn't sure whether Storm Bella would put the kibosh on a Boxing Day walk - but as I sit down to write up the blog at 17:00, it still hasn't appeared.

I've done a few variants of this walk that links three of the prettiest Costwold Villages together.  Looking at my DNF logs on a nemesis cache in Stanton, it would appear that I attempt it every four years.

Today, I start at the cricket ground in Stanton, picking up the Cotswold Way heading south, through sheep fields.

Cotswold Way

There's a Church Micro Multi at Stanway - so a bit of number crunching and back the way I came for the first find of the day.  The obligatory photo of the gatehouse to Stanway House.

Stanton Church

Stanway House Gatehouse

Into Lidcome Woods - where its a steep walk on a forest ride, with the gravity pump for the Stanway House fountain still making it relentless boom.

Next up is Snowshill - where we take the first footpath to the left before entering the village properly.  Should you be doing this for the first time and Gloucester not being in Tier 3, its well worth the diversion for the Snowshill Arms Pub, opposite the church.   

The footpath to Great Brockhampton Farm follows the edge of the natural bowl that Snowshill sits on top off.   I had a look at some of my old blogs, where I have the exact same photos.

The Snowshill Bowl

The Cotswold Way is picked up again at Buckland Woods - with more great views, and a lot more people, as families start their traditional Boxing Day walks.

More from the Cotswold Way

And what would these families want after their exertions?  A beautiful British pint in front of a roaring log fire.  As if by design, the route back into Stanton passes the Donnington Brewery Mount Inn - which looks terribly sad, all closed up, car park bolted and its Covid crime scene tent rendered futile.

The Mount

Worcestershire is only a 5 minute drive away - so there could have been post walk refreshment at the Crown and Trumpet in Broadway.  However, with the house awash with left overs, I had already fashioned a significant meal to take with me.

Instead of booze, I'll try alternative entertainment in a phone box.  I tried in 2012.  I failed.  I tried again in 2016 and failed.  I even wrote in my DNF log that I hoped for more success in 2020.

Sometimes in life, its the little things that give the most joy

A Nemesis Cache Conquered.