20/08/21 - The Donnington Way Summary

Distance - 62 Miles

The Donnington Way is a 62 Mile walk developed in 1990 by Colin Handy in a little guidebook.  No longer in print but can be found on ebay, although this has surprisingly been superceded by a mobile phone app.  The app also details individual day walks from each pub. 

The Guide Book

The plan is to visit the 15 tied Donnington Pubs in the chain.  A few notes on that;

• 14 remain - The Coach and Horses, Ganborough a permanent closure
• The Farmers Arms in Guiting Power is temporarily closed in Aug 2021.  New landlord required, so should be soon back and running.
• In the way that I divided the route, two pubs are passed too early in the day.
• The brewery is walked past and has a shop.  I timed it when the owner was around and had an impromptu tour.  And a free hat.
• Three pubs have been subsequently added, but too far off route to add.  The app will be used to develop day walks from;
• The Pheasant, Toddington
• The Red Lion, Castle Eaton
• The White Bear, Shipston-on-Stour

There are two main reasons for completing the walk.  

The North Cotswolds area offers some perfect walking and the way shares paths with various other LDPs, including the Heart of England Way, the Monarchs Way, Windrush Way and Wardens Way.  It meanders in a circle through the quintessential Cotswold villages of Moreton-in-the Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold, Bouton-on-the-Water, Broadway and Chipping Campden.  The final two needing to work on their hyphenation.

The pubs are superb examples of Country House hostelries.  All flagged floors, exposed beams, ancient courthouses/cottages/farmhouses converted to use as boozers.  Despite the often lonely locations, they were all reassuringly busy.  Alan Winfield - pub crawler extraordinaire - rated most of them 10/10 on Pubgalore, usually with a "it was a nice drink" in the notes. 

My itinerary was based around easy public transport access - Moreton-in-the-Marsh is on the Hereford to London Rail Line.  Accommodation found at pubs through Booking.Com.  Two nights spent in Donnington Pubs.  Details on each day at the below hyperlinks.

Day 1:  Moreton-in-the-Marsh to Stow-on-the-Wold - 11 Miles.

Day 2: Stow-on-the-Wold to Great Barringhton - 15 Miles

Day 3: Great Barrington to Kineton - 14 Miles

Day 4: Kineton to Chipping Campden - 16 Miles

Day 5: Chipping Campden to Moreton-in-the-Marsh

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