Join a Talking Walk and you'll discover there is more to walking ....
We will be regularly adding walks to the programme, so do visit the site frequently. For certain walks, well behaved dogs are welcome to join us; please enquire when you book. If you would like to go on any of the walks in our programme, but can't make the dates advertised, we are happy to organise it for a date to suit you. Or, if you feel that a whole day walk is too long, we can offer a half day option.
To help you get more out of the day, we provide you with a booklet specially written for the walk which includes an introduction to the topic and the walk route, a detailed commentary on the walk related to the theme of the day, maps and illustrations.
We like to feed the body as well as the mind, so provide tasty snacks whilst en route. We also try and select country pubs with good quality food and beer for our lunch break (pub lunch not included in the price). You can of course bring sandwiches with you if your prefer.
The walk leaders have designed each walk to illustrate the theme of the day at its best. There are frequent stops to point out relevant features and to discuss their origins or ponder over their life cycle.
Please note that the start times may vary slightly from those advertised to accommodate changes in train times and for other logistical reasons.
Walks within the University of Gloucestershire programme include expert guide and notes.
13th to 15th August A walking weekend : Lark Rise and the Mitford Sisters
In association with Walk the Landscape we are delighted to offer a literary walking weekend designed for experienced walkers from Friday evening through to Sunday tea time. The walk on Saturday takes in the landscape of Lark Rise to Candleford. In Lark Rise to Candleford, Flora Thompson describes rural life in north Oxfordshire in the late 19 th century when the countryside was on the cusp of change. With great affection and in vivid detail, Flora compares the humility and poverty of the lives of the residents of Lark Rise with the sophisticated life in the town of Candleford, giving us fond portraits of characters such as Miss Lane the postmistress, Queenie the lace-maker and bee-keeper, and Sir Timothy the local aristocrat. We will walk between Lark Rise and Candleford and see the places where Flora grew up, went to church and to school. [ Grade and Distance: An easy 4 miles walking with car sharing between sites]
On Sunday we will walk through landscapes familiar to the Mitford Sisters. In The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate Nancy Mitford paints a light hearted picture of the privileged lives of the aristocracy between the two world wars, closely modelling her characters on members of her controversial family. We will visit the area where the Mitford sisters grew up and the churchyard where many of the family are buried. [ Grade and Distance: An easy 4 miles walking with car sharing between sites] For more information and to book a place contact Anne Martis T: 01295 811003 / M: 07718 660070 E:anne.m@WalkTheLandscape.co.uk.
Sunday 26th September 2010 : Adlestrop - Where for a moment a blackbird sang
On this walk starting from Adlestrop we'll look at changes to the villages of Adlestrop, Daylesford, Oddington and Chastleton over 400 years. We will go to the estate that Robert Catesby sold to fund the gunpowder plot, the church and vicarage where Jane Austen visited her uncle and the home built by Warren Hastings, first Governor-General of India, on his return to England. We will also pass by the site of the railway station where, in June 1914, the Paddington to Worcester train stoppped unexpectedly and a passenger, the poet Edward Thomas, for a moment heard a blackbird sing.
Start: Adlestrop, near Stow on the Wold at 10.00. Grade and Distance: Moderate 9 miles with 2 moderate ascents. Lunch at The Fox, Lower Oddington (or bring sandwiches if you prefer). Price £20/person for commentary by experienced and knowledgeable leader and handout on the walk theme. Pre-booking essential. Contact Anne Martis to book at place. T: 01295 811003 M: 07718660070 E: walks@walkthelandscape.co.uk
Saturday 9th October 2010: Rolling Hills and Standing Stones
5000 years ago our forebears used levers and pulleys to build a burial chamber from huge blocks of local stone. 4000 years ago they laboriously erected 105 stones in the shape of a circle. For the last 400 years historians and archaeologists have been asking why. On this walk we will share the myths and discuss the curent scientific explanations for these impressive landscape features from so long ago. We will also reflect on the ebb and flow of human habitation in Britain during prehistory.
Start: Salford, near Chipping Norton. Grade and Distance: 7 miles with two moderate ascents. Lunch at The Red Lion, Long Compton (or bring sandwiches if you prefer). Price £20/person for commentary by experienced and knowledgeable leader and handout onthe walk theme. Pre-booking essential. Contact Margaret Burden to book a place. T:(01608)641839 M:07747775503 E: info@talkingwalks.co.uk
Sunday 14th November, 2010: Lark Rise to Candleford
In Lark Rise to Candleford Flora Thompson describes rural life in north Oxfordshire in the late 19th century when the countryside was on the cusp of change. With great affection and in vivid detail, Flora compares the humility and poverty of the lives of the residents of Lark Rise with the sophisticated life in the town of Candleford, giving us fond portraits of characters such as Miss Lane the postmistress, Queenie the lace-maker and bee-keeper, and Sir Timothy the local aristrocrat. We will walk between Lark Rise and Candleford and see the places where Flora grew up, went to church and to school.
Start: Juniper Hill. Grade and Distance: Easy to moderate 10 miles. Lunch: pub (or bring sandwiches if you prefer). Price £20/person for commentary by experienced and knowledgeable leader and handout on the walk theme. Pre-booking essential. Contact Anne Martis to book at place. T: 01295 811003 M: 07718660070 E: walks@walkthelandscape.co.uk
Saturday 11th December 2010: Cotswold Churches and their Landscape
So many pictures of the Cotswolds feature soft yellow-stoned churches amongst green fields and trees bathed in mist, surrounded by grazing sheep. On this walk we will investigate the facts behind this rural idyll by studying the origins of the Cotswold church, architectural features particular to the Cotswolds and the church's place within the social, economic and agricultural life of the Cotswolds since the first millennium.
Start: Icomb, Near Stow on the Wold. Grade and Distance: A moderate 8 miles with one moderate ascent and descent. Price £20/person for commentary by experienced and knowledgeable leader and handout onthe walk theme. Pre-booking essential. Contact Margaret Burden to book a place. T:(01608)641839 M:07747775503 E: info@talkingwalks.co.uk
For more information
Complete List of Walks in our Programme
Country Houses, Pilgrims, Deserted Medieval Villages, Along the Springline: village origins, Woolly Money, Laurie Lee Country, Roman Remains, Prehistory in the Landscape, Wychwood: a Royal Forest,
The Power and the Glory of the English Country House
English country houses are a very familiar feature of our landscape. Not only are they very beautiful buildings designed and built by the top architects and craftsmen of their age, but the same care and attention to detail devoted to the house was also applied to the surrounding gardens and parkland. On this Talking Walk we will explore Ditchley Park in West Oxfordshire to build up an understanding of the functions of country houses and how these have changed and developed over the years. (For an additional fee a tour of Ditchley House can be arranged) An easy walk of 4 miles Starting: Ditchley Park. This walk is only available at certain times.
In mediaeval England the pilgrim was a familiar sight on the road. So, who were these people, why and how did they make these journeys? This Talking Walk will answer these and other questions whilst we walk along a well trodden route of pilgrimage. Devised by Tim Porter, led by Margaret Burden A rigorous walk of 8.5 miles Starting: Winchcombe
Shift, drift and decay: these words are often used to describe village desertion. On this Talking Walk we will explore how accurate they are by examining the historical circumstances which brought about the demise of several Cotswold villages. Devised by Tim Porter, led by Margaret Burden. A moderate walk of 8 miles. Start: Temple Guiting
Along the Springline: the origin of villages
The basis of landscape history lies in geology and climate. These two elements give rise to the topography and flora and fauna of a given area and the subsequent use that people have been able to make of the natural resources and the resulting man-made features imposed on nature’s blank canvas. Settlement and agriculture are two of the most enduring features that we see today. On this walk we will follow the springline on the Cotswold escarpment and examine the origin of the settlements that we pass through: Buckland, Laverton and Stanton. A moderate walk of 7 miles. Start: Broadway
In the 13 th and 14 th centuries the booming wool trade accounted for half of England ’s total income with much produced from the Cotswolds. By the 16 th century the Cotswold sheep was known as the Cotswold Lion and the fleeces as ‘Golden Fleeces’. During the 18 th century there was a change in emphasis from wool to meat production as the population increased resulting in a down turn in the wool industry. On our walk we will discuss sheep farming in the middle ages and today, and see evidence of the wealth that the sheep industry brought to the area. A moderate walk of 8 miles. Start: Farmington (near Northleach)
It is not difficult to see why Laurie Lee was so deeply attached to the valley where he spent most of his informative years. It is quite simply beautiful: a landscape of pasture, woods, arable fields and an occasional orchard, which winds its sinuous way along the steep sides of the valley. Around each corner another glorious view awaits you. But with his talent for words, Laurie Lee did not just enjoy the countryside, he translated it into wonderful prose and rich poetry so that it could be shared, vicariously, by many others. We will share it in person. A strenuous walk of 8 miles with several steep ascents and descents. Start: Slad (near Stroud)
In 1864 two men were digging for their ferret during a day out rabbiting at Chedworth, when they unearthed a handful of coloured stones they thought were from a Roman mosaic pavement. This led to the excavation of what would have been the very large and luxurious villa, built to impress in the prosperous Romanised area near to the towns of Corinium Dobunnorum (Cirencester) and Glevum ( Gloucester ). On the walk we will explore the villa and the surrounding area. An easy walk of 7 miles. Start: Chedworth
The North Cotswolds is rich in ancient monuments with evidence of ancient roads, long barrows, round barrows, standing stones and even a henge and stone circle. They are particularly abundant in the area around the Swells, and on this walk we’ll see what remains of Roman, Bronze Age and Stone Age structures after 2000 to 5000 years.
Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, William the Conqueror introduced the very un-English concept that all land ultimately belonged to the Crown. Royal Forests, where the King had the right to use areas of private land for hunting, were first recorded in 1086 in the Domesday Book, and Wychwood was one of twenty five entries. We will walk through what remains of this medieval institution, and discuss its natural history, how it’s been used over the past 1000 years and its prospects for the future.
Mont ’s Story
This is a 20 th century story of life in a small Oxfordshire village from the early 1900s through to the penultimate decade. Mont Abbott lived and worked in and around the village of Enstone, for all bar the first few years of his life as a farm boy (‘bwoy chap’ – as he called it), carter, shepherd and gardener. The walk is based on the book ‘Lifting the Latch’ and takes in all the places mentioned in the book and will help to build up an understanding of the monumental changes that took place during the course of his lifetime and the impact that these changes had on rural live. A moderate walk of 6 miles Starting: Enstone, near Woodstock
Saws & Ploughshares
For about 900 years, to 1800, the management of field and woodland in the Cotswolds changed little. But the last 200 years have brought fundamental changes to these sectors of the rural economy. Looking at clues the landscape can give us this Talking Walk will explore the changes and explain the reasons for them. We will also muse on the revival of some of these earlier management techniques. A moderate walk of 6 miles Starting: Foxholes, near Stow on the Wold
The Story behind the Hedge
This Talking Walk will open your eyes to all the clues which hedgerows give us about social, agricultural and political history, not to mention an understanding of their flora and fauna. You will never look at a hedge in the same way again. An easy walk in 4 sections totalling 6 miles Starting: Charlbury
Life on the Edge
From the undeveloped hamlet of Saintbury, nestled tightly against the Cotswold escarpment, through the revelry of the 17th century Cotswold Olimpick Games held at the top of the slope, to the varied architecture of the predominantly modern village of Weston sub Edge, this walk explores the rich history of this area. It reflects the topographical and climatic reasons for the settlements that stretch back as far as the Neolothic and Roman periods. A moderate to strenuous walk of 6.5 miles with 2 steep ascents. Start: Dover ’s Hill, near Chipping Camden
Windrush, a valley that time forgot
Far from the madding crowd, in the upper Windrush valley, Cotswold sheep continue to graze the unimproved pasture as they have done for centuries. In 1935, almost 40% of the Cotswolds was covered in this flower rich limestone grassland but today there is just 1.5%. This walk will concentrate on the ecology of the area. We will walk up the valley to the deserted mediaeval village of Lower Harford , then over the windswept Cotswold plateau, which, by contrast, supports arable crops and improved pasture in large-scale fields, and then back through the pasture and parkland of the Eye valley. With Anne Martis A moderate walk of 6 miles with one steep ascent. Start: Lower Slaughter
Regency in the Cotswolds
By the end of the eighteenth century country house owners started to view their property differently. It was no longer that dreaded pile which had to be visited every now and again to make sure everything was in order: an unpleasant distraction from the life of fun and jollity in London or Bath . The country house came into its own, offering the closeness to nature which fashion now demanded. An easy to moderate walk of 7 miles. Start: Longborough near Moreton in Marsh
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