The Cotswold Way runs along the western edge of the Cotswold Hills from the beautiful old ‘wool' town of Chipping Campden to the historic city of Bath. Between the two it follows a meandering course along the western rim of the escarpment where the land drops suddenly to reveal distant views, through beech woodland, along the banks of mill-streams, across upland sheep pastures and dips into sheltered valleys concealing picturesque villages built from mellow, honey-coloured stone.

Along the way it explores one glorious village after another - each with some memorable feature like the grotesque gargoyles of Winchcombe's church; the neat rose-covered cottages at Stanton; Stanway's thatched cricket pavilion and enormous tithe barn; the elegant Pittville Pump Room at Cheltenham or Painswick's churchyard, with its topiary yews and unusual tea caddy and table tombs.

The Cotswold Way is also a walk through England's history passing numerous prehistoric barrows and hillforts, Roman villas, Civil War battle sites, castles and abbeys as well as the grand manor houses and magnificent churches built when England's wealth was founded on Cotswold wool.

Stanton © Glouc C.C.