Trailblazer Guide Books

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BIRDLIP TO PAINSWICK MAPS 17-20

For much of the next 6¾ miles (10.9km, 3½-4hrs) you’ll continue along the Cotswold escarpment through a woodland fringe, which opens out occasionally to reveal hillside areas such as Cooper’s Hill (where the annual cheese-rolling competition is held, see box p122). Be particularly careful not to wander off the edge of the escarpment in misty weather.

Painswick Beacon, site of an Iron-Age hill fort (see box p122) follows, before you reach one of the trail’s architectural highlights: Painswick. It was east of the town, in the Slad Valley, that the three-year-old Laurie Lee was famously ‘set down from the carrier’s cart’, thus beginning his evocative autobiographical work, Cider with Rosie.

While the world has moved on, many of the views along this part of the route are probably little changed – at least superficially – since Lee’s childhood.

LITTLE WITCOMBE MAP 17a
A steep walk down from the trail brings you to Great Witcombe Villa, which was constructed during Roman times, but abandoned around the 5th century AD. The foundations are still clearly visible, but almost as interesting is an unmown section of grass which in summer yields up numerous wild flowers, including the pyramidal orchid.

About 1¼ miles (2km) from the trail – or the villa – the Bickell sisters have been welcoming B&B guests to Springfields Farm (tel 01452-863532; 2S/1D; shared bathroom) since the war. It’s a traditional place, warm and welcoming, with an excellent breakfast (they charge £22 per person for B&B) and a packed lunch is available on request. You can sometimes arrange to be collected from close to the trail, and returned in the morning.

Just a short walk across the main road is the Twelve Bells (tel 01452-862521; daily noon-10pm), part of the Beefeater chain, with both food and service of a higher-than-average standard.

The accommodation part of the premises is a Premier Inn (www.premierinn.com; 1T/38D all en suite), where a modern room will cost £50 at weekends, or £60 during the week. Breakfast – taken at the pub – is from £5.25 a head for a continental breakfast, to £7.25 for a buffet-style English breakfast.

COOPER’S HILL MAP 18
High up in the woods, and right on the trail, The Haven (tel 01452-863213) is well named, offering tea and snacks to passing walkers. Campers (£5 per tent) can use the toilet and shower facilities in the house.

CRANHAM CORNER MAP 18
Not so much a village as a point on the map where the road to Cranham (and the Cotswold Way) meets the A46, Cranham Corner is nevertheless served by a bus, Stagecoach’s No 46 between Cheltenham and Forest Green via Painswick. On Wednesday’s Cotswold Green’s No 256 service also calls here. See public transport table and map, pp45-7.

Just quarter of a mile (0.4km) from the junction on the A46 is a pub, the Royal William (Map 19; tel 01452-813650), where food is served daily noon-9pm.

Off the trail to the west is Prinknash Bird and Deer Park (tel 01452-812727, www.thebirdpark.com; daily summer 10am-5pm, winter 10am-4pm; admission £5.50), where you can see both deer and an array of exotic birds from crowned cranes to peacocks and black swans.

The owners stress that there is no right of way past the bird park and that walkers must stick to the official rights of way as apart from the fact that animals, particularly deer, can be very dangerous there are traps and electric fencing around the park.