Stanton and Stanway from Snowshill

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"Discovering three of Gloucestershire's finest villages, saved from decline and decay"

Walk directions

From the car park walk into Snowshill village, descending to the right at a Y-junction past Snowshill Manor on your right, and the church on your left. After a 0.25-mile (400m) climb, turn right down a lane signed ‘Sheepscombe House’. After another 0.25 miles (400m), at a right-hand bend on the crest of the hill, turn left up to a gate and a field.

Go slightly right beside a fence up to a wall gap. In the next field go slightly right to the far corner and left along a track. Take the second track on the right through a gate into a field and walk slightly left to another gate. Cross straight ahead through the field to another gate, onto a track.

Ignoring the footpath to your right, walk down a stony track with a wood on your right. After 275yds (251m), fork right onto a stony track, veering right just before a stone barn. The track descends steeply through Lidcombe Wood. After 0.5 miles (800m), where it flattens out, a farm comes into view across fields to the right, after which the track bears left uphill. Continue straight along the track, which becomes a narrow footpath, to a road.

Walk along the pavement, and after 500yds (457m) turn right through a gate into a small orchard. Walk slightly left across this, bearing slightly right, to arrive at a kissing gate. Go through this and walk with a high wall to your right to reach a road.

Turn right and pass the impressive entrance to Stanway House and Stanway Church, both on your right. Follow the road as it bends right. Shortly after another entrance to Stanway House, turn right through a gate opposite a thatched cricket pavilion. Go slightly left to another gate, and in the next large field go slightly right.

Now walk all the way into Stanton, following the regular and clear waymarkers of the Cotswold Way. After 1 mile (1.6km), you will arrive at a gate at the edge of Stanton. Turn left along a lane to a junction. Turn right here and walk through the village, turning right at the war memorial. Walk straight on, passing the stone cross and then another footpath. Climb up to pass to the right of The Mount Inn. Beyond it, walk up a steep, shaded path to a gate. Then walk straight up the hill on a stony track (ignoring a path to the right after a few paces). Climb all the way to the top to meet a lane, passing through two gates.

Ignore the ‘Cotswold Way’ sign and walk down the lane for 250yds (229m), then turn left by a sign for Littleworth Wood. Follow the main path through the trees. At the bottom go through a kissing gate, continuing across the field to a kissing gate in the far corner by the road. Pass through, turn left and walk for 600yds (549m). Approaching a cottage, turn right through a gate into a scrubby field. Descend via steps at first to the far side and turn right through a gate into trees. Continue to a stile on your right, cross it and turn left. Follow the bottom of the hillside to a track, then via a gate back into Snowshill.

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Location

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Tracks, estate grassland and pavements, several stiles

Landscape - High grassland, open wold, wide-ranging views and villages

Dog friendliness - On lead – livestock on most parts of walk, but more freedom in enclosed lanes and woodland

Parking - Pipers Grove car park just north of Snowshill village

Toilets en route - None on route

Walks in Gloucestershire

About the walk

Villages in the Cotswolds have not always been prosperous. Many, like Stanton and Snowshill, were owned by great abbeys, and passed to private landlords after the Dissolution. Subsistence farmers were edged out by short leases and enclosure of fields. Villagers who had farmed their own strips of...

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Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

Find out more

Walking in Safety

Read our tips to look after yourself and the environment when following this walk.

Learn more

Get an AA guide

Explore our range of ‘50 Walks in’ guides - they’re the ideal companion for a ramble.

Learn more

About the area

Gloucestershire is home to a variety of landscapes, including the Cotswolds, a region of gentle hills, valleys and gem-like villages that roll through the county. To their west is the Severn Plain, watered by Britain’s longest river and characterised by orchards and farms marked out by hedgerows that blaze with mayflower in the spring; beyond the Severn are the Forest of Dean and the Wye Valley.