Corsham and Corsham Park

Warm, cream-coloured Bath stone characterises this handsome little market town on the southern edge of the Cotswolds. An air of prosperity pervades the streets where the 15th-century Flemish gabled cottages and baroquepedimented 17th-century Hungerford Almshouses mix with larger Georgian residences. Architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner wrote: ‘Corsham has no match in Wiltshire for the wealth of good houses.’ The town owes its inheritance to the once-thriving industries of cloth manufacture and stone quarrying in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Turn left out of the car park, then left again along Post Office Lane to reach the High Street. Turn left, pass the tourist information centre and turn right into Church Street. Pass the impressive entrance to Corsham Court on your left, and, as you approach St Bartholomew’s churchyard, turn right to a kissing gate and avenue.

Follow the path left after a few paces and walk ahead across Corsham Park, passing Corsham Lake, to reach a stile and gate. Go slightly right along a fenced path beside a track to a kissing gate and proceed across a field to a stile and lane.

Turn left, pass Park Farm, a splendid stone farmhouse on your left, and shortly take the waymarked footpath right along a drive to pass Rose and Unicorn House. Cross a stile and follow the right-hand field edge to a stile, then bear left to a stone stile in the field corner. Head straight across the field to a further stile and lane.

Take the footpath opposite, bearing slightly left to a stone stile to the left of a cottage. Maintain direction, passing to the right of a spring, and go through a field entrance to follow the path along the left-hand side of a field to a stile in the corner. Turn left along the road for 0.5 miles (800m) to reach the A4.

Go through the gate in the wall on your left and follow the worn path right, across the centre of parkland pasture to a metal kissing gate. Proceed ahead to reach a kissing gate on the edge of woodland. Follow the wide path, bearing slightly right to a kissing gate.

Keep ahead on a faint path across the parkland and along the field edge to a gate. Continue to a further gate with fine views right to Corsham Court. To enter St Bartholomew’s churchyard, make for a gate in the right-hand wall. Otherwise continue ahead to a gate.

Turn left down the avenue of trees to a gate and the town centre, noting the stone almshouses on your left. Turn right along Lacock Road and then right again along the pedestrianised High Street. Turn left back along Post Office Lane to the car park.