Garsington – agriculture and aristocracy

NEAREST LOCATION

Garsington

RECOMMENDED BY
DISTANCE

3 miles (4.8kms)

ASCENT
165ft (50m)
TIME
1hr 15min
GRADIENT
DIFFICULTY
Easy
STARTING POINT
SP580024

About the walk

For centuries the English village was the cornerstone of rural life. Farm labourers spent their money in the local shops and pubs and those who worked on the land or as servants in grand country houses were educated at the village school. People knew their place and didn't question it. They respected those who were seen as the pillars of the community – the landowner, the vicar and the doctor. They deferred to those above them.

The rural community is a very different place today, peopled by commuters, retired professionals and the self-employed. The class system still exists but in a very different form, and the local manor, once the domain of the local squire and a key component in the daily routine of the village, is now, in all probability, the home of a wealthy company director, a High Court Judge or a property developer.

Reminder of a bygone age

The manor house at Garsington is a typical example of what you might find in a traditional English village. The house is largely 16th-century and inside is an impressive staircase, various original stone fireplaces and some authentic 17th-century panelling. Near by is a 16th-century bake house and, beyond it, a 17th-century dovecote.

Graceful and imposing, the manor recalls a long-vanished world of style, elegance and good manners – a world inhabited by the well heeled and the well bred. Stand at the gate and you can picture the occupants of the house taking afternoon tea on the lawn during the summer or gathering at the front door to welcome guests as they arrived for a glittering weekend party. This would have been the scene at Garsington during World War I and through the 1920s. At that time the manor house was the home of the noted society hostess Lady Ottoline Morrell, who died in 1938. Lady Ottoline, who was the sister of the Duke of Portland, married Philip Morrell, who represented the constituency of South Oxfordshire in Parliament and was also a member of the famous Oxford brewing family. Lady Ottoline and her husband invited many of the leading literary and intellectual figures of the day to Garsington and soon it became a sanctuary for the likes of John Maynard Keynes, Virginia Woolf, T S Eliot and Bertrand Russell, among other members of the famous 'Bloomsbury Set'. Also part of this coterie were the English novelist and essayist Aldous Huxley and the poet Siegfried Sassoon. Huxley's most famous work had not yet been written when he visited Garsington. His Brave New World, written in 1932, is a disturbing portrayal of a Utopia peopled by human robots for whom happiness equals subordination. Sassoon used the manor as a refuge to try and rid his mind of the nightmare images provoked by his experiences as a serving soldier in World War I.

It is now home to the Garsington Opera, founded in 1989 by Leonard and Rosalind Ingrams, with regular summer performances in a purpose-built auditorium on the terrace. The house is not open to the public.

Walk directions

Facing the Red Lion, turn left and walk through the village of Garsington. Veer half left at The Hill, leading to Sadlers Croft. Keep right and climb the bank to some bollards by the war memorial. Cross over to The Green, keeping the Three Horseshoes on the left and an historic cross on the right.

Continue along the road to St Mary's Church and pass the Manor House. Keep on the road and, just as it descends quite steeply, branch left at a sign for Denton. Cross a stile and strike out across the field. Ahead on the horizon is the hilltop church at Cuddesdon, with a curtain of trees behind it. Make for a gap in the boundary and continue in the next field. Look for a waymark in a wide gap in the next boundary and aim to the right of a copse. Pass through the gap in the field corner, avoid the path on the left and head straight on across the field to the far corner. Cross two stiles to reach the road.

Turn right and pass alongside a stone wall on the left. Walk along to the right-hand bend and bear left at the sign 'Brookside only'. Imposing Denton House is on the left and a striking stableyard can be seen on the right. Pass a stile and footpath on the right and keep along the lane for a few paces, turning left at a public footpath.

Head for a stile and pass an ornamental wall enclosing Denton House. Cross a paddock to the next stile and then go diagonally right across the field to a stile. Then head diagonally left in the next field, keeping a farm over to the right. Cross a stile and a plank bridge and begin approaching the houses of Garsington. Make for a stile in the right-hand corner of the field, keeping the boundary on your right in the next pasture. Climb gently and look for a stile on the right. Cross it, turn left and make for two stiles in the field corner. Join a drive and follow it up to the road.

Turn left towards Garsington, pass the houses of North Manor Estate and the village primary school before turning right, opposite Denton Lane, to join a footpath. Follow it to a lane, keep left and make for the road. Turn right and return to the parking area by the Red Lion.

Additional information

Field paths and roads (can be busy in Garsington), many stiles

Rolling farmland to southeast of Oxford

On a lead on village roads, in churchyard and around livestock

AA Leisure Map 16 Oxford & surrounding area

Spaces near Red Lion in Garsington village

None on route

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WALKING IN SAFETY

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

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About the area

Discover Oxfordshire

Located at the heart of England, Oxfordshire enjoys a rich heritage and surprisingly varied scenery. Its landscape encompasses open chalk downland and glorious beechwoods, picturesque rivers and attractive villages set in peaceful farmland. The countryside in the northwest of Oxfordshire seems isolated by comparison, more redolent of the north of England, with its broad views, undulating landscape and dry-stone walls. The sleepy backwaters of Abingdon, Wallingford, Wantage, Watlington and Witney reveal how Oxfordshire’s old towns evolved over the centuries, while Oxford’s imposing streets reflect the beauty and elegance of ‘that sweet city with her dreaming spires.’ Fans of the fictional sleuth Inspector Morse will recognise many Oxford landmarks described in the books and used in the television series.

The county demonstrates how the strong influence of humans has shaped this part of England over the centuries. The Romans built villas in the pretty river valleys that thread their way through Oxfordshire, the Saxons constructed royal palaces here, and the Normans left an impressive legacy of castles and churches. The philanthropic wool merchants made their mark too, and many of their fine buildings serve as a long-lasting testimony to what they did for the good of the local community.

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