9 mile asymmetric figure of eight walk, starting from  Chipping Campden.

With its wealth of mellowed yellow and cream stone houses, it’s seventeenth century market hall and it’s fifteenth century church, Chipping Campden’s dignified curving high street is acclaimed as one of the finest in the country, a superb essay in harmony with buildings of all ages from the 14th century onwards- but mostly a reflection of the town’s prosperity in the “ golden age” of the Cotswold wool trade in the later middle ages and on into the 16th and 17th centuries.

The walk itself progresses past the ruins of the medieval manor house and pleasure gardens and over open countryside to the impossibly twee chocolate box hamlet of Broad Campden. Here you will find an old Norman church, now incorporated into a house, as well as providing inspiration for any GOC members who have ambitions to take up the art of topiary.

A slow steady climb takes us up onto the Cotswold escarpment affording fine views (weather dependent) over the surrounding countryside. The views continue more or less all the way to the village of Blockley where we will stop for our picnic lunch.

Continuing a strong GOC tradition, there will be a moderately steep hill climb out of the valley after lunch! On the plus side there are more fine views from the crest of the hill and down the other side before returning via Broad Campden, where we will pass the oldest continually used Quaker Meeting House in the country, dating from 1663, before a leisurely walk across the fields back to Chipping Campden.