Sunday, 8 July 2018

Stroll in the Cotswolds

Another beautiful day so decided to test out a new app 'iFootpath' the definitive walkers guide to circular paths and byeways. Started with Guiting Power circular via Naunton.

Guiting is in the heart of the north cotswold country in the upper reaches of the Windrush Valley.










The original settlement was known as Gyting Broc. Excavations revealed Iron Age activity, a Roman figurine, a small Saxon sarcophagus and the remains of a very early Saxo-Norman chapel.

The village was based on a manor owned by King Edward (the Confessor) but had had declined by the time of the Domsday Book of 1086. The first word of the name comes from the lords lePohers while Guiting comes from the Saxon word getinge, for rushing, perhaps referring the the Windrush River.


In 1968, The Manor lands and over half of the homes were purchased by Raymond Cochrane who intended to renovate and develop the infrastructure. In the 1970s, he formed the Guiting Manor Amenity Trust, a charitable trust, to oversee the village after his death. The trust manages the village and rents out some of the 67 houses.
The 5 mile circular tour takes in a number of cross country lanes offering occasional superb rural panoramas and vistas.
 




















































En route there is a 17-acre wetland nature reserve.















Though a centre section taking in the working quarry and mason works can be very dusty on dry days like these.







 

 

At Naunton you cross the river Windrush and pass through the picturesque churchyard of St Andrews before leaving the village and joining Wardens Way on the stretch back to Guiting. For the more adventurous the Wardens Way passes through the village, on its 14-mile route from Bouton on the Water – a favourite haunt of ours, particularly out of season -  to Winchcombe, passing close by St Andrews. It joins the Oxfordshire Way to the Cotswold Way and can be combined with the Windrush Way to make a circular route. 



So far impressed with this app not least because it got me back to where I started :)

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