Cotswold Flowers, Festivals and Follies

Our first ramble began at Colne St Aldwyn in the heart of the Cotswolds situated in unspoilt countryside and nestling in the beautiful Coln River valley. It is 3 miles from Bibury/Arlington which would mark our half way point. As well as a pub Colne boasts a community-owned village stores, post office and café. 

The church in Coln St Aldwyn contains a display of the village’s history and the Williamstrip Estate which owns much of the surrounding land. The first half of our walk followed the path along the River Coln.

 







The walk goes through mixed farmland, has a number of ascents and descents and encounters sheep and cattle. It also follows part of the Palladian Way as it wends its way into Bibury/Arlington.

Bibury/Arlington, a favourite haunt of William Morris, is now a favourite haunt of tens of thousands of year-round tourists.


The cottages along Arlington Row are believed to have been built around 1380 as a monastic wool store and later converted into weavers' cottages in the 17th century.  They are owned by the National Trust and are private homes. It has also been used as the backdrop for a number of period costume dramas.


On the day of our visit there was the annual Bibury Flower and Arts Fesrival - complete with tea n cakes in the parish church of St Mary's.

 The walk then took us up the sharp rise above Arlington Row

many a true word ...

Arlington is presumed to date back to a Saxon settlement of the 7th century. Known as Aefred's Tun became known as Alfredinctune in 1004 and later becoming Arlington. It is mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book. In 1570 an Arlington clothier Edmund Custis married and later left for the Netherlands in 1627. They sailed for Virginia in 1650 and established an estate that they called Arlington. A second Arlington estate was established by the son overlooking the Patomac river and through a series of Civil War events became the military cemetary at Arlington.

It is then across farmland before starting the descent back doen to the banks of the Colne at the and of this 7 mile meander.
 


The following day saw us on the Leafield and Field Assart trail. This is a 4 mile circular walk taking in the two Oxfordshire villages.The walk is along byways, bridleways and quiet country roads.

The church in Leafield, St Michael and All Angels, designed in 1859 by Sir George Gilbert Scott, was consecrated in 1860, but the spire, which is such a distinctive feature on the horizon for many miles around, was not completed until 1874.

It was then on to the circular Faringdon Folly walk. The walk from the Cotswold town of Faringdon. passes the striking local landmark of Faringdon Folly, built by Lord Berners in 1935 and gifted to Faringdon in 1983, and later passes through the small village of Littleworth.

steps to the top of the tower

The views from the top of the hill and, even more so, from the top of the towerr are amazing. The tower only has occasional opening times as it is run by an enthusiastic group of local volunteers so we were lucky to find it open.

Then it was back home, feet up n a stiff drink.