Cicerone Walking In The Cotswolds

A guidebook to 30 circular walks in the Cotswolds, the largest Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England. Ranging from 4 to 12 miles in length, the routes are graded from easy to strenuous, offering something for every walker. Fourteen of the routes described include sections of the Cotswold Way National Trail, a 102-mile walk that winds its way from Chipping Campden to Bath.

Step-by-step route descriptions are accompanied by 1:50,000 mapping. There is plenty of information on the many points of interest passed en route, including Roman ruins, ancient stone circles, Neolithic long barrows and historic villages. Also included is a useful route table summary, information on accommodation, and details on the region’s geology, landscape, plants and wildlife.

Covering 790 square miles, the Cotswolds is home to lush green hills, picturesque valleys and beautiful beech woodlands. The impressive Edge – a remarkable limestone escarpment – offers ethereal views across the Vales of the Severn, Berkeley and Gloucester to the Malverns and the distant mountains of Wales.

Seasons
Fantastic walking options all year round.

Centres
Evesham, Chipping Campden, Broadway, Tewkesbury, Winchcombe, Moreton-on-the-Marsh, Chipping Norton, Stow-on-the-Wold, Bourton-on-the-Water, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Painswick, Stroud, Cirencester, Nailsworth, Dursley, Wotton-under-Edge, Tetbury, Malmesbury, Chippenham, Bristol, Bath and Bradford-on-Avon

Difficulty
The Cotswolds offer safe walking for less experienced hikers but there are also testing gradients for seasoned hill-walkers.

Must See
The wide views from the Edge - especially from the likes of the wildflower-dotted, Jurassic grasslands of Cleeve Common, Leckhampton Hill and Selsley Common, or from the dramatic hillforts of Uley Bury, Painswick Beacon and Crickley Hill.