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We set out on a circuar walk from the House to go to Clapton-on-the-Hill. Pleasant walk through farmland and we eventually reached our goal, a pretty, small village with a tiny church and an adjacent picnic area, ideal for a coffee stop. Splendid views towards Bourton as we made our way down the Diamond Way towards some fishing lakes. However access was fairly limited so we carried on after a lunch break to Bourton-on-the-Water, passing the splendid Manor House on the way back. Some of us took a diversion to the model village where the model Manor House was being cleaned from years of exposure to the elements - it did in fact look brand new. The man working on it said he was going round all the buildings in turn and hoped to finish them all in 10 to 15 years time!
We started out at a convenient bus stop in Bourton to catch a bus to the nearby town of Stow-on-the-Wold. The market square was the site of the last Battle of the first English Civil War in 1646 but luckily it's been cleaned up since then. It also has several narrow passages, originally used to control sheep at the market. On a good day as many as 20,000 would be sold. We had an hour or so to look around and those wishing to walk then met up and headed for the Church. The rich wool merchants were often buried with a tomb lid representing a bale of wool - there was also a law which meant a body could only be buried in wool - hence the saying " you can't pull the wool over my eyes". From the church we headed south towards Lower Slaughter, stopping at the Cricket Club on the way for coffee. More refreshments in the The Slaughters Inn before walking upstream to the historic mill. Finally a pleasant walk taking us back to Bourton so we could follow the River Windrush back to Harrington House.
Intrepid walkers took a trip to Bourton-on-the Water to stay with HF Holidays in Harrrington House. On of the prettiest towns on the Cotswolds it is very busy with tourists during the day. We avoided the crowds by walking and evenings were spent with excellent dinners and entertainment provided by Harrington House, managed by the brilliant Dionne. The Cotswolds are really good for walking, with hills on an acceptable scale and pretty villages and towns everywhere.
Starting from The Links Tavern in Liphook we headed for the church in Milland. However due to some slight unscheduled diversions (map reading errors!) we changed to a slightly shorter route to ensure we reaching the Links Tavern promptly. Many pubs have bad days and in fact on this day we needn't have hurried at all. The walk was about 5 miles.
We had much nicer weather than the last time we tried to do this walk. Bright sun with a few clouds which did seem to get darker during the morning. Excellent lunch in The Three Horseshoes in Thursley whilst we watched the rain starting to fall outside. Undaunted we set off for the final short leg back to our cars, dashing for cover as some showers were heavier than others.