Cotswolds Walk Day 3: Bourton-on-the Water to Guiting Power

  May 18th, 2024 >>> Bourton-on-the-Water to Guiting Power 

The morning looks great with temperatures forecast to be sunny and C18 by midday >>> the weather gods must be watching over us! A good sleep and a very nice breakfast > the full English breakie which is included in the price of our room!!

Today we have a choice of 2 routes since we already have visited the Upper and Lower Slaughters, we elect to follow the Windrush River on the Windrush Way, then cross the river into Naunton to join the Wardens Way which we will follow to Guiting Power.

We leave the Chester House Hotel crossing the bridge over the Windrush River and taking some last views of the town and then follow Windrush Way parallel to the river

We soon leave Bourton and follow the Windrush River…

The trail climbs above the river and becomes somewhat boring …

….before returning once again to meander beside the river. This a wonderful part of the day as we walk seemingly alone through fields of flowers, hawks, ducks and geese overhead….even a pheasant which flew out virtually from under my foot. Occasionally we saw the the telltale splash of a brown trout rising to a fly (not mine to catch today)…

Eventually, we climb out of the valley and then shortly pass Naunton Downs and the Ben Paul Racing facility > let’s just say the facility is enormous …

…then descend to Naunton which is about 2/3 of the way to Guiting Power and stop at the Black Swan (along with a horde of walkers) to energize …yes, you guessed it, with 2 half Cokes:

Just outside of Naunton, there is a dovecote erected in 1660… dovecotes were a privilege restricted to lords of the manor and parish priests from the 12th to roughly the 18th century, the pigeons bred up to 8 times a year and at 4 weeks old were then killed for their tasty meat and feathers. The Naunton Dovecote is relatively large, based on the number of nest holes, indicating it was associated with somebody of importance in the county, controlling a large area of land…

The walk keeps offering nice vignettes of what almost seems like a storybook land…

By one o’clock, the village of Guiting Power comes into focus…

The village lies beside a small stream, a tributary of the River Windrush housing a population of some 300 plus souls.  Most houses and other buildings are built from the traditional honey-coloured Cotswold stone traditionally associated with the area. It is well served with a bakery, Post Office, village shop, children’s nursery, village hall, recreation ground and two pubs/inns.

Its history is quite interesting. As a consequence of the great agricultural depression of the 1870’s, the town was in an advanced state of dilapidation by the beginning of the 20th century. In the 1930’s there were the first stirrings of an effort to buy up properties in the village to ensure that they continued to be rented to local people.  Then in 1958 Raymond Cochrane acquired the Estate and continued the restoration work. Cochrane was born a hermaphrodite, raised as an upper-class woman, Cochrane later rebelled, alienated his/her family and had a very early gender reassignment surgery. His passion became the restoration of Guiting Power, in his words, “” to conserve the houses in perpetuity; to restore them in character and internally modernize them, and to rent them at figures our tenants could afford”. These efforts eventually led to the creation in 1976 of the Guiting Manor Amenity Trust to ensure the future of the village lands and houses, nature and the environment, character and community of Guiting Power.  Now the Trust owns and manages about 50% of the village’s residential properties and lets them out to local people and Guiting Manor Farms Ltd which grows various crops and raises sheep.

We are early for check-in so we wander around the town which while not stunning, has a sense of comfort and belonging, which is quite pleasing. The Cotswold Guy is a small “grocery” store with many high-end items, vinegars, wine etc. >>> We purchase a sausage roll (the best I have ever had), a pastel de nata and sparkling water and consume this whilst sitting on a bench watching shiny, big assed Range Rovers drive by > it seems that the Cotswolds have the highest concentrations of these vehicles per capita.

Tonight we are staying at the Guiting Guest House, a 16th Century Cotswold-stone farmhouse quaint, cozy, expensive but very pleasant ( although the WIFI is woeful as none of our devices can connect to the internet and the owner is a dick about it, saying it is ok per speed test (not wishing to ruin a beautiful day...I will have a word about his attitude on Tripadvisor). In any event Annie got a little reading time in:

After a decent day of walking, dinner is beckoning as it turns out we are happy we had the forethought to reserve a table at the Farmers Arms: pleasant welcome, lots of locals with their furry friends, and simple but good food …what can you say, sometimes good reviews are justified…

 

Today was a gorgeous day and we are now becoming accustomed to walking in the Cotswolds hopefully the weather will continue to favour us. 

Today’s effort by the numbers: 20,984 steps including touring the villages, 6.6 miles (10.6 km), 584 ft total ascent and 424 ft total descent point to point.