Cotswolds Walk Day 4 : Guiting Power to Winchcombe

May 19th, 2024 >>> Guiting Power to Winchcombe

Looking out the window it looks like we may be in luck as the morning while a tad chilly 8C is supposed to warm up to 20C under sunny skies quickly. We had enjoyed a good night’s sleep and a filling and very good English breakfast setting the stage for today’s walk.

We will follow the Wardens Way to Winchcombe through woods, pastures (many private estates), and several conservation areas until we reach Sudeley Castle on the outskirts of Winchcombe. The castle dates back some 1,000 years and currently is the only privately owned castle in England to have a queen buried within its grounds – Katherine Parr, the last of Henry VIII’s six wives. Restoration was started in 1837 and the current owners are committed to this effort. Today we will not pass through any villages en route to our destination.

Leaving Guiting Power we almost immediately start crossing fields and pastures…

 After yesterday’s generally flat walk along the Windrush River, the Wardens Way offers a bit more challenge with some moderate up and downs, the trail traversing undulating terrain and a myriad number of stiles and kissing gates…it is an interesting and varied walk with the land looking verdant and rich…

As we get closer to Winchcombe the Wardens Way descends for quite a while mostly through the Parks Farm part of the 519-acre private Sudeley Castle Estate. From our vantage point, it looks like a lovingly maintained property.

The Sudeley Lodge on the same property is a premier shooting lodge (pheasants and partridge) and has “shoots” 13 times a season bagging 150-300 birds a day. So if any of you have a harkening for a shooting holiday this place looks like it should fit the bill >>> and, I suspect the bill would be hefty. We did see lots of birds and only “shot” a few…

The Sudeley Castle is outside the town of Winchcombe and we have been told while nice to look at from the outside there is not much to see inside…

Finally passing through the town…

…we were glad to get to our Bed & Breakfast at the Zen Cottage as we wanted to rest up a bit having purchased tickets to the Giffords Circus for the 17:30 show. However, our hostess was not finished cleaning the room (we arrived well before check-in time) so we returned to the town center and had a latish lunch at the Red Lion. Pretty decent fare including a roast beast dinner for me…it was pleasant sitting on their terrace as various folks were enjoying the sunshine and food…

 

Afterwards, we headed back to the Zen Cottage whose owner is a Korean lady who has been in the UK for some 30 years, she was super apologetic and plied us with various organic snacks. After a bit of a rest, shower and away we went back to the Sudeley Castle (about a mile walk) to see the show…through the castle gate, down a lane and voila we were there:

Established in 2000, Giffords Circus is a small circus company, founded by Nell Gifford and her husband Toti Gifford, that tours market towns of the Southwest. They are encamped at Sudeley Castle making for a splendid setting. Each year they create a new show. In 2024 it is called Avalon …

…it is intended to immerse the audience in a colourful medieval world of pageantry and Arthurian legend, with lavish costumes, an opulent set, and a live band all conjured up by award-winning internationally acclaimed performance designer Takis, whose innovative and diverse body of work encompasses West End and leading UK theatre.

It was neat watching people > couples, parents and grandparents with children streaming into the venue and promptly at 17:30 the show began …

…we had never seen anything like this and it was very entertaining at times funny at others spellbinding. The main clown (a midget) was very good at times dragging audience members into the fray. The acrobats were quite accomplished and the audience was fully engaged…

It was a 2-hour show and we were quite taken with the performances and the overall production …a fun evening! The ending was very cool as the performers invited the audience to mingle and dance with them after the final curtain call …

It was a lovely evening as we strolled back to our digs. Quite good, but we were happy to be back at the Zen Cottage ….it ha been a very full day!!!

Today’s effort by the numbers: 28,824 steps including touring the villages, 6.2 miles (10.0 km), 735 ft total ascent and 1024 ft total descent point to point.