Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SECTION 11
Hawkesbury Upton to Tormarton
Distance
8 miles (12½km)
Maps
Harvey's Cotswold Way 1:40,000
OS Landranger 172 Bristol, Bath & Surrounding
Area 1:50,000
OS Explorer 167 Thornbury, Dursley & Yate, and 155
Bristol & Bath 1:25,000
Accommodation
Horton (+ ½ mile (800m)), Old Sodbury and Tormarton
Refreshments
Old Sodbury and Tormarton
Although there are a few small villages along this section of the route, it is very much
a peaceful, seemingly remote stretch of countryside to wander through, and while it
has none of the previous scarp-edge vastness of view, there are nevertheless vistas of
great beauty to enjoy. The descent to Horton Court is a highlight, another is the visit
to Sodbury Hill Fort, yet another the crossing of Dodington Park.
Within a few yards of rejoining the route by the pond in Hawkesbury Upton, the way
travels along an old green lane called Bath Lane. I took this to be an apt name when
tackling the route one autumn, for it was badly waterlogged from days of heavy rain
and I waded through with no opportunity to dodge it, the water coming well above
the top of my walking boots! (The name of the lane, of course, actually refers to the
town of Bath at the end of an old trading route, of which this was but a section, and
my subsequent walks along the track have been commendably dry.) The approach to
Horton Court, coming off the hills near the end of Bath Lane, presents a broad pan-
orama over low-lying land to the west, while from Horton to Little Sodbury you walk
through what seems a 'lost' farmland dotted with sheep. Lanes and more field paths
take the way from Little Sodbury to Old Sodbury, then on to graceful, pheasant-scur-
rying Dodington Park. Tormarton at the end of this stage shyly hides itself away from
the busy A46 to the west, and the deep cut of the M4 to the south. Here, it seems, the
Cotswolds have been lost and all but forgotten. Until the next stage, that is.
The village pond in Hawkesbury Upton is set in a triangle of roads. As
you approach it from the Somerset Monument, turn right, then shortly
after go left on a bridleway track signed to Horton. This is Bath Lane,
which you follow to its end. Do not go onto the road (Highfield Lane)
which crosses it, but bear right on a footpath that runs along the headland
of two fields. On entering a third field, with a derelict stone-built barn
