Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SECTION 3
Tormarton to Hawkesbury Upton
Distance
8 miles (12½km)
Maps
Harvey's Cotswold Way 1:40,000
OS Landranger 172 Bristol, Bath & Surrounding
Area 1:50,000
OS Explorer 155 Bristol & Bath, and 167 Thornbury,
Dursley & Yate 1:25,000
Accommodation
Old Sodbury, Horton and Hawkesbury Upton
Refreshments
Old Sodbury and Hawkesbury Upton
After the residential streets of Bath and Weston that began the Cotswold Way, followed
by the interruption of major roads on Section 2, this part of the walk has a distinctly
rural quality to it. There are three or four small villages on the route, and here and
there some quiet lanes to wander. But it is the countryside aspect that dominates: the
great parkland laid out by Capability Brown, the fields and meadows, the glancing long
views, the breezy upland spaces where stone barns hunch their eaves and old trees
spread their branches to throw summer shade. There's a large Iron Age hill fort to tra-
verse, and a hamlet nearby where William Tyndale preached more than four centuries
ago. It's a peaceful land. Not yet the essential Cotswolds, perhaps, but one senses
their drawing power, a hint of good things to come.
Almost as soon as Tormarton has been left behind the way plunges into Dodington
Park, where you walk in the shadow of lovely specimen trees and practically trip over
pheasant and guinea fowl. Out then to Coomb's End, where field paths make a detour
to Old Sodbury. This is soon traded for Little Sodbury, followed by more fields that
lead to Horton. Horton Court is an historic place dating from 1140, and from it the way
goes uphill, onto a rough plateau to join a former trading route called Bath Lane - a
green lane that takes you directly to Hawkesbury Upton.
See map,
Southbound, Section 11.
There are easy, straightforward road routes out of Tormarton, but the
Cotswold Way ignores them and chooses instead to make a tour of the
village. So you turn right (north) at the T-junction near the Portcullis Inn
and walk towards the church, then left where a CW sign directs the route
across a meadow to a village street. Bear left, then cross into a field on
the right beside the Old School House. Now walk ahead across the field,
over a narrow road and another field to a second narrow road. A final field
