Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SECTION 4
Hawkesbury Upton to Wotton-under-Edge
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 1:25,000
Accommodation
Kilcott, Alderley and Wotton-under-Edge
Refreshments
None until Wotton-under-Edge
North of Hawkesbury Upton the Cotswold escarpment sends wooded spurs out to the
west. Between them millstreams make cheerful companions for valley walks. There
are still a few mills left standing beside some of these streams, and on the gentle stroll
through the Kilcott Valley we pass one of them. There are woodlands, too, a deeply
sunken track cut by centuries of use, and a welcome return to the scarp edge with
its big panoramas (the onward route beckoning as you gaze towards tomorrow). And
there's Alderley, a small hamlet snug in its warm Cotswold stone, midway between
two green valleys. This is a walk of considerable charm, best taken at an easy, unhur-
ried pace.
It begins by passing below the lofty Somerset Monument, erected in 1846 in
memory of General Somerset of nearby Badminton, who served under Wellington at
the Battle of Waterloo. It then takes to fields and woods before slipping into the Kil-
cott Valley whose stream is followed north-west for a while. The way now approaches
Alderley, then crosses fields to the edge of Wortley before climbing onto the escarp-
ment at Tor Hill. Bridleways, footpaths and a narrow lane take the route from Tor Hill
into a final valley for another millstream walk into Wotton-under-Edge.
See map,
Southbound, Section 10.
At the duckpond in Hawkesbury Upton turn left along the road, and soon
reach the tall
Somerset Monument.
Turn right on a drive immediately
before the monument, and go through a gate by a lodge cottage. Walk
ahead along a track across Clay Hill, from which there are long views all
around. After about '% mile (1km) you come to a junction of tracks on the
edge of Claypit Wood. Turn left and walk down the slope to another wood-
land corner where you take a track cutting into the woods on the right.
