Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
curves through a long meadowland, keeping near the scarp edge with the
mixed woods of Long Hill Plantation on your right.
Coming to Shenberrow Hill
Shenberrow Hill
above Stanton is the site of an
Iron Age hill fort of about 2½ acres (1 hectare). When it was excavated in 1935, various
artefacts were revealed, among them pieces of pottery, a bronze bracelet and two bone
needles.
(grid ref: 080335) pass to the right of a farm, go through a field
gate and descend to the right through a tight cleave (or dry valley) among
trees. Be warned that this 'dry valley' can be rather muddy in inclement
weather. At the bottom of the cleave veer left, cross a stile, then descend
along the right-hand side of meadowland. Before long bear right over a
stile into an adjacent meadow and continue downhill towards a pond seen
in a hollow. This is Stanton Reservoir, a pleasant corner giving a dazzle
of light amidst the trees. Keep above the pond to the right, go through a
gate and bear left to pass below its northern end. A track now leads down
to
Stanton
(accommodation, refreshments), a glorious little village with
almost-perfect cottages lining an almost-perfect street (grid ref: 070342).
Note
For refreshments at the Mount Inn, turn right along the village street - the Cotswold
Way turns left.
STANTON
It has been called the perfect Cotswold village, and not without good reason. It is, in
truth, almost too perfect, like a Hollywood director's idea of a 'quaint' English village.
In these days of bland architecture, insensitive development and myopic planning,
Stanton very nearly jars with a sense of unreality! Its origins are simple. The village
was basically a group of 16th-century cottages and farmhouses (Stanton, or Stan Tun,
means 'stony farm') built from local stone in such a sympathetic manner that they
seem to have grown straight out of the ground. When Sir Philip Stott came to Stanton
Court in 1906 he found the village rather neglected, and from then until his death in
1937 he spent much money and architectural talent on restoring it to the splendour
we see today. Unlike Broadway, Stanton has not been overrun by the motor car, or by
advertisements. As such one wanders through in a dream of past centuries.
