Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The tree-crowned outlier of Downham Hill is seen from the slopes of Cam Long Down
When you come to the edge of woods hugging Pen Hill, bear right and
follow a fence. As the slope eases, contour along the hillside on a lovely
woodland path among tall, straight, green-trunked beeches that look won-
derful in autumn. After some time the path is joined by another coming
from the left. Continue ahead, but shortly after meeting a second junction
the way eases downhill, narrows, and then emerges from the woods onto
a grassy hillside. Views ahead include the River Severn.
Maintain direction across the slope, pass above Woodside Farm then,
after hugging the woodland edge for a while, enter Stanley Wood by way
of a kissing gate. Keep straight ahead, rising gently, then over a crossing
track to continue gaining height. After a while the woodland path makes a
more gentle contour round the hillside, going among trees with just suffi-
cient space between them to allow glimpsed views out to the right. There
are several crossing tracks and path junctions, but CW waymarks keep
you on the correct line. The upper hillside eases and you discover that the
path is running parallel with a road. Waymarks direct you along the fenced
edge of a small wooded quarry on the right, soon after which you leave
the woods and come out on an open grassy space at Coaley Peak Picnic
Site.
NYMPSFIELD LONG BARROW
Nympsfield Long Barrow is similar in concept to many Neolithic barrows of the Severn-
Cotswold Group. Constructed around 2800BC it was used for burials and, probably, as
a place of ritual. The site was first excavated in the 19th century, when the remains of
