Six Amazing Cotswold Walks from Broadway to Chipping Campden
As your gateway to the Cotswolds, Blundson House Hotel is the perfect base to explore honey-coloured cottages, meandering wild flower lanes and green-rolling vistas.
A fantastic way to traverse this glorious county is a walking holiday. Perhaps the best-known walk across the Cotswolds is the long-trodden Cotswold Way. Starting in the market town of Chipping Campden, the Cotswold Way is a 102 mile walk that finishes in the Roman city of Bath and celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2020.The Cotswold Way has a number of surprisingly steep climbs but can be completed by anyone that’s reasonably fit. The walk is the most well known but there are a number of equally stunning ambles.
Here we provide a six shorter routes and longer stomps, offering a range of walking to drink in the beauty of the Cotswolds and all it delivers.
Rollright Stones Walk
A mythical, Neolithic, ring of stones is the highlight of this walk, named the Kings Men, Whispering Knights and King Stone. Transformed by a terrible witch, Cotswold legend tells the tale that the stones were a king and his knights.
Whatever the story, the stone circle is reached by starting in the market town of Chipping Norton and following the path to the quaint hamlet of Little Rollright. The stone circle rises up as you walk across a lush, green valley during the jaunt.
Broadway Tower
The walk to the impressive Broadway Tower starts in Chipping Campden, (like The Diamond Way) at the top of the Cotswold Way. To reach the tower you walk South West from the town, through woodlands up to the turreted monolith, where on a clear day you can see 16 counties.
From the tower, continue to the delightful village of Broadway, then follow your route back to Chipping Campden and where you started.
Cleeve Hill Circular Walk
Cleeve Hill circular walk is a wonderful journey into the wildlife, flora and fauna of the Cotswolds. There’s a high chance of spotting rare birds and plants that only appear in the region on this route.
The walk starts at the Cleeve Hill Golf Club just behind its car park and crosses streams, rolling hills and woodlands. It’s not a short walk at 10.5 km but the sweeping views across the Malverns and Wales as well as the limestone and grasslands of Cleeve Hill make it worthwhile.
A note of caution is if that heavy fog can fall on Cleeve Hill at speed when the weather is bad and quarrying around the hill has left some dangerous rockfalls so a map and compass is essential.
Bibury to Colne St Aldwyns
Another 10km walk worth exploring is a circular walk from the picturesque Coln, taking in the villages of Bibury, Arlington and Coln St. Aldwyns. If it’s honey-coloured cottages you want, then this is the walk for you.
Starting at Coln crossroads, the walk takes in a couple of hill climbs, Yew Tree Lodge and the green fields of Arlington. Onwards to Bilbury with a gentle stroll, the village is the ideal location for a pitstop with cafés as well as chocolate box cottages to dream about.
A Coln Valley walk is the final part of the route, taking you back to the starting point in Coln.
The Blossom Trail
Spring is the best time to walk this lengthy trail for obvious reasons. The pink and white blossom should be in full bloom, bursting from apple and cherry trees along the way. With lots of local produce trust boxes, farm shops and pick-your-own options on route you won’t be short of sustenance.
The Blossom Trail is a fully signposted 64 km route through the stunning Vale of Eversham, a picture perfect vision of rural England with patchwork fields, chimney stack farms, and candyfloss clouds.
Start at Eversham and ask anyone for the start of the train then just follow the signs.
The Diamond Way
From Chipping Campden to Northleach, Guiting Power to Bourton-on-the-Water, The Diamond Way is a challenging walk that covers all bases of Cotswolds sight-seeing.
Honey hamlets, smoky woodlands and refreshing streams, there’s everything to create unforgettable memories of your Cotwolds adventure. The Diamond Way was created by the North Cotswold Rambler’s Group to celebrate its 60th Jubilee and takes a week to complete.
With Blunsdon House Hotel as your base and plenty of traditional pubs dotted across the walk, what a way to enjoy all the beauty of the Cotswolds while slowing down your pace of life.