{"id":266,"date":"2011-01-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=166"},"modified":"2011-01-23T18:28:13","modified_gmt":"2011-01-23T18:28:13","slug":"import166","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=266","title":{"rendered":"Lasborough, South Cotswolds, Gloucestershire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On a cold dewy morning we set off from the Hunter&rsquo;s Hall Inn, a cheerfully chattering crowd of friends delighted to be up and away from post-Christmas lethargy. The wide south Cotswold fields were heavy with meltwater, their winter wheat flattened like a giant&rsquo;s crewcut by weeks of lying under snow. Hereabouts the Gloucestershire landscape revolves around a network of delectable hidden valleys, snaking unseen a hundred feet below the upland fields.<br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">window.onload = setupZoom; function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk;\nvar walkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=700,width=800,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script>First published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('Lasborough.gpx');\" title=\"Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window\">Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5169\/5319836956_f12e5ff303.jpg\" title='Llama'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5169\/5319836956_f12e5ff303_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5247\/5319837130_8c329e6ac7.jpg\" title='Lasborough Manor'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5247\/5319837130_8c329e6ac7_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5009\/5319236349_77817064f2.jpg\" title='frozen pond'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5009\/5319236349_77817064f2_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5242\/5319837430_4b60098377.jpg\" title='fungi'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5242\/5319837430_4b60098377_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5285\/5319236699_c9bbeedae9.jpg\" title='lane to Scrubbett&#039;s Farm'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5285\/5319236699_c9bbeedae9_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5049\/5319837708_3e6f2d2b06.jpg\" title='pigs'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5049\/5319837708_3e6f2d2b06_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5210\/5319237059_4e0542d2af.jpg\" title='horse at Bagpath'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5210\/5319237059_4e0542d2af_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5089\/5319838070_28b82843d3.jpg\" title='Hay Bottom'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5089\/5319838070_28b82843d3_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a>Facebook Link: <script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=266\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" width=\"200\" colorscheme=\"dark\"><\/fb:like><br \/>\nDown in Hay Bottom we met a trio of superbly disdainful llamas being led reluctantly across a footbridge. They dug in their widespread horny front toes, resisting until a coaxing word from their owner melted their intransigence. &lsquo;People just love to go walking with them,&rsquo; said the llama leader. &lsquo;They&rsquo;ve got lovely natures &#8211; haven&rsquo;t you, Two Tone?&rsquo; Two Tone fluttered a pair of eyelashes a Fifties starlet would have killed for, and nuzzled our hands with his baby-soft lips.<\/p>\n<p>We climbed through Church Covert to reach the closed and wooden-shuttered Church of St Bartholomew, all alone and lonely on its ridge. Nearby rose a little round tuffet of rough grass surrounded by a ditch &ndash; all that remains of some Norman lord&rsquo;s motte-and-bailey castle, commanding a deep cleft carved through the oolitic limestone by the Little Avon river. Diminutive settlements shelter here, gorgeous in golden stone &ndash; the close-clustered farmhouses and barns of Newington Bagpath, the battlemented Georgian mansion of Lasborough House, and between them the sloping gardens of medieval Lasborough Manor, a Jilly Cooper dream of gables and tall chimneys. We stopped at the lip of the escarpment to gaze and speculate &ndash; &lsquo;Oh, there&rsquo;s Rupert Campbell-Black eyeing up the au pair!&rsquo; &ndash; before dropping down the parkland slopes into the woods along Ozleworth Bottom.<\/p>\n<p>Frozen lakes where we skimmed twigs across the ice; muddy sloshes through half-melted ruts; a zee-zee-zee of long-tailed tits in the fir tops; the sense of winding deeper into secret country. A quick halt for rum-laced hot chocolate and bickies (New Year Resolutions come into force tomorrow, we decided); then a stiff climb up through the trees to reach Scrubbett&rsquo;s Lane and the gambolling pigs of Scrubbett&rsquo;s Farm. &lsquo;The black ones are Hampshires,&rsquo; explained the farmer when we met her in the lane, &lsquo;and those gingery ones are Durocs from New England. They love dashing about all over the place &ndash;must be happy, I suppose!&rsquo;<\/p>\n<p>Back at the Hunter&rsquo;s Hall we stripped off scarves and gloves, ditched the muddy boots and sat down to lunch nearly 20 strong. A cheery warm pub, a lowering afternoon outside and a good post-walk glow &ndash; ye canna whack that, man.<\/p>\n<p><u>Start &amp; finish<\/u>: Hunter&rsquo;s Hall Inn, Kingscote, near Tetbury GL8 8XZ (OS ref ST 814960)<br \/>\n<u>Getting there<\/u>: Hunter&rsquo;s Hall is on A4135 Dursley-Tetbury road (M4 Jct 18\/17, M5 Jct 14\/13)<br \/>\n<u>Walk<\/u> (5&frac12; miles, easy\/moderate, OS Explorer 168): Leaving Hunter&rsquo;s Hall front door, right along A4135; cross mouth of side road; right into field; follow left-hand of 2 fingerposts across field. On far side, through hedge (814956; yellow arrow\/YA); in 50 m, where fence bears left, continue downhill (YA) with wall on right. At end of wall, bear half left across slope to go through gate (813953; &lsquo;public right of way&rsquo;); up woodland track to road; left past St Bartholomew&rsquo;s Church (815948). Immediately right (fingerpost); pass motte (816947); bear left along track by wall. In 200 m, though gate; bear left up to continue along edge of escarpment. In &frac14; mile, descend; cross Lasborough House drive (819938); through gate; follow grass track below house, on into wood in valley bottom (816935). Follow valley-bottom path for 1&frac14; miles, passing ponds (815934) and a flat area with a pond at far end (809930). Continue, soon passing through a gate along Ozleworth Bottom. At next gate\/stile, where path slopes downward (798929), don&rsquo;t go through gate, but bear sharp right up slope to go through gate with waymark (799931). Steeply up woodland path. In 300 m, meet gravelled track on bend; bear right uphill along track for &frac12; mile to Scrubbett&rsquo;s Lane (808936). Left to pass Scrubbett&rsquo;s Farm, then pass left turn to Bagpath (807946). In 200 m, right over stile (807949; fingerpost); cross field (YAs) and road (810952). Descend to cross footbridge (812954); up through gate; follow track to Hunter&rsquo;s Hall.<\/p>\n<p>NB &ndash; Online maps, more walks: <a href=\"inswalk.php\">www.christophersomerville.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<p><u>Lunch<\/u>: Hunter&rsquo;s Hall Inn (860393; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huntershallinn.co.uk\">www.huntershallinn.co.uk<\/a>) &ndash; very friendly staff, good walker&rsquo;s grub<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm\" align=\"JUSTIFY\"><u>Cotswold Camelids<\/u> (walks, picnics with llamas) &ndash; 07910-294802; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cotswoldcamelids.com\">www.cotswoldcamelids.com<\/a> <\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm\" align=\"JUSTIFY\"><u>More info<\/u>: Tetbury TIC (01666-503552); <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cotswolds.com\">www.cotswolds.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0cm\" align=\"JUSTIFY\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ramblers.org.uk\">www.ramblers.org.uk<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.satmap.com\">www.satmap.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hereabouts the Gloucestershire landscape revolves around a network of delectable hidden valleys, snaking unseen a hundred feet below the upland fields.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-walks","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}