{"id":1114,"date":"2016-01-23T02:42:04","date_gmt":"2016-01-23T01:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=1114"},"modified":"2016-01-18T21:08:36","modified_gmt":"2016-01-18T20:08:36","slug":"winchcombe-and-belas-knap-gloucestershire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=1114","title":{"rendered":"Winchcombe and Belas Knap, Gloucestershire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk; varwalkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=840,width=1230,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script><br \/>\nFirst published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('BelasKnap.gpx');\" rel=\"nozoom\" 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=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1544\/24177226285_e71300b9e9.jpg\" title='Sudeley Castle 1'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1544\/24177226285_e71300b9e9_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1684\/23550442293_9a6866b5ae.jpg\" title='Winchcombe allotments'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1684\/23550442293_9a6866b5ae_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1688\/24094623361_344ecea360.jpg\" title='&#039;spirit door&#039; at Belas Knap'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1688\/24094623361_344ecea360_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1652\/23549039004_046111c082.jpg\" title='wintry scene in Sudeley Park'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1652\/23549039004_046111c082_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1564\/24094630131_340e04f16d.jpg\" title='Sudeley Castle drive'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1564\/24094630131_340e04f16d_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1713\/24151151356_9db6ccb123.jpg\" title='proper ditching job, Newmeadow Farm'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1713\/24151151356_9db6ccb123_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1492\/24151153546_efcdcf576c.jpg\" title='lane near Newmeadow Farm'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1492\/24151153546_efcdcf576c_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1639\/24069200012_f17b4d29d1.jpg\" title='Newmeadow Farm 1'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1639\/24069200012_f17b4d29d1_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1573\/23881623620_9f222d7963.jpg\" title='wintry sun near Humblebee Cottages'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1573\/23881623620_9f222d7963_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1556\/24151159116_b57fcfa133.jpg\" title='wintry sun near Humblebee Cottages 2'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1556\/24151159116_b57fcfa133_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1593\/24177254675_ca7ce3b355.jpg\" title='Newmeadow Farm 2'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1593\/24177254675_ca7ce3b355_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1621\/24094643581_8b77287881.jpg\" title='fields descending to Newmeadow Farm'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1621\/24094643581_8b77287881_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1487\/23561065764_5b4e31fbe6.jpg\" title='track to Newmeadow Farm 3'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1487\/23561065764_5b4e31fbe6_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nFacebook Link: <script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=1114\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" width=\"200\" colorscheme=\"dark\"><\/fb:like><br \/>\n<a href=\"javascript:pwindow=window.open('\/Walks\/prn.php?f=1114','pwin','height=700,width=1000,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes');\" title=\"Click for printable version\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/Walks\/print.gif\" align=\"right\"><\/a><br \/>\nA church bell was ringing nine in the morning as we set out from Winchcombe, one of Gloucestershire&#8217;s nicest towns to linger in with its chic little shops and golden houses of oolitic Cotswold limestone. It\u2019s a good place to walk out of, too, dropping down between the pretty estate cottages of Vineyard Street with a green ridge of hills in prospect to the south.<\/p>\n<p>We passed the tall gatehouse of Sudeley Castle and struck out across squelchy fields of medieval ridge-and-furrow, the mud under our boots as pale and thick as batter. The view eastward opened over the deep valley where Sudeley Castle lay set with towers like a cathedral among well-kept pastures and woods of pale wintry mauve and brown.<\/p>\n<p>The sun was a greasy button of silver in a thick grey cloak of cloud as we passed Wadfield Farm, whose hedge of holly and beech whistled in the wind. A track flecked with dull gold stone led up past Humblebee Cottage, and from the road above we followed the well-trodden path up to Belas Knap at the crown of the hill.<\/p>\n<p>Belas Knap is truly impressive, a magnificent long barrow nearly 200 feet in length, lying north-south along its ridge. Its northern portal, deliberately blocked with an enormous chockstone, lies between walls that curve outwards like the flippers of a giant turtle. What those who built the great tomb some 5,000 years ago intended when they constructed the dummy entrance is unclear &#8211; perhaps to deter robbers, or maybe as a spirit door to allow the dead free passage.<\/p>\n<p>We walked a circuit of Belas Knap. Then it was back down to Humblebee Cottage and a slippery grass track to Newmeadow Farm where they were shifting loads of dung and straw from the cattle shed to the steaming muck heap in the yard.<\/p>\n<p>A muddy path led on north past the intriguingly named wood of No Man&#8217;s Patch towards the broad green parkland around Sudeley Castle. King Henry VIII&#8217;s sixth and final wife, Katherine Parr, remarried and lived here after his death. Sometimes she&#8217;s seen at one of the castle windows, a wan figure in a green dress, gazing out and watching the world go by.<\/p>\n<p>Start: Back Lane car park, Winchcombe, GL20 5RX (OS ref SP 024284)<\/p>\n<p>Getting there: Bus 606 or W1 from Cheltenham<br \/>\nRoad &#8211; M5 Jct 11, A40 to Cheltenham, B4632 via Prestbury and Cleeve Hill to Winchcombe.<\/p>\n<p>Walk (6 miles, easy, OS Explorer OL45): Follow &#8216;Town Centre&#8217; to High Street. Right; in 150m, left down Vineyard Street (&#8216;Sudeley Castle&#8217;). Follow road past castle gates and on; in 300m, right (025278, &#8216;Winchcombe Way&#8217;\/WcW) off road. Follow WcW across fields (kissing gates\/KG, footbridge, yellow arrows\/YA) for 1\u00bc miles, up past Wadfield Farm (026264) and Humblebee Cottages (023259) to road. Right for 600m; at car park left (020262, &#8216;Belas Knap&#8217;) on well-trodden path for \u00bd mile to Belas Knap long barrow (021255).<\/p>\n<p>Return to Humblebee Cottages. Just below cottages, right (waymark post with YA on left) past cottages. In 300m, through gate and turn left (025257, &#8216;Gustav Holst Way&#8217;\/GHW) along fence, down to Newmeadow Farm (029261). Right along track (YA, GHW); in 700m, left at fingerpost (035259, &#8216;Windrush Way&#8217;\/WdW). Follow WdW north through succession of gates\/stiles, some unwaymarked. In 600m, at north end of No Man&#8217;s Patch wood (032265), half right across two fields (directional posts). At WW fingerpost just short of a road, right (031271) across brook; at far side, left (KG), then half right up grass slope past post. Aim left of Sudeley Castle. Opposite castle, through double gates (030276); bear half left (not ahead, as KG and YA suggest!) past playground to drive (028278). Left to gatehouse, return to Winchcombe.<\/p>\n<p>Conditions: Can be very wet and muddy in fields<\/p>\n<p>Lunch: Plaisterer&#8217;s Arms, Abbey Terrace, Winchcombe (01242-602358, plaisterersarms.co.uk) &#8211; friendly pub<\/p>\n<p>Sudeley Castle: 01242-604357, sudeleycastle.co.uk. Open early March &#8211; end Oct<\/p>\n<p>Info:  Cheltenham TIC (01242-522878)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/visitengland.com\">visitengland.com<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/satmap.com\">satmap.com<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/ramblers.org.uk\">ramblers.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A church bell was ringing nine in the morning as we set out from Winchcombe, one of Gloucestershire&#8217;s nicest towns to linger in with its chic little shops and golden houses of oolitic Cotswold limestone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-walks","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}