{"id":1161,"date":"2016-05-07T01:07:27","date_gmt":"2016-05-07T00:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=1161"},"modified":"2016-05-24T19:18:06","modified_gmt":"2016-05-24T18:18:06","slug":"honington-idlicote-warwickshire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=1161","title":{"rendered":"Honington &#038; Idlicote, Warwickshire"},"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('Honington.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\/1588\/25693476672_f43cd2aa8a.jpg\" title='Magpie House, Honington'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1588\/25693476672_f43cd2aa8a_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1657\/25513750250_2e9ce7327f.jpg\" title='cottages and rook nests, Honington'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1657\/25513750250_2e9ce7327f_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1578\/25187823163_e1efbd7867.jpg\" title='Honington'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1578\/25187823163_e1efbd7867_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1524\/25814419935_97bb1012b4.jpg\" title='IMG_5123'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1524\/25814419935_97bb1012b4_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1586\/25693469252_15fb287ec6.jpg\" title='IMG_5120'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1586\/25693469252_15fb287ec6_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1670\/25183924404_7426ae036f.jpg\" title='IMG_5124'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1670\/25183924404_7426ae036f_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1611\/25183921434_d7541af0d2.jpg\" title='IMG_5128'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1611\/25183921434_d7541af0d2_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1519\/25814412925_62d1a980db.jpg\" title='heart of an ash tree'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1519\/25814412925_62d1a980db_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1490\/25183916594_bc4d9fc879.jpg\" title='field path to Idlicote'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1490\/25183916594_bc4d9fc879_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1471\/25814440925_92611efddb.jpg\" title='Christopher and chum at Idlicote'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1471\/25814440925_92611efddb_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1671\/25788360806_369e4bf875.jpg\" title='walled garden, Idlicote'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1671\/25788360806_369e4bf875_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1568\/25814435265_078b4798f6.jpg\" title='tower and walled garden, Idlicote'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1568\/25814435265_078b4798f6_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1545\/25513758000_ef47c2819b.jpg\" title='view from the ridge above Idlicote'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1545\/25513758000_ef47c2819b_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1594\/25788349356_5d5a8cb40c.jpg\" title='threatening head, gateposts of Honington Hall'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1594\/25788349356_5d5a8cb40c_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1560\/25960306386_8ed00104e3.jpg\" title='Warwickshire bayou in Wagtail Copse'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1560\/25960306386_8ed00104e3_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=1161\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" width=\"200\" colorscheme=\"dark\"><\/fb:like><br \/>\n<a href=\"javascript:pwindow=window.open('\/Walks\/prn.php?f=1161','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 \/>\nI don&#8217;t know whether William Shakespeare ever travelled much of the long-distance footpath from Stratford-upon-Avon to London that bears his name. But several of the gorgeous houses in the Warwickshire village of Honington look as though they&#8217;ve been there since the Bard was a lad. It was a day to do them justice as we set out along &#8216;Shakespeare&#8217;s Way&#8217; &#8211; a tender blue sky, a cool breeze, and a hazy spring sun to bring out the mellow silver and gold of the local building stone.<\/p>\n<p>Parkland stretched away beside the road that led north out of Honington. Sparrows, chaffinches, rooks and wrens all loudly proclaimed the spring from greening hedges and treetops. A jackdaw was pulling strands of nesting hay from the bales in a red-roofed barn, and a great spotted woodpecker drummed a hollow proclamation of ownership from its patch of woodland beyond Wagtail Spinney.<\/p>\n<p>In a boggy dell we parted company from Shakespeare&#8217;s Way. We got across the fast-running stream, and stopped in the damp hollow beyond to clear a tangle of sticks that had dammed a spring. Watching the water bursting away from its confines in a wet sparkle took both Jane and me straight back to our muddy-booted childhoods.<\/p>\n<p>Walking up the field boundaries to Idlicote on its ridge, we paused to admire the superb old trees that formed the margin of the path &#8211; giant crack willows burst apart and fallen, ancient coppice stools of field maples, and an ash tree split open to expose a heart of writhing tendrils more like those of an animal than a tree.<\/p>\n<p>Up at Idlicote a scarecrow sat on a bench &#8211; a smooth customer in a grey homburg hat, with a pink silk kerchief in his breast pocket. Rooks had built a ragged township in the nearby trees, and they challenged our passing with reedy quacks and phlegmy belches. Sticky paths led us up from Idlicote to a high ridge where the long views melted into mist. Before dropping down the slope into Honington there was time for a sit and stare across the plain, where the slender spire of Tredington Church rose skywards from the heart of Shakespeare&#8217;s countryside.<\/p>\n<p>Start:  All Saints Church, Honington, Warwicks, CV36 4NH (OS ref SP 261427)<\/p>\n<p>Getting there: Honington is signed off A3400, 1 mile north of Shipston-on-Stour. Left off village street (signed) to church parking spaces.<\/p>\n<p>Walk (6\u00bc miles, easy but muddy, OS Explorer 221): Walk to village street; turn left. Opposite turning to Barcheston, left (&#8216;Old Post Office&#8217;). In 40m, ahead through metal mesh gate. Through woodland strip (kissing gate, yellow arrow\/YA); half right across field to kissing gate (YA) and road (268427). Left along road. In 1 mile, cross bridge in Wagtail Copse; immediately right through gate (267443, &#8216;Shakespeare&#8217;s Way&#8217;\/SW). Follow path on left of stream, then between stream and wood.<\/p>\n<p>In 800m, right over footbridge (273448, blue arrow\/BA); follow right bank of tributary stream up through trees (BAs), then along field edges to barns near Whitehouse Farm (277446). Cross track; ahead (BA) up field edges to Idlicote. At top of rise, ahead through gate (281443); ahead to road. Pass tower and kitchen garden; round left bend; immediately right between white gateposts (283442, BA). On to cross road (284440).<\/p>\n<p>On up field with hedge on right. In 600m at top of ridge, right at waymark post (288435, &#8216;Centenary Way&#8217;\/CW). At Idlicote Hill Farm, left, then right (288433, CW). Follow hedge on right to corner (post with YA, CW); bear right along hedge. In 70m pass yellow-topped post (CW); on with hedge on left. In \u2154 mile pass pond on right (278426); in 100m, bear right round corner of Hill Clumps Wood; in 30m, left (CW, YA) across strip of ground, then right (CW) and follow CW down to road. Right, then left into Honington.<\/p>\n<p>Lunch: Picnic<\/p>\n<p>Accommodation: White Bear, Shipston-on-Stour CV36 4AJ (01608 664199, whitebearin.com)<\/p>\n<p>Information: Stratford-on-Avon TIC (01789 264293)<\/p>\n<p><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>I don&#8217;t know whether William Shakespeare ever travelled much of the long-distance footpath from Stratford-upon-Avon to London that bears his name.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1161","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\/1161","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=1161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}