{"id":364,"date":"2011-05-07T02:11:26","date_gmt":"2011-05-07T02:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=364"},"modified":"2011-05-06T08:44:56","modified_gmt":"2011-05-06T08:44:56","slug":"stonesfield-and-the-north-cotswolds-oxfordshire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=364","title":{"rendered":"Stonesfield and the North Cotswolds, Oxfordshire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The rolling landscape where Gloucestershire shades into Oxfordshire is thickly woven with footpaths and studded with villages of mellow gold stone.<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('Stonesfield.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=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5181\/5640570042_7985f62bb3.jpg\" title='yellowhammer'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5181\/5640570042_7985f62bb3_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5106\/5640000087_2f48661313.jpg\" title='Oxfordshire Way'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5106\/5640000087_2f48661313_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5261\/5640574750_d06df0252e.jpg\" title='Holly Grove woods'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5261\/5640574750_d06df0252e_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5186\/5640576460_b8e8ae4990.jpg\" title='stitchwort and bluebells in Holly Grove wood'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5186\/5640576460_b8e8ae4990_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5267\/5640006375_db9b042568.jpg\" title='approaching North Leigh Lane'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5267\/5640006375_db9b042568_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5265\/5640580230_884f845cb7.jpg\" title='demons waiting for the Damned, Doom painting, St Mary&#039;s Church, North Leigh'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5265\/5640580230_884f845cb7_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5225\/5640581492_b64916eeee.jpg\" title='Sir William and Lady Elizabeth Wilcote'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5225\/5640581492_b64916eeee_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5187\/5640010811_3e426b898c.jpg\" title='toothwort in Dark Lane'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5187\/5640010811_3e426b898c_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=364\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" width=\"200\" colorscheme=\"dark\"><\/fb:like><br \/>\nIn this north-east corner of these delectable hills you can walk in classic Cotswold countryside, but without those camera-clicking Cotswold crowds. However, if you would like to hook up with a merry bunch of fellow-walkers \u2026 then 21 May is the date for your diary. That\u2019s when thousands will be converging on Blenheim Palace for the Breast Cancer Care charity\u2019s annual Pink Ribbon Walk \u2013 10 or 20 miles (you choose) through gorgeous countryside to raise money and awareness, to hear and share stories, and to have a damn good party into the bargain. <\/p>\n<p>On a brilliant day of blue sky and balmy weather Jane and I set out to explore this overlooked corner of the Cotswolds. From Stonesfield, as pretty as a picture among its trees, the Oxfordshire Way took us up among big yellow fields of oilseed rape where yellowhammers in the hedges wheedled for a-little-bit-of-bread-and-no-cheeeeese. An invisible lark poured out song like the trickle of a brook. Views were big and broad, with a heat haze softening the dark green of spinneys and windbreak woods.<\/p>\n<p>Down in the valley of the River Evenlode, swallows skimmed the stone-tiled roofs of Fawler. Dark Lane led us between hedges carefully tended by the Friends of Wychwood Hedge-laying Group, up a cowslip-spattered valley to Finstock. On through the environmentally-friendly farmland of Wilcote Farm with its generous field headlands and vigorous patches of yellow archangel. All around lay evidence of a countryside loved and cared for, its wildflowers and birds given the elbow-room they\u2019re so often denied in more rapaciously farmed regions.<\/p>\n<p>At North Leigh we went into St Mary\u2019s Church to admire the north chapel with its fan vaulting and richly carved 15th-century alabaster tomb of Sir William Wilcote and his wife Elizabeth. Over the chancel arch hung a splendid medieval Doom painting, the Saved and the Damned all naked and prayerful, with a coal-black Devil and his red-faced acolytes jeering the Damned into eternal fire. Outside, all seemed a dream of peace \u2013 horses cropping the meadows near Holly Court Farm, the smooth gurgle of the Evenlode round its meandering bends, and the splashing and laughter of picnicking families by the river as we made our way back up the old cart track to Stonesfield.<\/p>\n<p>These Oxfordshire Cotswolds really are beautiful country. I wish I could be a fly on someone\u2019s trainers on 21 May. The Pink Ribbon walkers are going to have the most amazing day of it.<\/p>\n<p>Start &#038; finish: near St James\u2019s Church, Stonesfield OX29 8PT (OS ref SP 394171)<\/p>\n<p>Getting there: Train (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thetrainline.com\">www.thetrainline.com<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.railcard.co.uk\">www.railcard.co.uk<\/a>) to Charlbury.<br \/>\nBus (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.stagecoachbus.com\">www.stagecoachbus.com<\/a>) service S3 (Charlbury-Oxford).<br \/>\nRoad: Stonesfield is signed off A44 Woodstock-Chipping Norton.<\/p>\n<p>Walk (8\u00bd miles, easy, OS Explorer 180): Park in \u2018square\u2019 (actually a triangle!) by St James\u2019s Church, Stonesfield. With your back to church, bear left along High Street. Opposite Methodist chapel, left down walled lane (\u2018bridleway\u2019). At bottom, cross road and go up stony bridleway (390173; \u2018Oxfordshire Way\/OW\u2019). In 400m, ahead over crossroads along tarmac lane. In another 400m pass end of woodland belt. Road bends right by Hall Barn Farm Cottages, but keep ahead here (383177; blue arrow\/BA) through gate (OW) and on down right side of hedge. In \u00bd mile, at crossing of bridleways, left off OW (375180) on bridleway (BA) descending to Fawler. Left along road. Opposite bus stop, right down lane (372170; \u2018Finstock 1\u2019 fingerpost). Cross under railway and over River Evenlode. Follow path on far bank and through shallow valley. Keep ahead at \u2018Right of Way\u2019 arrow among trees (368166); on up Dark Lane to Finstock.<br \/>\nRight past Plough Inn (362161); left up side of Plough (fingerpost) on path on right side of pub car park. On (yellow arrow\/YA) through kissing gate, up field edge. At far end, through kissing gate (362159); don\u2019t turn right here, but keep ahead with hedge on left. Path doglegs left and right, then crosses field; through Ramsden Mill Longcut woodland strip (364156); on along wide field paths to road (367151). Left for 20m; right (\u2018Wychwood Way\u2019\/WW fingerpost) through Holly Grove wood. At end of wood (372143), on along hedgeside track (YA) for 2 fields to turn left along North Leigh Lane. In 300m pass footpath diverging to left (374136; fingerpost); on next bend, bear left (\u2018WW\u2019 YA) along path in tunnel of trees. In 400m, right along End Farm drive (379134); in 20m, left (\u2018Church \u00bd\u2019 fingerpost) across fields (kissing gates, YAs) to St Mary\u2019s Church, North Leigh. (NB For Woodman Inn or Mason\u2019s Arms, turn right from church to top of hill, then right to pubs).<br \/>\nContinuing walk from church &#8211; left along road; in 20m, left (\u2018bridleway\u2019 fingerpost) along farm drive. In 400m, right over stile and down hedge; cross brook (385140), through gate and up fence to road (386143). Left for 50m; right down Holly Court drive (\u2018Bridleway, Ashford Bridge 1\u2019). At buildings bear right to T-junction (386147); left and continue, following BAs by brook for \u00bd mile to road near Ashford Bridge (385154). Right to crossroads by bridge; right (\u2018East End, Hanborough\u2019), following path on right bank of Evenlode (\u2018Stonesfield 1\u00bd\u2019 fingerpost). Under railway; on to kissing gate; aim across meadow to cross footbridge (383164). Up cart track opposite; at road, forward to Stonesfield \u2018square\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Walk as described covers only part of Pink Ribbon Walk.<br \/>\nLunch: Plough Inn, Finstock (01993-868333; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theplough-inn.co.uk\">www.theplough-inn.co.uk<\/a>); Woodman PH (01993-881790) or Mason\u2019s Arms (01993-882005), North Leigh.<\/p>\n<p>Breast Cancer Care (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.breastcancercare.org.uk\">www.breastcancercare.org.uk<\/a>) Pink Ribbon Walks 2011 at Scone Palace, Perthshire (14 May); Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire (21 May); Cholmondeley Castle, Cheshire (4 June); Petworth House, West Sussex (11 June). Info:  0870 145 0101 or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pinkribbonwalk.org.uk\">www.pinkribbonwalk.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Isle of Man Walking Festival 2011: 15-20 May (01624-664460; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.visitisleofman.com\">www.visitisleofman.com<\/a>)<br \/>\nLlanelli Festival of Walks, Carmarthenshire: 27\u201330 May 2011, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.llanelliramblers.org.uk\">www.llanelliramblers.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<p><FONT COLOR=\"#0000ff\"><U><A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.ramblers.org.uk\/\">www.ramblers.org.uk<\/A><\/U><\/FONT> <FONT COLOR=\"#0000ff\"><U><A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.satmap.com\/\">www.satmap.com<\/A><\/U><\/FONT> <FONT COLOR=\"#0000ff\"><U><A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.LogMyTrip.co.uk\/\">www.LogMyTrip.co.uk<\/A><\/U><\/FONT><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The rolling landscape where Gloucestershire shades into Oxfordshire is thickly woven with footpaths and studded with villages of mellow gold stone.<\/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-364","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":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364","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=364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}