Ramble Reports December 2022

Five Cotswolds’ Churches and a Cat

Jonathan’s Midweek Ramble 7 December

It was a cold and sunny day, the start of this year’s December cold snap, but it was excellent walking weather as we set out from the appropriately named Cold Aston.

Through an avenue of magnificent beech trees, we came to Notgrove and then on to Salperton, for a coffee stop. Onward to Hazelton, then to the trickiest part of the walk, a steep stony path that would have been quite hazardous in wet, muddy or icy conditions.

Lunch was in the churchyard of All Saint’s, Turkdean, which was locked because of recent thefts. We then followed the Macmillan Way back to Cold Aston, resisting the temptation of the pub, to finish just after 2pm.

In the summer, when I recce’d the walk, it took much longer because it was good to stop at each church and enjoy the sunshine. So, a ramble that could be repeated each season, starting in a different village, going in the opposite direction, having a drink in the pub at Turkdean, or the café at Notgrove. I acknowledge and thank Rosemary Davis of Pershore U3A who gave me the original walk details.

Jonathan

10 miles


Courting Secrets in Kemerton

Lindsay’s Short Ramble 14 December

Thirteen brave members turned out on one of the coldest days of the winter so far. The weather was fine, a very watery sun with a cold wind chill, but most members who had booked weren’t deterred.

The walk started at The Cross at Kemerton and proceeded through the grounds of the Overbury Estate. Our first stop was to admire Overbury Court, a country house that was originally owned by James Martin, a London banker, and now owned by Lady Penelope Bossom a direct relative of the Martins.

A welcome visit to St Faith’s, the village church of Overbury, was made where we were able briefly to recover from the cold. The church’s earliest positive dating is circa 1040, when the massive double row of stone columns was erected. Lovely sprays of gypsophila adorned the pews as a decoration for the Christmas season.

We made a brief stop for coffee before making our way to the village of Westmancote where eventually emerging on to the road and crossing over, a narrow path took us through a small plantation where we turned right towards Kemerton.

We walked down the lane and before entering the village of Kemerton we stopped opposite the church to go through a gate into an orchard where a delightful little stroll takes in one of the best kept secrets of Bredon Hill – the walled garden at Kemerton Court – where there is a tranquil atmosphere and visitors may enjoy something of the feeling of a Monastery Garden.

After visiting the garden, the footpath passed between a cottage and Upper Court gardens down to a lake where we watched the ducks slipping and sliding on the frozen lake. We continued to the end of a bank and over a footbridge to return to the start.

This was an enjoyable walk taking in three villages and interesting features. Snow was still on the ground and it was icy in places but at least the ground was hard and not muddy, making walking much easier and pleasurable. Several of us then made our way to The Crown Inn for lunch.

Lindsay

5 miles


Skating on thin ice

Carl and Alan’s Sunday Ramble 18 December

On a cold icy morning eight ramblers gathered at Purton (old English, Pirige Tun – pear orchard). It was fortunate that this walk was not a week earlier when the snow had begun to fall. Although there was still quite a bit of snow and ice in Evesham it had largely cleared south of Cheltenham. Care was still needed though as the ground had frozen over giving black ice in places.

Following the Severn Way along the Sharpness Canal we turned off to walk past the Purton Hulks. These are a number of old trows, schooners and barges that had been drawn close to the bank between the canal and the River Severn during the 20th century. Holes were made in the hulls (hulking) and they were allowed to fill up with silt. This was to protect and reinforce the bank after a partial collapse in 1909. The Sharpness Canal only has two locks so if the bank was breached it would have been a disaster.

Turning back onto the canal we passed the remains of the original Severn Railway Bridge. The bridge was demolished after two barges collided with a support causing a partial collapse in 1960.

Although warmer here, the canal itself was frozen over as we approached Sharpness Docks. This was demonstrated when we stopped for tea at the marina and watched the Coast Guard practising sliding out over the ice.

We then continued along the Severn Way with views of the Forest of Dean across the river and the concrete encased reactors of the defunct Berkeley Nuclear Power Station ahead of us. The wind had started to blow up at this point, so it was good to head inland after a couple of miles towards Ham and The Salutation Inn which was our lunch stop.

After a welcome pie and a pint we plucked up the courage to head out into the rain that had started to fall. Fortunately it did not last long.

The afternoon saw us passing through Berkeley and its castle where Edward II reputedly came to a grisly end in 1327. On a more positive note, we also passed the home of Edward Jenner, Father of Immunology, whose work is said to have “saved more lives than any other man”.

We followed a number of field paths, some starting to get quite muddy, before arriving back at our starting point before it started to get dark.

Carl

am 6.9 miles 11.1km, pm 4.2 miles 6.8km

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