Highs and Lows Walk

Climb up the escarpment towards Farmcote where the walk levels out and follows the valley to its head.  Follow an old drovers road to pick up the Cotswold Way and descend to Wood Stanway. 

Leave Back Lane car park via the far corner access into Cowl Lane. Turn right and follow the road to the High Street. Turn left and carefully cross the main street to the other side. Continue along to Castle Street on your right by the White Hart pub. 

Turn right down Castle Street and continue over the river until you reach a finger post on your left between some houses. sign posted Glos, Winchcombe & Isbourne Ways.  Turn left along the path to a gate. Go through and bear right diagonally across the field (noting the medieval ridge and furrow undulations) to another gate.

Turn left along the lane for approx 50m and turn right through a gate set back in the hedge A. Cross the field towards some buildings. In the far left hand corner is a field gate on your left. Go through and bear diagonally left to a gate. Go through and head across the field to meet a gate by a track.  Turn right and shortly left through another gate. Follow the path through two fields and gates to meet a stone track.

Turn left along the track and where the track bears left towards a farm gate continue uphill towards a marker post at the foot of the hill B.  Follow the path uphill which can be muddy after rain until you emerge out of the trees and airy views appear. Cross the field to a gate. Go through and turn left following the left hand field boundary upwards to meet a gate.

Continue uphill along the path as it bends right and left before levelling out and pass through a gate to meet a stile. Carefully go over the stile followed by a short but steep slope before turning right through a field gate. Continue across the field through another gate and continue to meet a field gate beside a lane C.

Cross the lane and follow the track towards the farm, from where there are lovely views of Hayles Fruit farm and beyond to Evesham. Go through a gate and follow the Winchcombe Way way-marked signs between the farm buildings towards a large barn. Before the barn turn left to a gate then turn right and follow the fence.  The path curves uphill to a field gate with Farmcote valley coming into view.

Go through the gate and continue along the path following the contours of the land with the field boundary on your right.  Eventually you meet a gate, go through the gate and follow the footpath straight on through a wooded area and another gate/fieldgate into a field. Follow the field right hand boundary to a stile and field gate. Head straight on past a barn and follow the track to a gate by the road.

Turn left and carefully follow the lane to the next T-junction.  Bear left and shortly on the right is a track heading through trees D.  Follow this path ignoring any side paths and the track widens and becomes stoney, here you meet the Cotswold Way.

Continue ahead until the track meets a road E.  Turn left and almost immediately turn left again through a gate sign posted Cotswold Way.  Follow the Cotswold Way to a bench before descending to a gate. Continue descending through several fields and gates to the valley floor and steps followed by a gate. Go through and turn right towards a field gate/gate. Go through and continue down the stoney track until you join a lane.

Continue along the lane to a T-junction. Bear left past a house before turning right passed several houses to the end of the lane and a field gate F.

Go through and follow the path to a field gate/gate in the centre of the field. Go through and walk in the middle of the field to a field gate. Go through and turn right along the right hand field margin around two sides of the field to meet a gate in the far corner sign posted Winchcombe Way. Go through two gates and follow the path beside a hedge. The path gradually widens and becomes a track before it bears right to meet a gap by a road.

Turn left along the road and turn left at the next junction signed Hailes. Follow the lane to Hailes Church and Abbey.  G Opposite the church, turn right through a gate and follow the Cotswold Way (continue ahead for 400m for refreshments). Cross the field to a field gate and join a stoney track to meet a lane. Turn right and after 100m turn left onto a stoney track sign posted Cotswold Way.

You now will be following the Cotswold Way back to Winchcombe.

Continue straight ahead along the track to a junction and turn right H. Continue along the right hand field boundary to half way along the field before turning diagonally left to the far corner and a gate.  Go through the gate and follow the left hand field edge to the far side and a gate.  Go through and continue in the same direction to a bridge, cross and bear right to meet a stile on the left. Cross and follow down to a footbridge.

Continue following the stone track back to the edge of Winchcombe.  At the road J, carefully cross and bear left for approx 100m. Cross the same road again and go through a gate sign posted ‘Riverside Path’. Follow the path to the far end, go down an alleyway to meet Castle Street.

Turn right and follow the pavement up to the High Street beside the White Hart.  Turn left, cross the road and enter Cowl Lane back to the car park.

© Winchcombe Walkers are Welcome 02/2025