Places To Visit
Neolithic Long Barrow Belas Knap is one of the finest neolithic long barrows in Gloucestershire, situated on Cleeve Hill adjacent to the Cotswold Way National Trail. Alternatively, visitors can leave their cars at the top of Corndean Lane and walk up through Humblebee Woods and over open fields to the site. Built about 3000 B.C. the barrow is approximately 178 feet long and 60 feet wide, and nearly 14 feet in height. It is a chambered barrow with a false entrance at the larger northern end.
Neolithic Long Barrow, Cotswold Way, Winchcombe GL54 5AL
Cleeve Common
Accessed by several footpaths from the town or by Stagecoach bus service W from Winchcombe or Cheltenham. There are spectacular views across the Severn Vale to the Forest of Dean, Malvern Hills and the Black Mountains in Wales. Also, site of an Iron Age hillfort with fine bracing walks and a pay & play golf course, the common is an extensive area of unimproved limestone grassland on the Cotswold escarpment, most of it a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
Open grassland and splendid views.
Between Winchcombe and Cheltenham
Cotswold Farm Park
Rare farm breeds. The Farm Park has a variety of British farm rare breeds including sheep, cattle, pigs, goats, horses, poultry and waterfowl. Situated approximately 8 miles from Winchcombe, in the heart of the beautiful Cotswold countryside. There is the opportunity to get close to the animals and hold and feed a variety of smaller animals. The pathways around the farm are grass, concrete or gravelled and suitable for visitors with disabilities and wheelchairs.
Cotswold Farm Park, Guiting Power, Cheltenham, Glos, GL54 5FL
01451 850307
Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway
The GWSR is an all-volunteer steam and diesel heritage railway with over 14 miles of track between Cheltenham and Broadway. Winchcombe station is approximately 1 mile out of the town and reconstructed on its original site, the building being the former station at Monmouth (Troy). The station is also the main site for maintaining the carriages and wagons. Shortly after leaving Winchcombe towards Cheltenham, the train enters Greet tunnel which, at 693 yards, is the second longest on a preserved railway.
Heritage Railway Winchcombe Station, Greet, GL54 5LB
Hailes Abbey
Situated two miles from Winchcombe adjacent to the Cotswold Way National Trail or 1 mile from the bus stop. The Cistercian abbey was founded in 1246 and became a site of pilgrimage. The abbey was one of the last religious institutions to acquiesce following the Dissolution Act of 1536, on Christmas Eve 1539. Managed by English Heritage, National Trust members admitted free. Visit the adjacent parish church which has medieval wall-paintings.
Hailes, Nr Winchcombe, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL54 5PB
Snowshill Manor
The manor house is a typical Cotswold house displaying Wade’s collection dating from 1900 until 1951, when he gave the Manor to the National Trust, Wade amassed an enormous collection of objects reflecting his interest in craftsmanship including 26 suits of Japanese samurai armour dating from the 17th and 19th centuries; bicycles; toys; musical instruments and other interesting objects. The garden is laid out as a series of outside rooms seen as an extension to the house featuring terraces and ponds.
Snowshill, near Broadway, Gloucestershire, WR12 7JU
01386 852410 / snowshillmanor@nationaltrust.org.uk
Spoonley Roman Villa
Roman Villa – just off the Wardens Way about 2 miles from Winchcombe. The site of a Roman villa discovered and excavated in 1882. Mosaics recovered from the villa were removed and taken to Sudeley Castle. A basilican-type building was interpreted as being a granary or barn. Finds included a silver-plated bowl, coins, pottery and a marble statue of Bacchus. The site is very much overgrown and only a small part of the walls are standing. A footpath passes right through the building but easy to miss with all the vegetation.
Roman Villa, Spoonley Wood, Near Winchcombe
St Peter’s Church
The earliest reference to the church, dedicated to St Peter, is in 1175 with its close association to the abbey that once stood to the east of the church. The present building dates from 1468 and remains externally very much as it was when it was built. It is the only fifteenth-century church in Gloucestershire which possesses an arcade with eight bays, and the only one without a chancel arch. The exterior features 40 comic grotesques.
Gloucester Street, Winchcombe, GL54 5LU
Stanway House & Watermill
The house is a beautiful Jacobean manor house, located at Stanway approximately 3 miles from Winchcombe and on the Cotswold Way National Trail. The Gatehouse was built about 1630, with a 14th-century Tithe Barn and an 18th-century water-garden. The Stanway Fountain rises to over 300 feet, making it the tallest fountain in Britain, the tallest gravity fountain in the world (seconded by the Fountain of Fame in Segovia, Spain at 154 feet), and the second tallest fountain in Europe, after the 400-foot-high turbine-driven fountain in Lake Geneva.
The house is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays in June, July and August from 2pm until 5pm.
The watermill is open at the same time as the house. In addition, the watermill is also open on all other months from 10am until 12 noon on Thursday mornings.
Stanway, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL54 5PQ
01386 584 469 / office@stanwayhouse.co.uk
Stanway Watermill
A fully restored working watermill on the Stanway estate producing flour. Established in the 8th century, the original watermills had been used for fulling wool cloth, paper production, sawmilling, electricity generation and grinding flour. Opening times are restricted, for further information contact 01386 584446. Visitors may, during opening times, see the mill working, view the idyllic millpond, walk along the nearby Cotswold Way and buy a bag of wholemeal Cotswold flour.
The watermill is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays in June, July and August from 2pm until 5pm. All other months from 10am until 12 noon on Thursdays
Stanway, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL54 5PQ
01386 584 469 / office@stanwayhouse.co.uk
Sudeley Castle & Gardens
Located a short stroll of 1/2 mile from the town via Vineyard Street, it dates back to the 10th century. Much of the castle was built in the reign of Henry V and later added to by Sir Thomas Seymour who married Katherine Parr after the death of Henry VIII. During the English Civil War Sudeley finally capitulated to Cromwell’s forces and was left in ruins. Katherine Parr the sixth wife of King Henry VIII is buried in the chapel and contains her marble tomb. During the Victorian period much of the castle was restored by the Dent family. The castle has newly opened castle rooms and extensive exhibitions for visitors to enjoy. Outside, visit the beautiful gardens and play area complete with a wooden fort.
The castle and gardens are open from March until October. The visitor centre and Pavillion cafe will remain open every day during the winter from 10am until 4pm.
Sudeley Castle & Gardens, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, GL54 5JD
01242 604 244 / enquiries@sudeley.org.uk
Winchcombe Museum
Situated in the town centre. A display about the heritage and history of Winchcombe and its people, with information on local and family history. The museum also has a collection of British and International Police uniforms and equipment. The collection includes fragments of an exceptionally rare meteorite which made worldwide headlines when it fell on a driveway in Winchcombe in February 2021. We have a stairlift, but the museum is not suitable for wheelchair users.
High Street, Winchcombe, Cheltenham GL54 5LJ
0770879802 / info@winchcombemuseum.org.uk
Winchcombe Pottery
The pottery is situated 1 mile outside Winchcombe just off the Broadway Road. From Winchcombe head north and turn left after the railway bridge. Established in 1926 on the site of a pottery dating back to the early 1800’s makes it one of the longest running craft potteries in the country. All of the fired products from the pottery kiln are for sale in the Pottery Shop.
Becketts Lane, Greet, GL54 5NU
01242 602462 / winchcombepottery@msn.com