Thursday 10th March 2011 Brimpsfield, Gloucs

Mike & Brian

This was a short 4 mile walk completed with Mike and Brian who both know this track well. We drove from Leckhampton, via Birdlip in Brian's posh Jag and parked a Brimpsfield Village Hall car park. We left the car park and quickly went over farmland, joining the road for a short while before taking a track to the right which entered woodland at The Rookery, taking care to avoid the drives of a few sensitive souls who don't like walkers near their houses! 


We followed the stream, noting the clearance of trees that seems to be the case in all areas I have walked recently. To quote Robin - "you always see the neat piles of cut wood, but you never see 'em cutting it". It has been the same everywhere - piles of neatly cut wood as the estate workers thin out the woodlands to allow trees to thrive. And of course, more snowdrops!

We walked through Poston Wood which is part of the Brimpsfield Estate, following the clear track at the bottom of the valley into Ostrich Wood, past Manor Farm at Syde on our left and almost into Caudle Green. We skirted Caudle Green and began the walk back, by means of the track in the clearing between the woods of Eddington Wood - with a stream on our left. We entered a short stretch of woodland before climbing the only real incline on this walk as we reached the outskirts of Brimpsfield village. We passed several typical Cotswold gaffs, the drive to Brimpsfield Park and came to a field in the centre of the village boasting Gloucester Old Spot pigs and a lonely Shetland pony. We soon reached the car park as the weather worsened, reaching the Jag just before the rain... The offer of drink at the Golden Heart was declined and we made our way back to Leckhampton via the A417, Nettleton Bottom, Air Balloon etc.


The Golden Heart Inn, Nettleton Bottom


An OS view of the walk is below, courtesy of QUO digital mapping/OS: