Wednesday 8th June 2011 Miserden, Glos

Mike P

This is now almost becoming the 'house' walk as I've done it so many times with friends and family. It is the 6 miles or so walk, starting at the village of Miserden and including the villages of Duntisbourne Abbots and Winstone. On this occasion I walked it with Mike P who was keen to 'learn'the walk for a future outing with Sally. We didn't race round this walk due to my condition after Pen-y-Ghent the previous day and Mike's poorly knee, but managed a respectable 3 hours.

Carpenters Arms

Mike drove to Miserden via Birdlip and Whiteway, parking near the Carpenters Arms pub as usual on a damp morning. We passed the tree with the seats around it and passed between houses where the signpost shows the path, continued with a stone wall to my left which quickly becomes the boundary wall of the Miserden Estate - large greenhouses can be seen on the left. 

We crossed a road in drizzle and went across arable farmland, following a well defined path until three path options were offered. We took the right path along the fence line and then headed left into a field, spotting three deer, before entering woodland where the path becomes somewhat steeper veering to the left at the bottom of the incline, following a stream. We followed the stream and crossed via the footbridge, crossed the meadow and started to climb the track which levels out and continues along a long path to the picturesque village of Duntisbourne Abbots where we stopped for a break and coffee on a village bench - very nice! 

We then followed the road down past the vicarage towards Birdlip and joined a footpath on the left through fields towards Winstone where we again left the road and went across fields to Gaskill's Farm.

Passing the farm, we were quickly at the lodge, the entrance to the estate and followed the drive until we joined a grassy, muddy path going downhill to the lake. We kept to the left of the lake, joined a rough track left and started to climb up the other side of the hill along a sunken muddy cart track before joining the road again. There were great views of the estate and especially the lake and Miserden Manor from the vantage point. We quickly rejoined the main road and found the pathway back to Miserden village, declining to stop at the Carpenters on this occasion, due to my impending dental appointment!

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