Leg 15: Hawkesbury Upton to Chipping Sodbury

The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm, as we set off from Hawkesbury Upton for the 15th leg of our walk.  Lily was wearing her elegant Swamp Cooler vest to keep her cool as the temperature was predicted to rise to 20 C.  Di and Rod, Deborah and Lily the dog were joined by Ceris, Melanie, Jacky and Katharine (all repeat walkers having caught the Monarch's Way bug themselves!)


We joined the Cotswold Way for a lot of this walk, so the route was familiar. We walked past the drovers' pool and up an stony old drovers' lane, through lush fields of wheat and oil seed rape.


We followed the drovers' lane through fields for some time. There were beautiful views on both sides of us. To the West we could see the Severn Bridge and over into Wales - reminding us how far we have come on our walk from Stratford-upon-Avon to Bristol. To the East we could see over to the hills of the Ridgeway. Eventually we  reached a road, and immediately turned into some lovely shaded woods full of flowering wild garlic.

We followed the woods down the escarpment and continued down through a field to onto a lane, where  we took a small detour to admire Horton Court, a Tudor manor house, the oldest parts of which date to Norman times. It was used in the filming of Wolf Hall and Poldark,  and  is now a National Trust property which can be rented as a holiday cottage.


The church adjoining the Court is also a Grade 1 listed building, originally built in the twelfth century and rebuilt in the fourteenth century. It has a shady graveyard, perfect for a picnic lunch.



Duly refreshed we walked along the lane to the village of Horton, and then along a track which soon took us down a steep hill into a valley, and up the other side. The fields we were walking through were full of buttercups and other wild flowers, which were much photographed by us walkers.


Continuing on, we eventually parted company with the Cotswold Way 


and just before reaching our destination met some beautiful donkeys, one of whom had the most amazing ears.


And so into Chipping Sodbury where we walked along the Frome Valley walkway which allowed Lily another welcome dip in the River Frome, before we got to the pub where the rest of us got our equally welcome end refreshments.


Blog written by Deborah.

We are raising money for Grassroots Suicide Prevention, which is a cause very dear to our hearts. Contributions can be made here:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/28-30MonarchsWaywalk2022

 





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