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From the car park, walk past the old goods shed and follow the path to a gate on the left then a road. Turn right and walk up the hill, then go left at ‘The Green’. Follow this to a road junction with the Tourist Information Office opposite. Turn left, passing St Mary’s church on your left and walk out of the town over the bridge, looking down to your left to see the route of the old road into Tetbury that fell into disuse when this present bridge was built in 1775. Beyond the bridge, pass the Old Toll House on the left, then climb the stile on the left and take the track up to the right. Keep to the right boundary with good views back across the valley to the church.
(A) The church of Saint Mary was built on the site of a Saxon monastery constructed in 681 and dedicated to the Abbess Tetta, sister of King Ine of Wessex.
On reaching a stile. Climb it, then two others bisected by a tarmac driveway. Continue over the pasture with the fence to your right, to reach a wooden stile and then an old stone stile. Then keep on in the same direction through an avenue of trees to another stone stile on the left by gates.
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Once over, go right, with the fence and wall to the right, and descend gradually to the bottom corner of the field. Here, ignore a gate on the right, but continue a little further to cross the stile ahead. Proceed a short distance then go through a gate on the right and take the steps down to a stream. Cross an ancient bridge, then a wooden bridge, and climb the stile to enter parkland. The waymark points the direction here, and you climb ahead aiming for the white marker post then onward to another, where a tarmac drive is reached. Turn right and follow the drive to gates, go through and continue with Estcourt House to your left. Pass walled gardens left and right, then turn right at a marker post just beyond a house.
3
Walk ahead to climb a stile in the fence and cross to a paddock where the path goes through a gate (though you are invited to walk around the outside of the enclosure). In the paddock, walk half-left, looking for another gate in the far fence. Pass through, climb the stone stile opposite and turn right. Walk for a short distance to go through a further paddock gate (with another horse-free option), then again, go half-left to a gate on the far side. From here, cross to another gate, beyond which go right, with a paddock fence on your left. Climb a pair of stiles separated by a strip of tarmac, then go ahead to a stone stile and on to a wooden one. Now proceed in the same direction (half-left) climbing two stiles to cross the pasture towards a distant wall. In the far corner of the field, cross a stone stile and follow the path right with high wall on left, to reach the village of Shipton Moyne.
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Turn left along the road, crossing to the ‘Cat and Custard Pot’ on the right, a possible early refreshment stop. Immediately beyond the pub, take the path on the right between houses that leads to a stile. Cross the paddock to a further stile then continue over the field aiming for a gap in the trees on the far side, where you cross another stile. Now walk ahead towards distant houses, picking up the field corner on the left and keeping the boundary left to a stone stile with horse riding area beyond. Cross this, keeping right, to climb a further stile, then walk with the wall to your right to reach a road via another stile. Turn right and walk for a few yards, then climb a stile on the left, by the entrance to ‘West End’. Turn left and cross the paddock to a farm gate a short distance from the left corner. Go through, and cross the pasture to a stile opposite, beyond which, walk over the field towards a farmhouse. Climb the stile by the metal gate, then go left, through a wooden gate to the farm complex.
(B) It was at this farm, ‘Hillcourt’, that Prince William did his ‘work experience’ some years ago, the farm being just a short bicycle ride from Highgrove!
Follow the concrete driveway right, then left, passing sheds and stockyards, then right again to reach tarmac. In a short distance, leave the metalled surface beyond old stables, going left and following the track, keeping the boundary to your left and going through a gate. Now the track goes left, reaching another gate in a short distance. Turn right here before the gate, and walk with the fence on your left. Beyond the next gate, veer right towards a small wood and metal fence, but as the fence swings right, leave it to go ahead across the pasture to climb a stile on the far side.
Cross the road with care and climb the stone stile opposite to enter the parkland of the Westonbirt Estate. Now walk ahead to a stile in the wire fence. Climb over and turn right towards the obvious stile ahead. Beyond the stile, walk ahead roughly parallel with the right boundary, to reach a kissing gate. Go through and continue in the same direction across parkland, with glimpses of Westonbirt School away to your right.
(C) As Westonbirt House with a facade 120 metres long, it was one of the finest homes in Gloucestershire when built for Robert Holford at a cost of £200,000. In 1829, he started the tree collection in what is now Westonbirt Arboretum, a project continued by his son, Sir George Holford, from 1875.
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Eventually, you reach a gate near the field’s far right corner, go through and aim diagonally right for the (often isolated) stile and a short distance further climb a stile onto a golf course. Now, your route is half-right again, beneath the balls flying from the first tee, and towards the small clubhouse where you can celebrate reaching the mid-point of your walk with a cup of tea (weekends only). Follow the driveway out of the golf course to reach Westonbirt village, then walk a short distance and take the drive on the right, over the cattle grid, to Westonbirt School.
Follow the drive, with the school away to your right, eventually reaching the main driveway. Cross, and go through a kissing gate. Go ahead to a metal kissing gate in the fence ahead. Go half-right, towards kissing gate. Pass by through and continue to a gate near the far right corner. Go through and continue across this last field to the opposite corner, with the Hare & Hounds hotel over to your left. Climb stile and pass through the kissing gate to reach a road junction.
Cross this busy road with care to the opposite corner where a small wooden gate gives access to a strip of woodland. Exit via a stile then head across the field keeping to the right boundary (with a house off to the left), eventually reaching a stile in the wooden fence on the far side. Continue ahead now for a few yards to reach the hedge of the following field and here, turn right.
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Walk with the hedge boundary on the left, looking for a stile on left as you lose height. Cross into another field and follow the waymark to reach a stone stile on the far side. Climb this and continue in the same direction to the top right corner and a further stile. Beyond here, go ahead on a grassy path with hedge to your right. Pass through a gap in the wall at the field corner, proceed to a stone stile in the next corner, then go ahead to an obvious wooden one. Now continue in the same direction to reach a tarmac drive with the fine Elmestree House away to the left. Cross the drive and aim towards the left end of the woodland ahead, but before reaching the trees, look half-right to the white painted buildings in the distance that belong to the Highgrove estate. The thick, Tuscan columns, just visible are part of the ‘Orchard Room’, built in 1998 of Cotswold stone and featuring a stone roof. This provides Prince Charles with a permanent venue for receptions and parties.
(D) The Duchy of Cornwall bought Highgrove House on behalf of The Prince of Wales in 1980, the house having been the home for 14 years of Maurice Macmillan, Conservative MP for Farnham and son of the former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.
At the far side of the field beside the trees, pass through a pair of gates with a pond down to your right, then walk ahead, keeping left, to eventually go through a metal field gate. Now cross the field, aiming for the house ahead and when you reach it, go through two gates to reach a lane. Follow the tarmac, passing a house on the right and a footpath sign on the left. Just beyond the house, look for a stone stile on the right, climb over and turn left, now walking parallel with the lane.
(E) Look back over your right shoulder to see a strange bird alighting on its nest! This sculpture, designed for the Prince in 1997, stands at the north-eastern extremity of the Highgrove Estate. The bird sits on a cast-iron column that was rescued from the front of the old Victoria Station in London.
Follow the field boundary down to a stone stile, cross this and a wooden one beyond the track, then walk with a stream on your left to another stile on the far side of the meadow. Beyond this, go left over a footbridge then continue right in your original direction through a plantation of trees. The meandering path leads you to a stile in the top left corner.
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Climb the stile then follow the discernable path towards a bungalow, where a stile gives access to the road. Cross, turning right, and walk for just a few yards to reach the wooden gates of number 18. The footpath runs alongside the property, so walk down the short drive to the wrought-iron gate, go through and follow the path to reach a stile where you enter a paddock. Now walk with the bungalows on your right to eventually climb a wooden stile at the far end. Continue on to a stone stile, beyond which follow the narrow, often overgrown path with houses on the right, eventually reaching a road. Follow the road left down to the ford, and turn right immediately beyond, into Cotton’s Lane. At the end of the lane it joins West Street, with the church ahead. Continue to the main road and turn left, then retrace your outward route, turning right at The Green, right again into Fox Hill following that to reach the footpath left that takes you back to the car park.
(F) Tetbury railway station was the terminus station on a 7.5-mile branch line that ran from Kemble, where passengers joined the Swindon to Gloucester main line. The line opened in 1819 and closed in 1964, its main source of income being livestock. A cattle market was built adjacent to the station, and the line's freight generally consisted of food for livestock, milk, and coal.
