A local but different starting point today. Having visited a friend in Charney Bassett I decided to take advantage of my locality and create a route from that village- a bit of a village hop with fields in between!
I started by setting off towards Stanford in the Vale – on the map this looked like a bit of a boring trudge through fields but actually was much more pleasant than anticipated. Quite a flat area with the Ridgeway in the distance. Immediately I left the main road through the village and was walking next to a ditch I saw some King Cups – my guess was confirmed by the facility on my phone to identify flowers and plants.
Once out of the village the path eclipses the edge of a wood where they have been preserving the art of hedge laying. Then to one side the Ridgeway and on the other the seasonal yellowness of oil seed rape.
Stanford in the Vale is a large village which has several older areas as well as new developments both well within the nucleus of the village and increasingly surrounding it – greatly increasing it’s footprint. It is a very tightly shaped village and immediately you enter there is an awareness of a change in architecture, Cotswold stone becoming more prevelant
The church and school are very much in the middle. Towards the end of the route through the village there is a green but on closer to scrutiny of the map this area in the northeast corner is actually Bow with it’s own Manor House and Farm.
From here it is a short section across to the small village of Hatford. I go passed the church but this isn’t the same one as the impressive chapel/ church that I saw last time I was here and neither is it marked on the map.
Passed where I parked last time with Alex J and along the road a bit before crossing fields to a wooded area. Definitely time for a comfort break – this has been the first opportunity and a chance to eat a sandwich, a rather late lunch but I did have cake with my coffee earlier! The most striking part of this walk through the wood is the abundance of a particular yellow flowering plant, as well as some gorse. It looks similar to something I have in the garden but I thought that was cultivated? Again the rather useful feature allows me to name it as Berberis aquifolium – Oregon grape. I really don’t think I ha be seen it wild before.
A bit further through the larch is beginning to show it’s new growth – a wonderful bright but gentle green. This path comes out by yet another Home Farm and this rather splendid hexagonal building – too grand to be a dovecote? And then by the side of the track this stone – not quite a mill stone but could be- a mystery to be solved.
I’m about to cross the busy A420 to visit Buckland. Luckily there is a bit of a gap in the traffic and my new path is straight across. From my path I can see an avenue leading down to Buckland House and then eventually it comes into view, hidden at first and then a better angle. I believe much of the village is or was owned by St. John’s College in Oxford. Again a compact village but it does have a school and strangely again two churches.
Having had an enjoyable walk around this village , the sun was out and by now reasonably warm, it was time to go back over the main road and head for the very small village of Pusey. The path meets the road opposite the main gates to Pusey House and as I go round the corner I’m aware of the house and lake with a haha like boundary. I’m now heading back to Charney but looking out I’m afforded magnificent views of the Ridgeway again. Somebody has parked to take photos and on chatting it appeared that she felt compelled to do this even though she lived close by.
And so back into Charney Bassett another splendid village with it’s own Manor House, now a retreat for Quaker’s and also a mill that is opened at Heritage times. To finish a photo of Alex’s cottage and the church.
This was a good stretch out for a Saturday pm, being out for four hours in what turned into a splendid sunny start to April. Just over 10 miles / 16.46 kilometres.
Marion's 50 Walk Challenge 