The Coln Valley and Bibury

Grade - Fairly easy, with a couple of small but steepish climbs.

Maps - Landranger 163 (Cheltenham & Cirencester) or Pathfinder SP00/10, 1114 Cirencester (if you can find one these days). Outdoor Leisure map No. 45 (The Cotswolds) may also be used but this is a big map and a bit of a handful when outdoors!

Suitable for - Anyone in reasonable health though the going can be hard underfoot in places.

Duration - About 3 hours (6 miles)

Start - At the clapper bridge, Bibury Grid Ref. SP116056 (click here for start point map)

Refreshments - Pub at Coln St. Aldwyn (about halfway round) and Hotel and cafes at Bibury.

We walked this route on 14th. April 2007 and the weather was glorious - peaking at around 24 degrees C. For the middle of April that's not bad at all, we just wished we'd taken more water!

Anyway, this is a pleasant, undemanding stroll through some of the finest countryside the Cotswolds has to offer. Add to that the start point of Bibury - considered by Morris to be 'the most beautiful village in England' - and this is a great walk for all Cotswoldphiles. Points to look out for are (of course) Arlington Row, owned by The National Trust, and the church that includes work from just about every century from the twelfth onwards.

Parking can be found at the roadside by the river at Bibury or in front of Arlington Mill museum. It's also possible to start the walk at it's natural halfway point at Coln St. Aldwyn, as parking at Bibury can be difficult particularly at the weekends during the season.

The walk starts from the old clapper bridge that crosses the little river Coln and leads to Arlington row. Cross the bridge, passing by Rack Isle, a water-meadow that was given this name due to the drying racks placed there to dry cloth after fulling.

Straight after Rack Isle comes Arlington Row (pic. 1), a line of cottages built for the weavers and now also owned by The National Trust. Pause to take photographs - this row of cottages is one of the most photographed in England and could well lay claim to being the epitome of English cottages, at least as far as the word picturesque goes!

Walk on past Arlington Row to continue steeply uphill for about 60 yards until a small green is reached. Here you will find a public footpath sign to Ready Token (yes, it's a real place!). Here turn left to follow a track between houses that ends at a metal gate.

Go through this gate and follow the path to another gate where there stands surely one of the most complex public footpath signs in existence. Go through the gate and keep forward along the edge of several fields - the path here is distinct and obvious. Eventually you will come to another metal gate - here turn left ( see Pic. 2) to follow a broad track.

Anyway, we survived the bull - to be honest, I think we were beneath his notice. Having followed the rutted track across 'bull field', another metal gate is reached. Pass through this and follow a stony path ahead until a minor road is reached. Here turn left and follow the road for about 300 yards, passing a semi-detached house and then what looks like an old gatehouse (note the unusual front door). Just past this, on the left, is a public bridleway sign at a wooden gate Pic. 4)

. Having entered the field, bear half-left to cross it (there's no obvious path), aiming for a metal gate inbetween two trees at the far side (see Pic 5). Pass through this gate and keep ahead to another that gives out onto a drive in front of a house. Again keep ahead to follow a plainly-marked path across the next field. This leads to another metal gate - pass through this and keep to the field edge with a wall to the right. This small valley is now leading you down to the River Coln.

Head for the metal gate in the field wall between these trees

Head downhill here to reach the River Coln

Where the wall breaks away to the right, keep straight ahead through a group of beeches, following a grassy path that leads to a gate (Pic. 6). Pass through this and follow the track downhill and to the left that will bring you very shortly to the River Coln. (If you keep ahead to a gate and pass through to the road, Coln St. Aldwyn is just a few hundred yards away along the road.)

To continue the walk, do not pass through this gate but instead turn left to follow the river. The walk now crosses a riverside meadow (Pic. 7) with a wood to the left until a gate is reached. Pass through this to continue on through woodland, following a wide and obvious path. On leaving the woods keep ahead with fields to the right and woodland again to your left, all the time following an obvious path. Past the end of the woods keep on with a hedge to the left (see if you can spot the old sluice gate on your left!) until you rejoin the river.

There now follows a very pleasant walk through the meadows by the side of the Coln. The walk route carries on through two more gates, skirting Ash Copse to your left. It then goes on through another gate to then bear slightly left to end at an old gate and stone stile to enter a wood (Pic. 8). At all times the path is obvious and clear.

Cross the stile or go through the gate to climb a short, steep slope to another old gate. Keep ahead besides the edge of a wood, passing through two more gates until a path junction is reached (see photo below). Here bear right through another gate to head downhill and leave the wood. (Pic. 9) There is a good view from here across the Coln valley with the river to the right.

The River Coln with Bibury Court Hotel through the trees

Keep ahead along this obvious broad track, going through two more gates until, after the second one, a footpath sign is seen. Here keep ahead (do not turn left up the footpath) along a tarmac drive that drops down and to the right, passing between old Cotswold stone buildings (a former mill) to then cross the river. This is a great point to pause and admire Bibury Court Hotel (formerly the manor house) to the left (Pic. 10).

From here continue along the road until another road is reached. Here turn left and walk down through the village (noting the ice-cream shop on the right for those in need!) until your starting point is reached in about two hundred yards.

Walk 1. Walk 2. Walk 3. Walk 4. Walk 5. Walk 6. Walk 7. Walk 8. Walk 9. Walk 10. Walk 11. Walk 12. Walk 13. Walk 15

Bibury

Cottages at Bibury

Pic. 1

Pic. 2

This is now your direction for some 1.25 miles and at all times the track is obvious and easy to follow. Eventually the track bears right and drops down to a gate (see Pic. 3). At the time of writing, there was a 'beware of the bull' notice on this gate and indeed a very large bull in the field (a Charolais, I think).

He was laying down minding his own business and a good way off, also accompanied by a couple of cows and calves. In this situation it's not likely for a bull to be aggressive but please consider your safety. If for any reason you feel unsafe, skirt the field and rejoin the track further on - you are fully entitled to do this. Some very good advice is given by The Rambler's Association about the subject of animals generally - just type 'bulls in fields' into your Google search and follow the link.

Bluebells by the trackside in April! The bull was in the field in the distance

Turn left through the wooden gate before the tree

BULL!

Pic. 3

Pic. 4

Pic. 5

Pic. 6

Pic.7

The gate and stile are just to the right of the big tree

Pic. 8

Pic. 9

Pic. 10