The walk file: Cotswold Edge

The Cotswolds hills stretch for 90 miles from Wiltshire to Warwickshire. The limestone range tips towards the south-east, creating an escarpment along its western and northern edges known as the Cotswold Edge. This pleasant circular stroll follows one of the best stretches of the scarp, near Cheltenham.

Starting atop Crickley Hill, follow the Cotswold Way National Trail north through the beech woods that run along the ridgeline, catching glimpses of far-reaching views west through breaks in the treeline. After descending the hill, the route wanders up a hedgerowed lane before rising up the southern flank of Leckhampton Hill.

The beautiful limestone grassland at the hill’s crest thrums with the chatter of birds and grasshoppers, but it’s the views as you dogleg around the summit that are most exhilarating. Looking west, the rounded green hump of May Hill sits in the middle of the Severn Plain. Walking further north, you can see the stark UFO-like structure of GCHQ, Tewkesbury Abbey’s distinctive spire and the rolling outline of the Malverns beyond.

Continuing east, you weave through paths of shrubs and wildflowers with the grassy banks of Charlton Kings Common dropping sharply away to your left. Dropping down through farmland, leave the Cotswold Way at the hamlet of Seven Springs and follow a footpath behind the pub of the same name over fields into pretty Coberley, with its traditional stone cottages. Pass the village cross and church and join the Gloucestershire Way west over meadows and farm tracks to round South Hill. The lush green hollow of Coldwell Bottom sits below you. Then it’s a last uphill push through woods to return again to that extraordinary escarpment at Crickley.

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The details

Sweeping views and Wolds villages

Start/finish

Crickley Hill Country Park Visitor Centre, Gloucestershire (SO930163)

Length of walk

9 miles

Walkers’ pitstop

The Seven Springs

Map

http://www.mapmyrun.com