Fairford

John Stewart

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This easy walk from the centre of Fairford goes round a large lake with a wide variety of wildfowl, particularily in the migratory seasons, followed by an interesting stroll along the banks of a charming river.

Fairford itself is an ancient market town dominated by the Late Perpendicular 'wool' church of St Mary with its pinnacled tower, magnificent medieval stained glass and a wealth of carvings in both wood and stone.

The military air base nearby was where Concorde was flight-tested for a number of years.

The main square is lined with 17th and 18th Century stone houses. There are a number of pubs in the town including The Bull, an old coaching inn.

England - South West England - Gloucestershire - Cotswolds

Features

Birds, Church, Lake/Loch, Pub, River, Toilets

9/6/2024 - Vicky England

This is a lovely dog friendly walk, and it was lovely to have a flat walk for a change. The building work mentioned in an earlier comment is still going on, and it's such a massive site it will be for some years to come. However, the path at the side of the site fences is well established, and sign saying the path is temporarily closed is at the end of the site fences, at which point it you've already walked it! I can understand the confusion at point 13. There is a bridge shown on the Ordnance Survey map, but that is not the bridge we cross - carry on and all becomes clear.

5/23/2022 - Harry Cook

This was a most enjoyable walk and being flat required little effort. There are two caveats: 1.There was/is building work going on around the North-East corner of the lake. When I reviewed this walk (May 2022) there were signs between points 8 and 9 saying the footway was closed. Having talked to a local dog walker it transpired that this sign was out of date and the path had re-opened. This proved to be the case and the path is re-instated with a woodchip coating. 2. The path at point 13 can be difficult to follow. There are multiple tracks and if you get to a wooden bench and a large wooden bridge you have gone a little too far. Backtrack and keep the main river on your left.

9/19/2020 - Aidan Orton

An enjoyable walk, first attempt with my 8 year old daughter and she could probably have gone further. I agree with the earlier comments, that directions could be clearer and I have updated them where I could. In particular we got lost between 12 and 13, as we completely missed the wooden bridge and had to backtrack, it's quite hidden away now, unlike the original photo. I don't think it helps that most of the comments refer to left and right, but point 12 refers to the track bearing east.

6/26/2016 - Jenny Beal

This is a really lovely walk. We joined it just before WP7 having first walked most of the Fairford and Quenington walk Id 45. Blackcaps, chiffchaffs and greenfinches were singing in the hedgerows between WPs 7 and 10. There were orchids in the meadow after WP10. Then from WPs 11 to 13 the views across the lake were beautiful – swans, tufted duck, great-crested grebe, greylag geese, mallards, coots on the water. After the end of the lake, almost the whole way back is by the river which was lovely. We had no problems with navigation, but there are perhaps two points which could perhaps be emphasised: after WP 7 and after turning right, don’t continue in that new direction – you need to actually turn left to resume the original direction; then after the bridge at WP13 you turn right along the river bank.

7/13/2010 - Adrian Perkins

I'm sorry Stephen didn't enjoy this walk. If there are problems with the instructions at any points, we need to have detailed information (eg grid references and in what way the instructions at the given points are wrong). Without this there is really nothing we can do. Is anyone able to give us this information? Adrian (Admin).

7/13/2010 - Stephen Harris

I'm sorry to say that this has to be the worst walk we have ever done and this should be removed from the database asap. We rate this 0/10. The directions were not clear but worst still, the majority of the walk is down a track between bushes giving no views of the lake. What views you do get are of just a boring old lake, viewed 20 yards behind a fence, you cannot get close to the lake at all. The paths are overgrown and full of dog mess. This walk becomes interesting towards the end but is simply a waste of time. Sorry!