Minchinhampton - Avening - Minchinhampton

A circular walk, starting from Minchinhampton, an ancient market town located on a hilltop four miles from Stroud. Many of the buildings date from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the great days of the woollen cloth industries that saw the area gain considerable importance.

The walk proceeds downhill, towards Avening, through the grounds of the Gatcombe Park Estate, the country home of Princess Anne. The grounds host the Gatcombe Horse Trials every August, which includes cross-country, dressage and showjumping. There is also a biannual craft fair here every May and October, with about 160 exhibitors.

From Avening, the walk heads along the side of a valley, offering great views across to Gatcombe Park and then heads into woodland and back to Minchinhampton, mostly alongside a stream.

There is a large height gain on this walk, but this is spread over several climbs throughout the walk. I would not advise trying this walk in winter, as parts of it are likely to be extremely muddy where the path is shared with a stream. There are also two separate crossings to be made over streams via stepping-stones.

England - South West England - Gloucestershire - Cotswolds

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12/31/2011 - Dave Evans

A very pretty walk. Because of parking problems at Minchinhampton we decided to start and finish at Avening where there is plenty of free on street parking. The Bell at Avening is a good place for lunch too. We cut the walk short a little taking Sheep Lane through Gatcombe Estate ending up in the centre of Avening (this is just opposite the stone steps in the wall mentioned in waypoint 8 and brings you out into Avening High Street mentioned in 16. Simply turn right at this point to pick up the published route again).

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Walk id: 4224

Walk grade

Easy Walk

Length

6.3 Miles

Height gain

210 Metres

Duration

2 Hours 52 Mins

Average rating

Rated by 1 members

Dog rated by 0 members