Our glorious countryside

SNJ Reporter David Gibbs set out with local historian Claire Forbes for a ramble up hill and down dale, through butterfly-kissed meadows and alongside burbling brooks to explore the enchanted countryside around Minchinhampton.

OUR walk began one early weekday morning when the rest of the world had gone to work and the sun was burning patches of blue in an overcast sky.

Fifty yards down from our starting point at the Trumpet antiques shop in West End, once a bustling 18th century pub, was a rusty kissing gate set in the Cotswold stone wall. It marked the beginning of our adventure.

Claire said: "This is such an interesting walk, through beautiful, unspoilt countryside, filled with markers of different periods in history. People can tailor it to their own requirements by taking different footpaths."

We set off down a long tunnel-like path between high stone walls overhung with the branches of leafy trees through which sunlight dappled the earthy floor.

Claire explained the owners of the Lammas estate built this sunken path through their land in the 19th century to shield from their view workers making their way to the mills.

Once a walk of shame, it is now something akin to a secret passage and excites shivers of child-like delight.

At its end we joined King Street - notable for being the narrowest street in the British Isles - passing on our left a row of quaint weavers' and workers' cottages, before reaching the junction with steeply sloping Well Hill.

It is named, rather obviously, for the small, surprisingly inconspicuous well of burbling spring water, first documented in 1170AD, which was once the village's principal supply.

On the wall of The Wishings cottage opposite, Claire indicated two carvings, one of flowers and the other bearing the Negroid-like visage of a young boy.

It is thought these were cannibalised from Minchinhampton Manor, built in 1727 by the eminent political economist David Ricardo and then demolished in the 18th century.

"Research by the owner and me suggests that they may be of Huguenot origin, brought over by 17th century Huguenot silk weavers fleeing persecution in Flanders and the Low Countries," Claire said.

It is eerily arresting to see them enshrined on the wall more than three hundred years later.

Walking down Well Hill Road, we turn left into a drive that leads up to The Shard - Anglo-Saxon for house - previously called Frogmore Shard, after the nearby frog marshes.

The 18th century house was once home to the wealthy Pinfold clothier family, who owned some of the areas great mills, including Longfords Mill and The Iron Mills.

At the entrance to the grounds of the house we climbed over a stile on the left and crossed a gently sloping pasture, dodging cowpats and revelling in the warming summer morn, into Workhouse Lane.

At its end is yet another stile before we found ourselves knee-deep in glorious hilltop meadow lands, reminiscent of Austria and Switzerland, edelweiss and Julie Andrews singing The Hills are Alive, which overlook the Gatcombe lands.

Striding through the grass, dew soaking our shoes, we paused to examine the bewildering variety of butterflies on the meadow flowers.

Claire pointed out a Queen of Spain Fritillary, a Six-Spot Burnett and a Meadow Brown, before leading me off the roughly worn single-track path to a large weathered stone protruding from the grass.

The earliest historical record of the Cobstone - this strangely isolated prehistoric limestone monolith - is from 1635.

The stone is marked on the 1885 Ordnance Survey map but curiously, not on the 1998 version.

"If the cobstone was standing erect its proportions would match those of a typical monolith. It probably dates back to the Bronze Age or Neolithic period, as an object for pagan worship," said Claire.

"It may have been toppled to de-paganise it and later used as a track marker."

In an upright position it would have measured almost five metres in height and been visible from Longfords Mill, down in the valley, which is where we were heading.

Descending into the valley, we met a stream running alongside thick forest, which separates Avening from Minchinhampton and used to be known as the Chirer.

It leads us picturesquely across feeder streams and past a lone goat shackled to a tin shed to the dilapidated ruins of Longfords Mill.

Builders are beginning the long transformation of the former cloth mill into sumptuous flats.

Leaving the mill we stroll down the Avening Road finding ourselves a mite too early to sample an ale at the Weighbridge Inn.

Instead, we take the opportunity to sneak a peek at the completed The Iron Mills residential development, marvelling at the golden, honey-coloured stone redolent of Bourton-on-the-Water and Stow-on-the-Wold.

A long climb up the road back towards Minchinhampton may prove a test for less fit and older residents.

But it is well worth it for the views back over the valley.

Before turning right into Well Hill Road at the junction with New Road, Claire pointed out a plain-looking building which until it became a private residence in the 1960s was the King's Head pub owned by Forwood - a well-to-do brewing and land-owning family - and later Stroud brewery.

Moving along Well Hill Road, on the final leg of our stroll, we pause at the entrance of The Shails, a house bearing an ancient moniker that was used for the land surrounding it from 1235.

"From this position the views across to Gatcombe are quite spectacular," said Claire.

Further up the hill, on the right, is land known as Forwood named after the afore-mentioned family who, records show, owned it as far back as the early 13th century.

Halfway up Well Hill Claire singles out a house on the right called Rowleys, said to have been named after a dog belonging to Charles II, who is believed to have visited the house.

It was once the site of the Royal Oak pub but time was called in the early 20th century.

Retiring to reflect on our exertions over a cup of coffee, Minchinhampton, we conclude, is blessed with surroundings of breathtaking pastoral beauty littered with rich historical landmarks.

While no one needs a guide to know what is beautiful, most of us need one to make it meaningful.

The sunken path from West End to Well Hill