North Cotswolds – sports and leisure activities
Updated July 2021
Walks
Gloucestershire has over 3300 miles of footpaths, bridleways and byways over which you are free to walk, so there is something everyone can enjoy however ambitious you feel. Visit the Tourist Office in the High Street, Chipping Campden, which can provide information about routes. Walks directly from the door our cottage in Ilmington (www.houfy.com/1016 -this is just over the border in Warwickshire) are many and various, some flat, some on track and road, some through fields, some involving hill climbs. Maps provided when you stay with us. We are about a mile from the highest point in Warwickshire. All afford you glorious views of the Cotswolds. Take your pick!
Cycling
You have no shortage of choice of cycle routes in Warwickshire and Gloucestershire and we have 5 designated cycling routes just a few wheel turns away from our cottage in Ilmington. This is a good website to check and here is a link to the Ilmington-Stratford one www.routeyou.com/en-gb/route/view/4386470/cycle-route/stratford-ilmington. This is approximately 18 miles.
Jack Thurston, cycling author (‘Lost Lanes’ cycling guidebooks, which can be found on Amazon) wrote an article for the Daily Telegraph detailing some of his favourite cycling routes in the UK. This suggested route comes from his “Lost Lanes. West” book. Pubs always feature on his routes and he aims to find quiet lanes and traffic free cycleways in beautiful countryside and places which could be described as ‘hidden’. You see so much more from a bike!
One of the routes, similar to above, but a longer way round, which he calls the Shakespeare shuffle takes you through Ilmington and to our local pub, The Howard Arms, for a ‘pit stop’. It starts and ends at Stratford-upon-Avon taking you through Welford, Honeybourne, Ilmington and Long Marston, cycling through the part of Warwickshire which lies on the Cotswold Edge. It is 32 miles long and of course you can start and finish in Ilmington if you stay with us.
As Jack points out, the English Midlands gave birth to the modern bicycle and in this part of South Warwickshire bordering on Gloucestershire, there is something for every cyclist as you can ride flat routes or go for rolling countryside and even some very steep hills if you want a challenge. This particular route ascends to 822 feet but is predominantly flat country lane cycling although you will have to share the road with cars in some places! The start, if you start in Stratford follows the Avon river, southwards. It can be found on the map www.thebikeshow.net/stratford. It takes in the edge of the Meon Hill, near Mickleton, which has long been associated with tales of ghosts, murder and witchcraft. The section from Stratford to Long Marston runs along the Stratford Greenway traffic free cycle path, a very pleasant ride beside the canal and the route of the former railway line.
Our local pub, the Howard Arms is quintessentially Cotswold in character. Flagstone floors, beams and a roaring fire on cold days. On top of that, great food and drink! A Bronze winner in pub of the year 2020. Even better, you get a 10% discount on food there when you stay with us at Sansome House Cottage www.houfy.com/1016
Clay Pigeon Shooting
Cotswold Clayshooting www.cotswoldclayshooting.co.uk/
Activity Days. Quad Bikes, Power Turn Buggies, Clay Pigeon Shooting, Paintballing etc
Rob Ireland Activity Days, Draycott, near Moreton-in-Marsh. Book in advance.
Horse Riding
Willersey Stables, Willersey Road Farm, near Badsey: Modern indoor school. Hacking over 100-acre farm, cross-country course. Five years to adult. Beginners to intermediate, qualified tuition.
www.riding-schools.com/c/worcestershire/evesham/willersey-stables
At Stanton, Cotswold Riding (Between Broadway and Winchcombe): Off-road riding through beautiful Cotswold countryside. Tuition if required. All ages and standards. www.cotswoldsriding.co.uk/horse-riding-and-tuition
At Chastleton near Moreton in Marsh. Durhams Farm Riding School. Tuition for all ages, all standards. www.cotswoldriding.com/
Golf in the North Cotswolds for visitors – see my separate guide for this!
Fishing
Both Coarse Fishing and Fly Fishing available:
• Lyneham Coarse Fishing Lake: Trout Fishing. looksfishy.co.uk/places-to-fish/south-east/oxfordshire/lyneham-lake/
• Salford Trout Lakes: www.salfordtroutlakes.co.uk/
• Cornbury Park Fishery, Charlbury: Both lake and river fishing available. www.cornburypark.co.uk/fishing.html
Polo
Cirencester Park Polo Club: www.cirencesterpolo.co.uk
Balloon Flights
www.virginballoonflights.co.uk/location/stratford-upon-avon/
www.wickersworld.co.uk/locations/warwickshire-gloucestershire/
Theatre
• Royal Shakespeare Theatre, The Swan or The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon.
• Stratford Artshouse and The Bear Pit
• Everyman Theatre, Stratford upon Avon
• The Attic Theatre
• Chipping Norton Theatre, Chipping Norton
• Apollo Theatre, Oxford
• Oxford Playhouse, Oxford
• Warwick Arts Centre
• Theatres in Cheltenham
Horse Racing
We are surrounded by racecourses at Warwick (www.warwickracecourse.co.uk), Stratford-upon-Avon (www.stratfordracecourse.net) and of course Cheltenham (www.thejockeyclub.co.uk) where the National Hunt Festival is held in March. (www.thejockeyclub.co.uk/cheltenham/events/tickets/the-festival) Check websites for details of race days. Every Easter Bank holiday Monday, locally, we have the Point-to-Point at Paxford.
National Trust Houses and Gardens
See their website for the huge selection. (www.nationaltrust.org.uk) You can become an annual member and save after visiting just a few houses.
Historic Houses Association - (www.historichouses.org)more houses and gardens. Includes Highclere Castle (aka Downton Abbey)
Shows and Festivals
There are many local festivals, not least literary and music festivals in both Chipping Campden and Stratford upon Avon.
The open-air Longborough Opera Festival takes place in June and July (www.longboroughopera.com), During August at Warwick Castle there are jousting weekends throughout the summer (www.warwick-castle.co.uk), and at Stoneleigh the British Pig and Poultry Fair (www.rase.org.uk). Moreton in Marsh Agricultural and Horse Show takes place on the first Saturday of September each year. And of course our own Ilmington Show at the end of August.
For information about the world-famous Cheltenham Literary Festival, in October, go to www.cheltenhamfestivals.co.uk There are also jazz festivals, country music festivals, science festivals
– the list is endless!
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In Ilmington – The community shop (staffed by volunteers) on Grump Street. Sited in the old Catholic Church on the Upper Green. Open from 7.30 in the morning. Fresh local vegetables and meat. Fruit, all everyday items. Newspapers etc. Freshly baked croissants every morning. There is a café attached.
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