Cotswolds Walking Tour - Day 5

This is the fifth of seven posts on our walking tour through the English countryside of the Cotswolds. We took a self-guided tour arranged by English Lakeland Ramblers which meant they provided the B & B accommodations, the transport of our luggage and detailed instructions and maps. It went amazingly smoothly.

Day 5: Winchcombe to Broadway. 10.5 miles
Walk Description: "Follow the pilgrims' route to Hailes Abbey, then over the hills to Jacobean Stanway House with its magnificent gatehouse and medieval tithe barn and on to idyllic Stanton.  Stay in the coaching village of Broadway where an array of fine houses and inns flank the 'broad way'."

The route was well traveled this morning only because it had been used for centuries by pilgrims making their way to the Abbey.  Maybe their one and only trip from their village in their lifetimes.

Hailes Abbey was destroyed by Henry VIII when he dissolved the wealthy monasteries and established the Church of England.

The gatehouse at Stanway House.

The parish church at Stanway.

We saw the first thatched roof on this pavilion supposedly given by J.M. Barrie for the cricket pitch there.

See the bull?

More thatched roofs in the restored village of Stanton.

Broadway in sight.

See that tower on the top of that hill?  It's Broadway Tower - we will walk up to there and then on to Chipping Campden tomorrow.

We took the shorter route and chopped 2 miles off this day. Well worth it, too.