Westcote and Icomb

Explore four gorgeous Cotswold villages with superb views over the Evenlode valley.

Technical sheet

18957930
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 10.44 km
  • ◔
    Calculated time: 3h 20 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Return to departure point: Yes
  • ↗
    Vertical gain: + 113 m
  • ↘
    Vertical drop: - 106 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 196 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 110 m

Description der Wandertour

(S/E) From The kings head Inn entrance to the pub, turn right across the village green and walk up Church Street.

(1) At the church, turn right and walk through the cemetery on Oxfordshire Way. Follow the path beyond to a kissing gate, and then continue to a second kissing gate and footbridge. Turn half-left and cross the field to a footbridge, continuing across a second field until you reach Westcote Brook.
Turn right and follow the brook upstream.

Cross the Brook at the first footbridge and cross two fields separated by kissing gates. Beyond a further kissing gate at the end of the second field, turn left through a semi-wooded area, keeping close to a stream on your left.

(2) Cross a footbridge and continue to a kissing gate leading into a hedged green lane; turn left. Keep on along the hedged bridleway (which is accompanied by a parallel footpath to the right). Follow this bridleway uphill, gradually at first and then more steeply, until you emerge in Nether Westcote.

(3) At various points there are connections with the adjacent footpath if you fancy a change of scene. 11 On reaching the road in Nether Westcote, turn right past the Feathered Nest. Walk up through the village, ignoring a footpath on the right.

(4) At a crossroads, turn right and walk along the road to Church Westcote. Beyond a topograph, turn right and pass a post box and the village church. At a grass triangle at the end of the road, turn right and join a track skirting a cottage.

After the entrance to a large house on the left, just as the track starts to descend, take a footpath on the left over a stile into a field.

(5) Cross the field and pass through a belt of woodland into another field. Drop down to a fence and then up again, before entering woodland.

Follow the descending path to the bottom of the wood, where you turn right and then left over a stream. Climb up an enclosed path and then cross the Oxfordshire Way bridleway and continue beyond in similar vein. On entering another wood, go through a gate in the corner of a high fence and turn right, downhill.

(6) Ignore crossing paths and exit the wood by a similar kissing gate and cross a stream. Follow a grassy track that skirts to the left of a reservoir, then follow the track right and left at the end of the reservoir, with a smaller pond to the left.

Keep left at a junction of tracks, then take a footpath on the right that climbs gradually below a large new house.

(7) Go through a gate into a farm track; the main route onward is to the right, but a diversion left to Icomb church and village is recommended. On returning from the churchyard, keep on down the hill; by a clump of conifers before Middle Farm, take a footpath on the left and bear right across the field.

(8) Go through a gate at the far side and follow the field edge beyond, crossing the driveway to Lower Farm and continuing in the same direction along a stone wall. Cross the next field to a kissing gate and continue to a footbridge and gate. Walk down to a kissing gate in the far left-hand corner and follow a short grassy track to meet the driveway to another farm.

(9) Turn right then left to continue, and at the bottom of the next field turn right to the corner. Bear left after the kissing gate and follow the footpath through a series of fields until you meet the B4450.

(10) Turn right and follow the road for 500 yards back to Bledington and The Kings Head. (S/E)

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 110 m - The kings head Inn
  2. 1 : km 0.32 - alt. 119 m - Church - Westcote Brook
  3. 2 : km 1.55 - alt. 115 m - Footbridge
  4. 3 : km 3.64 - alt. 182 m - Nether Westcote
  5. 4 : km 4.5 - alt. 196 m - Church Westcote - Topograph
  6. 5 : km 5.21 - alt. 164 m - Woods
  7. 6 : km 6.15 - alt. 134 m - Reservoir - Pond
  8. 7 : km 6.96 - alt. 164 m - Icomb church
  9. 8 : km 7.95 - alt. 131 m - Lower Farm
  10. 9 : km 9.06 - alt. 127 m - B4450
  11. 10 : km 9.85 - alt. 113 m - Bledington
  12. S/E : km 10.44 - alt. 110 m - The kings head Inn

Practical information

Reviews and comments

Other walks in the area

For more walks, use our search engine .

The GPS track and description are the property of the author.