Walk 5: A WALK TO HAMPNETT AND BACK - download pdf version

Time: 1 hour 30 minutes and approx 3 ½ miles
OS Pathfinder Map 01/11 Grid ref# 118 147

After a short climb out of the town, this is a pleasant, fairly easy walk following footpaths and bridleways. Some of the footpaths could at times be difficult to see, due to standing crops or undergrowth and in wet weather there are a few muddy sections. The small Church at Hampnett has an unusual decoratively painted interior and there are several attractive cottages around the old common, and also some well restored and converted farm buildings.

From the Market Place turn West along the High Street, passing the Wheatsheaf Hotel on your right and then turn right opposite the Fire Station into Guggle Lane (before you reach Midwinter   Road). 

Follow   this straight up, disregarding footpaths to the right, to Fortey Road.
 

Cross over into Ward Road and, keeping to the left follow the road round until you reach a wooded area.  Bearing slightly left through a kissing gate head up the hill  towards a telegraph pole, where you will find a gate into another field. Head diagonally across this field towards the far corner (where there is a footpath sign pointing back to Northleach).  Cross the main road with care (This is the old Roman boundary and road - the Fosseway A429).  

 
Go through a small gap in the wooden fencing and,  keeping in the  same  direction,  head towards a stile which could lead you across the A40 Northleach by-pass .

Do not go over this stile but turn left and follow along the bridle track, to reach the Manor Farm buildings at Hampnett. Turning   right along the road you will  come  to  the interesting Church and attractive cottages scattered around the common.

After passing the Church take a roadway on your left just after the telephone box, and turn left again where the footpath sign points down some steps and across part of the garden beside a house. Follow the path past a fenced garden to your left and through a delightful wooded area until you  reach a stile into an open field.

Cross this, and using the stepping stones, cross straight over to another kissing gate which leads you over a farm track to a further gate into a field. Here a clear pathway should be showing through the crops. Keeping in the same direction - cross over two further fields.

The buildings of the Old Prison (now home to 'Blades' Coffee Shop) and the West End of Northleach will be seen straight ahead and can be reached by following the path over and then beside the stream to the rear of the Old Prison buildings, and then through a kissing gate by the traffic lights, and so back along Jubilee Row and West End into the Market Place.

Web Editors Note:
This is a lovely peaceful walk and on the day we did it we were lucky enough to spot a group of muntjac deer in the distance as we walked towards Manor Farm, Hampnett. This was one of the last 'Walks' Around Northleach' that we did with our dog Fudge who sadly died during April 2008 after a short illness.

This page is dedicated to her memory - a fun-loving and beautiful companion who was loved by all and is greatly missed.
Fudge 1995 - 2008