The Oxfordshire branch of the British Driving Society held a Meet at Hook Norton Brewery on Sunday 27th July 2025. There was a good turnout both in terms of horses and spectators….
British Driving Society
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Tag Archives: leisure
Stourton Walk
In the hot weather yesterday I walked from near Ascott in Warwickshire to the nearby village of Stourton, home of the Cotswold Distillery. As well as producing gin and whisky the distillery also houses a lovely cafe which served as my lunch stop.
It was about a 7 mile walk…..
Malvern Hills
On 15 April I had a day out and returned to the Malvern Hills as I had not been there for some years.
This time I started by walking up to the Worcestershire Beacon and North Hill before returning to the car and moving it to another car park before climbing up to British Camp and the Herefordshire Beacon.
The black and white image was created in Tonality an app which has numerous presets for monochrome imagery.
Walking from Hooky
A few years ago the Local History Group revised the walks booklet that had been on sale for a number of years. The number of walks was increased from 4 to 8 and covered the footpaths in most directions from the village.
From time to time I have been walking these routes making sure that they are still marked clearly with little or no obstructions. Sometimes I take bits of several of the walks and combine them to make it more interesting for me. Today was a case in point. The golf course was closed owing to snow so it was “Shanks Pony” for me today. I kept to the road for most of it walking from the house to Swerford before turning off for Wigginton and then returning home across the fields. The map of my route is below.
Crickley Hill
Crickley Hill Country Park is a National Trust run open space lying to the south of the Regency town of Cheltenham close to the Air Balloon public house and roundabout on the A417.
Open all year round with a lovely cafe with friendly staff and clean toilets it is a great place to go for a walk with or without a dog. In the park itself our four legged friends require to be on leads, however, there are parts where they can run free. Belted Galloway cattle graze on the NT land, hence the request for dogs to be on leads.
The views from the escarpment are spectacular looking towards the Malvern Hills and in the distance the Brecon Beacons and the Black Mountains in Wales can be seen on a clear day.
Closer to the park Gloucestershire Airport at Staverton is clearly visible its three runways being a legacy of its use as an airfield in WW2.
Hook Norton Footpaths -8 Walks around the village
The booklet has now been published and is available from me at a cost of £4 plus P&P of £1.50. It has 48 pages with OS maps inside showing the routes. The cover is shown below.
Walks around Hooky
Recently I have been testing the walking routes that will be in the revised Walks around Hooky booklet the local history group are producing. Here are a selection of images from my travels.
Footpath and farm track leading to Coldharbour Farm near the north Oxfordshire village of Hook Norton 
Parched footpath leading from the north Oxfordshire village of Hook Norton towards Lodge Farm 
Swalcliffe Tithe Barn, a 15th century half cruck barn in the north Oxfordshire village of Swalcliffe 
A line of trees on the side of the long distance fotpath, the d”Arcy Dalton Way near the north Oxfordshire village of Swalcliffe 
Kissing gate stile in field on a footpath near the Oxfordshire village of Great Rollright 
Recently installed flight of steps on a footpath by Cowpasture Farm near the north Oxfordshire village of Hook Norton 
View of a footpath passing through a barley field near the north Oxfordshire village of Hook Norton
Woodworking – a new skill
I’ve already made two planters for the garden. Having found an unused set of wheels for my tool chest I thought I would make another that can be wheeled around. It is large enough to accommodate a grow bag if we decide not to fill it with plants.
I’ve been setting up my “workshop” before I make anything else. YouTube is great for getting ideas. In recent weeks I’ve made a table so that I can use my jigsaw inverted. As I bought a trim router table from the US my table can be used as a base for it too. Using battens and thumbscrews it makes a solid base. A circular saw track has also come out of the workshop. Now to look at YouTube again to see what I can make – a bird box is on the cards…
Garden Work
We have had a busy two days. Last week we had a delivery of bedding plants from Yarnton Garden Centre. They have now reopened and I went down on Sunday to buy more bedding plants. We have now potted them all up and these photos show some of our efforts. There are still more plants to come that we ordered online so we are not quite finished yet. Hopefully they will be with us in the next week or so. Then we can enjoy the garden save for grass cutting and the weeding which seems to be never ending at this time of year.
This post makes a change from the doom and gloom of our “lock down” experiences!
Stratford upon Avon
Here are a couple of photos from my visit to Stratford last week.
