Morchi one

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I completed this route yesterday travelling east from Moreton in Marsh. I actually drove to Chipping Norton and caught the 801 Pulhams bus service to Moreton which operates frequently from Mondays to Saturdays. With minimal road walking and making good use of the footpath network I think it's just worthy of the full five stars. The only place I found with available refreshments was in the pub in Salford towards the end of the walk in the direction I did it.

You leave the crowds in Moreton in Marsh behind fairly quickly as you leave the town, travelling past the pretty St David's church, and then on footpaths around an allotment eventually reaching farmland and some big open spaces. After walking through Frogmore Farm, the path continues south before taking a sharp left towards the railway.

The short section between Stratford Bridge and the railway crossing (photo 3) was very waterlogged when I did the walk, but I just about managed to pick a dry-ish route through. The gated railway footpath crossing offers plenty of sight down the tracks either way to make sure no trains are traveling along the mainline before you cross.

The route then briefly takes you into the village of Evenlode, before quickly leaving the village and heading towards Chastleton. The route here is fairly clear, although there were plenty of large puddles in the rutted lane to dodge on the route (photo 8).

When you arrive in Chastleton, you are immediately greeted with the grand sight of Chastleton House (photo 9), the birthplace of croquet. This National Trust owned ancient country house has limited opening hours, and i'm led to believe is quite popular. The adjacent church is said to offer refreshments during opening times, but both were closed at the time I arrived so was extremely quiet.

Over the road from the entrance to the house is a gated entrance to a permissive path (photo 10) which takes you to the car park up the hill. The actual mapped route here takes you along the road between these points, but I definitely recommend the footpath to/from the car park. I think it would be extremely harsh to fail this route, and create another route reflecting just that change, so hopefully this paragraph in the review is all it needs.

After the car park you have to re-join the road for a short section of road walking to get to the cattle grid at the top. Here you take a lovely footpath (photo 11) up Adlestrop Hill which is also the highest point of this route. The footpath does continue up to the summit of the hill and Chastleton Barrow, but unfortunately this route turns off the footpath to join the road again. I did consider carrying on along the footpath, but it then joins the busy A436 which I wouldn't want to walk along. It's this detour along the road that made me consider dropping the route to 4 stars, but that would be harsh, particularly as the road walking is relatively pleasant and quiet (photo 12).

After crossing the A436, the route takes you through Cornwell Holt woodland to agricultural land above the village. When I reached the edge of the Holt, I was greeted with a field of rapeseed (photo 13). The footpath at either end through the field was non-existent so you have to take a leap of faith and just follow the map, but after 7 or 8 metres the path through the rapeseed did appear.

Cornwell village is extremely pretty (photo 14), as is skirting the grounds of Cornwell Manor to and around St Peter's Church. The route then takes you steeply down and then up towards Glebe Farm, from which there is a lovely old lane virtually all the way into Salford. There is a short section of the busy A44 to walk alongside, but there is a safe and wide verge to do so.

I found the Black Horse pub a suitable place to have a quick drink before heading out of the village and steadily up the hill towards Chipping Norton (photo 15). All in all a great walk through the Cotswolds with plenty of interest. There are many stiles, gates and footbridges along the way, and a few good muddy sections. I can imagine immediately following heavy rain that these muddy sections would be pretty extreme so that might need to be a consideration. Definitely recommend the walk, and would do it again.

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