Cycling type
Road
Distance
19 miles / 30.58 km
Duration
3 to 4 hours
Difficulty
Moderate
Shape
Circular
Route description
This is a great route up over Chastleton Barrow passing Chastleton House then the Rollright Stones. Catch the train back or return gently along the Evenlode Valley visiting Evenlode and Adlestrop. A few climbs.
Highlights
Kingham was voted ‘England’s Favourite Village’ in 2004 by Country Life magazine.
Chastleton House is a marvellously unspoilt Jacobean manor house, one of the finest of its kind, with a collection of furniture and other effects belonging to the family who occupied it for almost 400 years until 1991 when the property came into the care of the National Trust. The house is open to the public between April and October. Advance bookings recommended.
Moreton-in-Marsh
The town has a long and wide high street, a clue to its origins as a planned market town of the 13th century. Today Moreton is still a market town, boasting every Tuesday the largest open air street market in the Cotswolds. There are some fine buildings, including its rare Curfew Tower which still has its original clock and bell, dated 1633. Houses and shops of the 18th and 19th centuries line the high street, and in the centre is the Redesdale Hall, dating from 1887, the town’s main public hall. The annual Moreton Show is a major celebration of past and present farming life in this area, which has a delightful feel of several counties still mixed together here at the northern edge of the Cotswolds.
Chastleton Camp
Nearby is a fine example of an Iron Age hillfort. The ramparts are now heavily wooded but still clearly visible and offers excellent surroundings views. Once they would have protected a small community but now provide shelter to cattle sheep.
Start
Address
OS Grid Ref
SP2564422741
What3Words
Refreshments
Pub and shops in Long Compton; Organic farm shop and café at Daylesford
Navigation
1. Turn left from station, after 1/4 mile turn left signed Kingham, and follow signs to Cornwell. After 3 miles straight over X roads, signed Chastleton, then in 1/2 mile cross A436, signed Chastleton.
2. After passing Chastleton House, turn right signed Little Compton, turn left WITH CARE onto A44, then turn right WITH CARE, signed Little Compton
3. In 2 1/4 miles turn left at T-junction, signed Rollright Stones, in 1/2 mile pass Rollright Stones.
4. Turn right then left to cross A3400, signed Great Rollright, then turn left at Butlers Hill Farm, take care on the narrow descent to Long Compton.
5. After about a mile turn left at T-junction, then shortly turn right at T-junction by village hall.
6. In 1/4 mile turn left, signed Barton, then turn left at T-junction, signed Barton. Turn right at T-junction in Barton, signed Great Wolford and continue through Great Wolford to Todenham.
7. In Todenham turn left at T-junction, signed Moreton and continue for 3 miles to A429. At T-junction turn left, signed Cirencester, continue to roundabout and turn left onto the A44 signed Oxford, turn left into Moreton Station.