Cycling type
Road
Distance
20 miles / 32.19 km
Duration
4 to 6 hours
Difficulty
Moderate
Shape
Circular
Route description
Medium or hard ride through Cotswold villages, past churches and pubs, visiting the old market town of Tetbury. An additional loop visits the world famous Westonbirt Arboretum. Some small hills.
Highlights
Chavenage House
Oliver Cromwell visited this lovely Elizabethan Manor House in 1648 to persuade then owner Colonel Nathaniel Stephens to agree to the execution of Charles II. The house has been regularly used for TV productions and is open to the public between May and September, on Thursday and Sunday afternoons.
Rodmarton Manor
Built in 1909, Rodmarton Manor is the supreme example of a house built and all its furniture made according to Arts and Crafts ideals and was one of the last country houses to be built and furnished in the old traditional style when everything was done by hand with local stone, local timber and local craftsmen.
Tetbury
Tetbury was a town built on the woollen industry. The elegant Gothic style parish church, St Mary’s, was rebuilt in 1781. The Market House rests on three towns of stout pillars and was built in 1665 for selling wool and yarn. The Chipping was the site of the cattle market until 1889. The Chipping Steps are medieval in origin. Today the town has bustling antiques industry.
Westonbirt Arboretum
Westonbirt Arboretum is one of the finest and most important collections of trees and shrubs in the world, founded by Richard Holford of Westonbirt House in 1829. There is a fantastic array of exotic trees and the spectacular displays vary from the deep autumnal colours of Japanese maples to the spring energy of rhododendrons, azaleas and magnolias.
Start
Address
OS Grid Ref
ST9852497593
What3Words
Refreshments
Pubs and tea rooms in Tetbury; Courtyard café at the Arboretum; Pubs at Kemble, Westonbirt, Shipton Moyne, Crudwell, and Oaksey
Navigation
1. Leave the station car park located by the ticket office. Turn left at road. Go over the A433 crossroads to Tarlton. Continue on lane to Rodmarton. In village, fork right by the church along to the junction.
2. Cross to the lane. Follow this 1/2 mile to the junction, turn right and continue 3/4 mile to the next junction. Turn right and stay on the lane for 1 1/2 miles through Cherington. Short Cut – Continue on this lane for 2 1/2 miles to the A433 junction. Cross over and follow the road opposite past Tetbury Industrial Estate and up to the junction near the Market House in the centre of town. Rejoin the long route at point 7.
3. After Cherington turn right by electricity sub-station. At next junction, turn right. At Star Farm take the left turn, signed Chavenage, to the B4014 crossroads. Go straight over and then turn left to pass Chavenage House. Turn right at the next junction near Hermits Cave and right again. Cross over the A4135.
4. Follow the lane down for 1 1/4 miles. At Hookshouse Pottery turn left. Cross the next junction and at the A433 turn right carefully and pass the lodges of Westonbirt House. Westonbirt Arboretum is a short distance on the right.
5. Having visited the arboretum, return to the A433, turn right and then left down into Westonbirt village. Go over the crossroads and bear left at the next fork. After 1 mile, turn left at the T-junction. Turn right and follow the lane to Shipton Moyne.
6. Turn right to visit this traditional estate village. Returning, proceed to Tetbury. Turn right at the A433, taking care, and drop into Tetbury over the Bath Bridge.
7. Turn right on the B4014 Malmesbury Road between The Snooty Fox Hotel and The Market House. Follow the road out of town, over the bridge to Long Newnton. Turn left in the village, signed Long Newnton Church. Pass the church then turn right and continue 3 miles to the A429 in Crudwell.
8. Turn left through the village then turn right by the pub, with care. Continue for 1 1/2 miles to Eastcourt. Turn left at the crossroads to the mini-roundabout and turn right into Oaksey.
9. Pass the church, turn left to Kemble and follow the lane for 2 1/2 miles to the junction in Kemble. Turn right and then immediately left. Cross the A429 with care and the station is on the left.