August 25th Avening

20 Ramblers members (4 not seen for quite awhile and 2 new) walked from the school at Avening on a 5 mile circuit. It was quite a bright morning as we set off, soon turning left up the lane which was quite steep but lead us to a view point of Gatcombe House and Park. We then carried on up the tract with fields overlooking Minchinhampton Church tower in the distance, we passed Longman's Barn Farm with 2 lovely horses, one was showing off, kicking his back legs up high. We entered Hazel Wood and onto a footpath that lead us all the way round to eventually to come out of the wood and up to Grave Lane, which was a bit muddy after the recent heavy rain. After walking quite a way along it we took a sharp left turn and over a high stile to take on a grass tract that was gradually going down hill. A new tract had been carved out half way down and a lot of rubble and stones had been flattened on it making it accessible for vehicles (we think for pheasant shooting). We took our lunch stop half way down the hill and I handed out some Somerset Slice which everyone said they enjoyed. After lunch we carried on down the hillside where we could see lots of pheasants running around and into a small wooded area, we went though a couple fields to a house. Then we got onto a lane which soon lead to a stone wall type stile to get over and down through scrub land to eventually come out right by Avening Church and our cars.

Everyone thanked me for the walk saying how much they enjoyed it which makes it all worth while.

Avening 1