COTSWOLD WONDER

Nuclear bunkers, Neolithic sites and knock-out views. Put down your picturepostcard perceptions of the Cotswolds and pick up your boots for a tour of its countryside – and turn a UK travel staple into something fresh. And muddy…

- JACKIE SCULLY

It is a little-known fact that there are more Bay Tree Cottages in the Cotswolds than there are in any other part of the world. I should confess that this fact is little known because I’m not sure anyone has actively set out to validate it. But, after six days wandering from village to village as part of a self-guided Cotswold Ring walking tour, the sheer volume of them was hard to ignore. Actual bay trees, however, less popular.

Spotting cottage names was obviously not the highlight of what ended up being an adventurous 100km, seven days walk through one of the most beautiful parts of England. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve previously strolled down the wide street that dominates Broadway or stopped for a photo on one of the iconic local stone bridges that define Bourton-on-the-Water. But I was drawn back to the area once more as I liked the idea of leaving the 400-year-old market halls and chocolate box charm behind for a while and digging a bit deeper.

In so doing, I think I might have unearthed a surprising side that’s admittedly less picturesque in parts, but perhaps more interesting. Because from Neolithic long barrows, fields of sugar beet, and quirky local signs – I certainly didn’t want to get fined 40 shillings for not shutting the gate in Blockley – to vast estates, ha-ha ditches, disused quarries, a nuclear bunker, and names such as Pye Corner, Pillow Mounds and Guiting Power, there is much more to the Cotswold countryside than docile sheep and cows.

Getting off the map