Between Stroud and Cirencester, Gloucestershire Photos by Hetty

Sapperton and Pinbury park

20th May 2020 4.4 miles Map of walk

This is a walk in the valley of the young River Frome, which begins near Brimpsfield,turns a corner near Sapperton and flows through Stroud.

We started by Sapperton village hall

walked past Sapperton Church

Church weathervane

We followed the Macmillan Way

The sheep needs a haircut

There is a thatched barn, next to the house – unusual in the Cotswolds

This was the ancient route from Bisley to Cirencester via Park Corner – before the toll roads were made. This was once the route from Stroud to London

We are heading towards Pinbury Park

We will walk to the right, turn left at the pond and walk from right to left along the stone wall

Pond by Pinbury Park

View from Pinbury Park over the Frome Valley, where we came from

To get on your horse at Pinbury Park

Pinbury Park was owned by a monastery, until the Dissolution. The house probably was built in the late 1500s. Later it was owned by the Atkyns family until 1788. After years of neglect the house was just a farmhouse, which the Barnsley brothers and Ernest Grimson leased in 1892. They were leading members of the Arts and Crafts movement, who extended the house and redesigned the garden.

Pinbury park on Historic England website

A ford in the River Frome, fortunately there is a foot bridge too

Then we walked up through the trees to the top of the hill and Mr H opened a gate for horse riders

Polo practice

Down through the woods on the steep, ancient Bisley to Cirencester track

At the bottom was a ford in the River Frome, at The Gulf

Then we followed the small river towards Sapperton, passing the sites of two corn mills, and back up to the church

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Sapperton to Edgeworth

May 2011

Inside St Kenelm’s Church, Sapperton – which was rebuilt in the 13th and 14th centuries

Memorial to Sir Robert Atkyns (died 1711) who lived at Pinbury Park, the author of ‘The Ancient and Present State of Gloucestershire’, the first printed history of the county.