The best family-friendly hikes and walks around Shipston On Stour

A pleasant route through the golf course. However, I passed through at 8pm on a rainy Thursday night. Not many golfers about. I imagine it would be a bit trickier at 11am on a sunny Saturday. The public footpath is well marked with well placed warning signs but you will still need your wits about you at busy golfing times.

"The name "Brailes" is thought to originate either from the Old Welsh breg-lis - "hill court" - or the Old English byrgels - "burial place". Castle Hill Motte in the middle of the village is a natural knoll that was made higher in the Norman era to form the motte of a motte-and-bailey castle. Its construction may have been ordered by Roger de Beaumont, who was Earl of Warwick from 1123–53. Earthworks of both the motte and the bailey survive, and the site is a Scheduled Monument. Brailes was the home of William de Brailes, a 13th-century medieval painter of illuminated manuscripts. Of the many artists who painted such manuscripts, William is one of only two whose name has been recorded. It was also the birthplace of Thomas de Brayles (died c.1340), a senior judge and Crown official of the early fourteenth century, whose highest office was Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer. On the other side of Stocks Hill is Brailes House, the former home to the Sheldon family. The Sheldons have held the manor of Brailes since 1547." Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brailes

"The Church of England parish church of Saint George is the largest in the Kington Hundred and is locally called the "Cathedral of the Feldon". Feldon is an Old English word meaning "the land from which the timber has been cleared away". Excavations in 1879 beneath the arcade between the nave and south aisle are said to have found 12th century foundations. The south aisle was added in about 1280 and is the oldest part of the present church building. The western part of the south arcade was added in about 1330–40 when the nave seems to have been extended westwards to its present length of six bays. At the same time the clerestory was added to the nave and the chancel was rebuilt with its present Decorated Gothic east window. The north aisle may also be 14th century, but rebuildings and alterations in 1649 and 1879 have obscured the evidence for its original appearance. In the 15th century an additional window was inserted in the south wall of the chancel. St George's is a Grade I listed building." Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brailes

"The small market town of Shipston-on-Stour is situated in South Warwickshire and ideally located for visitors to the North Cotswolds and Stratford-upon-Avon. It is surrounded by places of interest including Chipping Campden, Broadway, and Moreton-in-Marsh. The towns name derives from being known in ancient times as 'Sheep-wash-Town'. Shipston was for a long time an important sheep market town and after the demand for local wool began to diminish the town continued to flourish thanks to the opening in 1836 of a branch line from the horse-powered tramway built a decade before to link Stratford with Moreton-in-Marsh. The line became a modern railway in 1889. The town was also an important coaching town and many of the inns from that era surviving in the area of the High Street. Shipston today is a charming historic and thriving town with interesting and unusual features.. It is becoming increasingly popular with tourists due to its wonderful mixture of shops, pubs, restaurants and hotels. Shipston was a working Wool Town and developed many woolen skills, including those for making tapestries including the famous Sheldon Tapestries in neighbouring farming hamlet of Barcheston. which became central to the history of English tapestry making. It is today officially commemorated by the 'Wool Fair' which takes place on Spring Bank Holiday Monday. In the Tudor period the little hamlet of Barcheston on the outskirts of Shipston was the first manufacturing home in England for the weaving of magnificent woollen tapestries. They are also known as the Sheldon Tapestries. They are profusely decorated with flowers and mythological motifs and often highlighted in silk. Technically, for that period, they were unrivalled throughout the land. Unfortunately very few have survived." Source: https://www.cotswolds.info/places/shipston-on-stour.shtml

Shipston Cemetery Chapel was built and consecrated in the mid 19th century. It is a Grade II Listed Building consisting of two mortuary chapels - one for members of the Church of England and one for Nonconformists. The cemetery itself is also a Commonwealth War Graves Commission site. Source: https://wikimapia.org/23796671/Cemetery-Chapel

"Barcheston church is a delightful largely fifteenth century building in a secluded spot close to Shipston on Stour. It's most distinguishing feature externally is the leaning north west tower, which inclines dramatically to the west (and is sometimes referred to as 'Warwickshire's Pisa'!). The effect is somewhat alarming, but it has been this way for some centuries, having settled soon after it was built, as witnessed by the additional buttress propping up the west face; hopefully it will be staying put for the foreseeable future. The church has more of a Cotswold appearance than one is normally used to seeing in Warwickshire, and would perhaps seem more at home if it stood over the Gloucestershire or Oxfordshire borders, very much a sign of how far south we are in the county. The layout is quite irregular, the chancel is off centre and the south aisle is more of a seperate chapel only half the length of the nave. The first glimpse upon entering via the lean-to south porch is the view looking across to the north aisle, with it's very domestic looking windows (a post Reformation alteration, possibly to admit more light) and an arcade that seems to be leaning even more dramatically than the tower (where the arcade meets the tower wall there is a bracket 'propped up' by a carved 'helping hand', very apt and much needed assitance judging by the angle!)." Copyright: Aidan McRae Thomson 2012 Source: https://warwickshirechurches.weebly.com/barcheston---st-martin.html

This was the start/finish point of this walk. "The Church of St Barnabas and St Nicholas was built in the Imperial period, replacing a Medieval church on the same site. The bell turret was added in the 19th Century, during renovation. The church is situated north east of the Manor House, Burmington. There is a fair amount of Medieval masonry in the church walls perhaps dating from as early as the 13th century, but the only ancient architectural detail surviving is part of the chancel arch of c1200. The church had fallen into decay and the nave was rebuilt in 1693; it formerly had a central tower, 4.9m square, but this was then abolished and the chancel reduced in size. A further very complete restoration was also carried out in the 19th century when all the windows, doorways, and roofs were renewed, the bell-turret added, and other work done. In 1311 Burmington was a chapel annexed to the church at Wolford. The chancel arch has two big re-used late 12th century corbels and the NW tower has a pyramid roof." Source: https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/catalogue_her/church-of-st-barnabas-and-st-nicholas-burmington

The George Inn at Brailes is a traditional 16th century Cotswold pub that serves up a delicious range of traditional and continental food and local Hooky beers. The pub has a number of cosy rooms as well as a large beer garden and pool table.