Cotswold Walks

[Lisa in Ottawa]

I will be spending 3 months in Oxford beginning Sept 2013. Very excited. I adore the Cotswolds. Anyone familiar with Oxford Ramblers or other walking groups?
We won't have a car except to rent on occasion and I so look forward to getting out into that beautiful countryside. Hopefully minus the rain.

 

[Pauline]

Beginning Sept 2014 I hope! I don't know Oxford Ramblers, but each area has a Ramblers group and they are usually good. http://www.ramblers.org.uk/

The long distance national trail The Thames Path passes through Oxford, so you will be able to do some nice walks on that heading out of the city in each direction.

Oxford sits between the Cotswolds and the Chilterns, both fabulous walking areas. I don't know the Chilterns but I do know the Cotswolds. You can take a train from Oxford to Kingham and Moreton on Marsh. Both will have good walking paths. I am sure there are buses into the Cotswolds, just make sure you have their timetables as sometimes they do not run often. You could take a bus to Burford, the eastern gateway to the Cotswolds, and walk from there. I think you are going to be spoiled for choice.

For transportation options use TravelineSW - you can get bus schedules from that site. For trains use TheTrainline.com. If you do a long walk out of Oxford, you could call a taxi to get back to town if bus or train doesn't work.

Get an Ordnance Survey map for your area and nearby areas. And some walking guidebooks. I have some information about walking on Cotswolder. For the Cotswolds I like the Goldeneye Cotswold Classic Walks, but you may want the more detailed Pathfinder Guides. There will be one for Oxfordshire. You can get all these things once you are in Oxford.

Oxford is a very nice town and has good train connections. Trains run every 15 minutes to London and are not expensive (trains to London can be shockingly expensive - as they are from where we live). You can probably figure out some good day trips to other areas for walking.

You will get rain, but there will be many fine days and breaks in the weather. Make sure you have good walking gear.

 

[Lisa in Ottawa]

Pauline,
A 100 thanks for your detailed information. I've read Cotswolder many times but hadn't done so recently. It's a fount of good info. I loved reading about your move to the UK but I couldn't fine many posts. I've been to many of the Cotswold villages and towns( not Painswick) and we've taken day walks. So beautiful. My favorite scenery. When we're traveling and I say a place reminds me of the Cotswolds Ron knows I'm happy.

At first I wanted us to stay in a village but we realised that wasn't realistic. Looking for short term, affordable lets was challenging to say the least. An expensive city. But we managed to find very suitable accommodation.
As time progress, I'm sure I'll Have more questions

 

[Pauline]

I posted a few articles about living in England on my blog Slow Travels, but have not been writing as much as I thought I would about living here. It is an expensive area and we found it very hard to find furnished longer term rentals. We first came here for five months, renting a furnished cottage that we had rented a few years earlier. We stayed in that cottage for a year and a half and were not able to find another furnished rental, so we rented an unfurnished house and bought furniture.

You have your accommodation figured out, but for anyone else reading this, one way to find a furnished rental for a few months is to go off season. Many vacation rental owners rent their places out longer term and lower rates for the off season - October - April.

 

[Kathy]

Lisa, I was thinking about your interest in walking and joining a walking group. It would be great for you to be part of a group right in Oxford because you'll make local friends, which could be a really special aspect of your stay.

I have a suggestion for a great walk you could do, taking the train from Oxford to Moreton. See the details here: http://www.escapetothecotswolds.org.uk/userfiles/mileswithoutstiles/moreton.pdf You could walk right from the station. We know much of this circular walk well, and part of it goes through our friends' farm at Dorn. You could detour to visit Batsford Arboretum and we think the falconry centre is very interesting too. You may even want to come another time just to visit the Arboretum and Falconry Centre, which would be some good walking too (in the middle of this circular walk).