Walk Around Stroud

A waymarked trail around theparish boundaries of Stroud,gateway to the Five Valleys

PRODUCED BY

Thanet House

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The wasWay was first trialled by Stroud TownCouncil in the 2007 Stroud Walking Festival. It is

now an official waymarked trail, following the parishborders and offering something for everyone.

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The Five Valleys have long provided good walkingfor many people. Wooded valleys and hills, high

grasslands, small Cotswold stone villages clinging tothe hillsides, the heritage of a once-great textile

industry, fed by coal delivered along the CotswoldCanals.The wasWay encompassess all of these,

without ever losing sight of Stroud, the gateway tothe Five Valleys.

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This ten-mile route follows public footpaths androads and takes around five hours. The terrain is

variable –there are steep sections to the north of thetown and some parts can get muddy after rainfall.Stout footwear is advised. The canal towpath is flatand generally good underfoot. The route has been

designed so that it can be walked in either direction,and starting at any of the 16 marked points.

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Look out for this sysmbol to help guide youalong the way.

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The history of Stroud and the Five Valleys is so much apart of this walk – a history intrinsically linked to thenature of the landscape around the town. A landscapeof river valleys, of high commons grazed by sheep, oftextile mills using wool and water, of canals and railwayscutting through the built-up valleys, of clusters ofCotswold stone cottages clinging to the valley sides.

This walk explores the valley and the hillsides, mixingwide open views with closer, more intimateexperiences. Here are just a few highlights of the walk:

Stroud’s Old Cemetery is no longer used for its originalpurpose. It is now a Local Nature Reserve with a richdiversity of wildlife similar to the local commons.

The Lake at the Lawns and the surrounding land is thefocus of a restoration project to create a green space forthe public and for wildlife.

As it enters the Fromebanks Nature Reserve the walk ishidden beneath the line of trees in the foreground as itfollows the River Frome – a green corridor within yardsof the town centre. The canal and the railway run parallel.

Descending or ascending Claypits Lane, take some timeto enjoy the stunning views beyond Stroud andDoverow Hill, to the River Severn and the hills in thedistance.

The fast-flowing waters of the River Frome providedpower for the early textile mills that sprang up along theGolden Valley and on towards Stonehouse and theSevern Vale. In the photograph above, it tumbles overthe remains of a weir at Capel Mill, site of a 19th

century dyeing works. The river is a good place to seekingfishers and dippers.

The was Way... So much variety

www.stroudtown.gov.ukThe wasWay was originally created by Debbie Hewitt.

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Walking towards the town centre from Slad Road turn leftdown Libby’s Drive. The road veers to the right at thebottom, then goes uphill onto a track. Pass Dyers Mead onyour left to reach a kissing gate at the end of a muddy track.Go through the gate and continue ahead through the fieldto another gate. Go up steps to Summer Street.

16Turn left and continue for about 1/2 mile until reaching awooden stile on your right. Descend field to another woodenstile in front of the coach house. Turn left, joining footpath onright through gate/stile. Keeping woodland on right, followfield boundary downhill to stile on right. Follow path intofield. After 100 metres turn left. Reaching bottom fieldboundary, turn left to stile in corner. Continue straight downnext field to stile. Careful as you climb over and cross SladRoad. Turn right. Follow road for approx 1/2 mile until Libby’sDrive industrial estate on left.

15Cross the road Continue uphill for some way with fieldthen woodland on your right. As the woodland ends,cross the wooden stile on your right into a field.Continue along the bottom edge of the field withwoodland on your right. Pass through a gap in thehedge into the lower field. Continue in the samedirection along top of field. Take the narrow path to theleft of the water tank and cross two wooden stiles. Walkdown side of field and through some hawthorn, youemerge on to Folly Lane.

14Cross road and turn right. After 15 metres turnleft joining the marked footpath in front of thehouses. At Rockmill House, take the path veeringoff to the left across a lawn. Cross a wooden stile.Veer right, past a disused wooden bridge. Go overtwo more stiles. Walk straight up field to farmbuildings and a wooden stile by gate leading to atarmac track. Turn right. Turn left at the junction,then right after about 10 m. Continue straight uptrack towards the Painswick Old Road. 2

Turn right. Continue 30metres to a steep, stepped footpathon the left. At the top take a breath by turning around toadmire the view. Continue, by turning right and thenquickly left, taking a tarmac footpath between a house andstone wall. This leads in a straight line to Bisley Old Road.

3At main road turn left. Continue for 15 metres. Cross theroad and take the tarmac footpath between terraced housesat Mount Pleasant. Continue straight on, descending steeplyto Bisley Road. Turn left. After about 50m cross the road,taking the main, gated entrance into the Old Cemetery.

4Within the cemetery walkers could take a diversion to lookaround properly. The quickest way is to keep on the mainpath, going through the chapel arch and taking the secondpath on the right. You will soon arrive at a gate on your left,which provides access onto the road.

Within the cemetery walkers could take a diversion to lookaround properly. The quickest way is to keep on the mainpath, going through the chapel arch and taking the secondpath on the right. You will soon arrive at a gate on your left,which provides access onto the road.

5Turn left. Continue on road to the footpath on left oppositeHorns Farm. Take this path though the lovely woods. Keepleft where the path splits just before a gate, which you passthrough. Follow this path through three further metal gates,cross a seasonal stream and up a field to a wooden stile. Thepath continues uphill, veering right, until you reach awooden stile above a gate. Turn immediate left, go througha metal gate, turning immediate right towards thefarmhouse. Just before reaching the house, go though thefarm gate, uphill to a track. Turn right and immediate left,joining a grassy footpath that runs behind the outbuildingand garden to a wooden stile.

6Turn right and then left to walk straight on along the topof the field. Cross another wooden stile. Continue straighton across field to third wooden stile. Cross the farm trackand a fourth wooden stile, then veer slightly right across thenext field to a fifth wooden stile in the corner. Veerdiagonally right, downhill, to cross a wooden stile out ofthe pony field. Take a short, narrow, wooded walkway to afurther wooden stile. Continue along the grassy track abovea house, to reach a metal gate with a wooden stile next toit. Pass through, veering slightly left onto a tarmac driveway.

13Turn left and cross the road, heading down a gravel trackwith a field on your left. Just before Callowell House turnleft into the field. Continue along the bottom edge of thisfield to another wooden stile next to a metal gate. Continuealong the bottom of the next field to a metal gate in thecorner. Turn right onto a road, descending slowly. At thejunction keep to the right. Pass through the small hamlet ofStokenhill to a metal gate. Keep to the right hand side ofthe field, descending to a wooden stile in the corner leadingonto the main Painswick Road.

12Turn right, entering Ruscombe. Pass Granary Cottage onthe right. Reaching Laburnum Crescent on the left, takethe footpath opposite between two houses. Go over awooden stile. Descend through this field veering left to awooden stile and gate at the bottom by the stream. Lookahead and walk towards the third house to the right of thelargest house. A stile leads to a narrow path betweenproperties to emerge at the main road at The Plain.

11Walk until reaching number 47 on the right. Turn right onthe footpath that emerges at Park End. Turn left andcontinue. Ignoring the track on your right to Folly ParkFarm, descend to the bottom of the hill, taking next trackon right, just before a stream. Head to the right hand sideof a group of houses, but just before reaching the endhouse, go through a wooden kissing gate to access the fieldbehind. Walking along the outside of this house’s garden,continue up the field, veering slightly left to a metal gate.Continue uphill to the walk-through stone stile to accessthe road. Take a breath and turn around to admire the view.

10Stop and take the steps up to the main road. Turn right.Continue past houses, before taking the pathway into thewoodland on your right. You will eventually reach a smalllake. Cross the wooden footbridge, walking along the easternside of the lake, emerging back onto the main road by a busstop. Cross the Cainscross Road. Turn right before takingthe tarmac footpath on the left. Continue along footpath toemerge at Paganhill Lane. Turn right. Continue uphill pastthe fire station & under the railway. Walk on for 100 metres,cross the road into Mill Farm Drive.

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Turn right, through the underpass. Before the BellHotel, turn right, then immediate left to rejoin thetowpath, going under the bridge. Cross the main road,to rejoin the towpath between two trees. After a shortdistance, turn right onto a tarmac track. Go through thestone arch, which marks the end of the StroudwaterCanal and the start of the Thames and Severn Canal.Continue on the towpath for some way, crossing tworoads, until you reach a third road where the path goesunder a bridge.

7Reaching Claypits Lane, turn right. Descend, passHeavenswood Cottage, until you reach a road junction with apost box on your left. Turn right here onto the main ThruppLane, continuing downhill past numerous detached houses.About 100m on the left before joining the busy main road, takea small path with steps descending between two fields onto themain road. Cross road. Turn left, before taking the markedfootpath on right. Continue quickly over two rivers. Veer off leftjust before the bridge over the canal, turning immediately rightto go under the bridge.

8You are now on the canal towpath. Continue straight on, crossingthe road at Butterrow, past the Arundel Mill Pond on your right,veering left at the picnic area, until you reach the pedestriancrossing at Doctor Newton’s Way, by Waitrose. Behind you is afootpath, which goes alongside the viaduct. Take this path, but donot go over the footbridge, instead turn right just before thebridge where there is a wooden kissing gate. Follow this pathalongside the River Frome until you reach some steps up to awooden stile. Follow the path alongside the main road. Go downwooden steps to emerge next to the underpass at Wallbridge.

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