Three impassable paths fixed in the Cotswolds - walk them now!

Mend Our Mountains Articles
19 Rhag
8 min read

Three impassable paths in the Cotswolds National Landscape have been fixed thanks to funding from the BMC Access & Conservation Trust's Mend Our Mountains campaign. Here are three great walking routes using these new paths.

Three new paths are now ready for walkers in the Cotswolds National Landscape thanks to the BMC Access & Conservation Trust's Mend Our Mountains funding, making three walking routes much more accessible for all.

Mend Our Mountains funds Nina Stubbington in her role as Access & Grants Officer for the Cotswolds National Landscape, allowing her to process grant applications and allocate £250,000 worth of DEFRA funding to a whole host of small projects throughout the area. Without Mend Our Mountains funding Nina in her role, these significant, local projects would not be able to progress. Read our interview with Nina about her role here.

Nina says, "We have been really busy here in the Cotswolds in October and November in particular, after delays due to the rain over the late summer and into September this year. So far, eight of our 25 projects have been completed, and another five will be done by December 2024 or January 2025. Here are three vital footpath repair projects that have recently been completed, that BMC members will be pleased to hear about."

1 New boardwalk and footpaths, Lower Slaughter

Footpath improvements were carried out in September by Gloucestershire County Council on a key connective route alongside the river between Lower and Upper Slaughter which suffered from uneven terrain, swathes of mud and a section of deep flooding. Louisa Rankin, Gloucestershire County Council Public Rights of Way Officer, said, "In the winter months, the last 25m could be entirely under water, preventing people from walking the path without wellingtons on."

The 400m of path has now been resurfaced with a layer of large stone for drainage, topped with smaller stone to create an even surface. To improve the area of deep flooding, a short boardwalk was installed so that the finished result is now an all-weather solution not requiring any special walking gear; making this route more accessible to locals and visitors alike.

Walk the new boardwalk and footpaths in this 8-mile circuit from Lower Slaughter here.

The new boardwalk saves getting very wet feet!
The new footpaths are mud-free and evenly surfaced

2 Bridge restoration, Eastleach Turville

The bridge part of this public bridleway was dilapidated and in dire need of repair. It was an incredibly uneven surface, with steps leading to the bridge meaning that not only was it not accessible for all-terrain mobility scooters and pushchairs, but even for horse riders - only the most confident could traverse the bridge.

Louisa Rankin, Gloucestershire County Council Public Rights of Way Officer, said, "It’s right in the middle of the bridleway route, so whichever way you came from, you had to turn around." Now, after work by Gloucestershire County Council, the bridge has a new, safe railing, an improved gate, stone surfacing covering the bridge to make it more even and a graded, sloped exit to replace the steps.

Use the new bridge and stop for a cake at Eastleach Downs Organic Farm (home to a free-to-book all-terrain mobility scooter) before following the river back to Eastleach Turville on this 5.5-loop here.

The new bridge has an even surface and better access for all

3 Boggy footpath repair, Nailsworth

A very well-used, local footpath through a beautiful wooded area near Shortwood in Nailsworth, near Stroud, had become so boggy people couldn't even walk through it in really high wellies. A local health club used to walk round the wood but had to stop due to the severity of the bog. Now the impassable, muddy, wet path has been repaired so that everyone can walk through this wonderful patch of woodland again.

Access & Grants Officer for the Cotswolds National Landscape, Nina Stubbington says, "The woods now have about 30m of boardwalk in three sections along the most impassible parts of the route along Miry Brook, from the end of Lower Newmarket Road. Although there are still some rather muddy patches leading up to it especially after the recent storms so walking boots/wellies still needed in bad weather, but there has been lots of positive feedback so far. There are pubs and cafes in Nailsworth so it's a really nice place for a day trip – and, fun fact, there’s a Donkey Sanctuary on the road just ahead of the path!"

Enjoy the newly repaired footpaths in the wood north of Shortwood on this easy 3.8-mile walk here.

The paths at Shortwood were so boggy people stopped using them
Work began on the boardwalk this autumn
Now the boardwalk allows people to walk over the muddiest sections with ease

More Cotswold National Landscape projects:

The projects that Nina facilitates in the Cotswolds National Landscapes are ongoing, with more completions due soon including:

  • Interpretation panels on the popular Leckhampton Hill, Cheltenham to show more, new accessible routes in the area.
  • A bee hive viewing shed at Scrubditch Care Farm near Cirencester for adults with learning disabilities to learn new skills and spend active, positive time around the farm.
  • Woodland Trust audits at two woodland sites (one new and one old) within the Cotswolds National Landscapes near Cheltenham, to better understand how people with physical or sensory impairments can better access these sites and break down psychological barriers to visiting the woodlands.
  • Secure, covered bike storage at Chipping Camden School which can be used by the whole village. The facility would include electric bike charging stations and aims to improve physical and mental health for the community.
  • A study and report with charitable partner the Cotswold Way Association to find out how accessibility for all-terrain scooters and pushchairs can be improved along and around the entire Cotswolds Way, starting with the first third.
  • A circular walking route around Milton- and Shipton-under-Wychwood will be suitable for all-terrain mobility scooters and pushchairs after resurfacing works and new gates.

What’s Mend Our Mountains?

Mend Our Mountains is an award-winning campaign from the BMC’s Access & Conservation Trust (ACT) which has raised a total of £1.4 million since its creation in 2016 to repair Britain’s hills and mountains. Since then over 50 miles of fragile footpath has been restored for future generations and 544 miles of upland has been repaired - the equivalent length of over 67,000 double decker buses!

Great Bradley Bridge was funded in the 2023 campaign. This year there are seven projects including:

1 Funding an Access Officer for the Cotswolds AONB

2 Supporting the Fix the Fells rangers in the Lake District

3 Restoring paths on Roseberry Topping, North York Moors

4 Making the footpath to Chanctonbury Ring, South Downs, more accessible

5 Replacing Cressbrook Mill footbridge, Peak District

6 Multiple Get Stuck In volunteer footpath repair events with the National Trust in the Lake District, Snowdonia and Peak District

7 Haytor Rocks almost 2,000m of footpath repairs in Dartmoor

Support Mend Our Mountains

Path repair is a surprisingly costly business. Working in remote locations with complex equipment and adverse weather conditions makes rebuilding trails an enormous and expensive challenge.

£5 buys a pair of work gloves

£50 buys five garden skips for moving soil

£250 fixes approximately one metre of footpath

£1000 flies ten bags of stone to an inaccessible mountain location

Did you know?

Simply becoming a BMC member supports BMC Access & Conservation Trust projects like this, plus you get all the benefits that membership offers, including these and many more:

£15 million Worldwide Combined Liability Insurance

£10,000 Personal Accident Insurance

Quarterly member-only magazine, Summit

15% off Cotswold Outdoor, Snow+Rock and Runners Need

BMC Travel Insurance

Join the BMC

Cotswold Outdoor Discount

Winter Lecture Series

Related Content

COOKIES

We use cookies to analyse web traffic, and to improve the user experience. For these reasons, we may share your site usage data with our analytics partners. You can choose to accept all cookies, or select separate preferences for each of the third-party partners we use.

SET COOKIES PREFERENCES