Looking over Long Compton on a frosty morning

Long Compton from the Jurassic Way 

Long Compton, in the north east Cotswolds, is famous for its witches.  Perhaps the most notorious was Anne Tennant, the wife of a farm worker who on 15 September 1875 came to a bloody end.   Cruelly executed by a neighbour in the traditional manner for witches, this killing sent shock waves through 19th century England.  

Long Compton lies below the Jurassic Way, one of the ancient tracks across southern England.   It's just one mile away from the Rollright Stones, a Bronze Age stone circle, which in folklore is thought to be an invading Viking army turned into stone by a local witch.

Two of our long distance trails pass through Long Compton and by the Rollright Stones:

- Shakespeare's Way which follows the route from Shakespeare’s birthplace at Stratford-upon-Avon to his workplace at the Globe Theatre, next to the Thames in the centre of London.

- Cross Cotswold Pathway that starts at Banbury in Oxfordshire and wends its way south-west to the city of Bath. 

Contact us if you would like to know more.

Happy hiking
Anne 
Walk the Landscape

PS: check out Warwickshire Life to find out more about Long Compton and its witches. 

The Ridgeway - A walk through 5000 years of history

The Ridgeway National Walking Trail

The Ridgeway follows, what is considered to be the oldest known trail in Europe, dating from the Stone Age, at least 5000 years ago.   It passes by Iron Age hill forts, Stone Age and Bronze Age burial mounds, and also the 3000 year old Uffington White Horse, carved on the chalk hillside, before reaching the Ancient Sacred Landscape and World Heritage Site around Avebury Stone Circle.

The modern walking trail is 87 miles (140 km) long, following the chalk ridge from Overton Hill, near Avebury, Wiltshire (in the West) to Ivinghoe Beacon, Buckinghamshire (in the east).

Anne at Ivinghoe Beacon, the eastern end of the Ridgeway

A view north from the Ridgeway over the rich farmland of Oxfordshire

Walking down to Wendover

Beech woodland along the Ridgeway National Trail

Country Inn at Goring-on-Thames

Spring lambs in shallow chalk valley

A well signed National Walking Trail

Bronze Age Round Barrows at Overton Hill,
the western end of the Ridgeway National Trail

Dragon Hill and the Uffington White Horse
first created on the hillside around 3000 year ago.

 The Cove Stones within Avebury Stone Circle,

the largest Stone Circle in Europe.

A misty morning at the Avebury Stone Circle

The end of the day at Avebury at the western end of the trail

A really interesting walking trail, which has three natural sections.  From the east, the trail first follows the Chiltern Ridge with extensive beech woodland and red kites soaring overhead, before dropping down to the Thames Valley.  After the short distance along the banks of the River Thames (15 miles) the trail ascends again to the open landscapes of the North Wessex Downs, skylarks singing overhead and a some of the best  prehistoric sites in Britain.

Contact us to find out more.

Happy hiking
Anne
Walk the Landscape