Earlier this year, the Cotswold Wardens came up with the brilliant idea of linking a short steam train ride with a leisurely ramble through the Cotswold countryside. They decided to organise 4 of these walks all starting at Toddington Station. The last of these has just been completed and it is good to be able to report that each one was well attended giving a total of over 100 people a new opportunity to travel on the train and also to see the surrounding countryside. All the routes were between five and seven miles long.

One of our avid walkers and enthusiastic volunteers at the railway takes up the story. "Amongst places we visited were the very top of the Cotswold Scarp to Beckbury Camp and Cromwells seat, and to the "Hwicce Kingdom" past Sudeley Castle & Hailes Abbey( the Hwicce were a sub tribe in Mercia who ruled from Wincelcumb, now better known as Winchcombe and they were salt traders).

We also toiled up "Flukes Hill" and were rewarded by magnificent views of the Cotwolds and the steam trains winding along in the distance. We learned that the phial of `Holy Blood`at Hailes Abbey when analysed was found to be honey coloured with saffron. A fake.

At St Kenelm`s Well where a pumping house was erected in 1887 by Emma Dent (owner of Sudeley Castle) to provide fresh water to Winchcombe we were told by our faithful wardens about the Legend of St Kenelm: Son of King Kenulf of Mercia, the young prince was murdered on the orders of his elder sister Quendrida whilst on a hunting trip in Clent in Worcestershire. Some time later, a white cow was observed standing beneath a thorn tree nearby,and even though she never seemed to eat or drink she gave a continuous supply of the creamiest milk. Meanwhile a dove was reputed to have flown to Rome to tell the Pope that the body of the boy was buried under this tree. Sure enough a body was discovered and it was carried back to the Abbey at Winchcombe where Kenelm was sanctified and enshrined. The legend maintains that wherever the coffin had been set down on its final journey, a spring of the clearest water appeared-and this well was the last of them. Lead pipes have been found leading down the hill and it is believed that the spring water was piped into the Abbey centuries before mains water was to reach the town. From 819 until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 many thousands of pilgrims were to visit St Kenelms shrine, and the two stone coffins, now in the Church, were found in the Abbey grounds - one large, and one small. Could these have once held the bodies of the King and his unfortunate son ?

As you can imagine we are hoping these little tales and snippets of information will whet other people's appetite for some walks also based around the GWR's line through the Cotswolds. One day Broadway tower will be on the itinerary !" 

You can find out more about The Cotswold Wardens on their website here.