WELCOME TO OUR WALKING PAGE!
WALKS BOOKLETS:
Our Walks Booklets have almost sold out now but CDs can easily be made and these contain more walks and some photos too (same price).
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Following a good spate of local activity resulting in the installation of numerous kissing gates to make rights of way more accessible, people are beginning to think that footpaths & stiles are a Parish Council responsibility - not so! It is actually the landowner's responsibility to provide and maintain stiles/access for the public to exercise their right of way & the his/her responsibility to ensure that hedges etc do not obstruct the right of way. It is the responsibility of the County Council to deal with issues on the surface of the path itself as the top 4", I believe, is vested in that body, so if a path surface is obstructed they will (in time, depending on availability of funds) clear it. |
A point to make is that people undertaking local footpath works are most likely to be volunteers (not pressed men) and not paid staff of any public authority. Gloucestershire County Council seeks to establish good relationships between themselves and landowners who are advised of grants to provide replacement stiles or kissing gates. Very little remedial work can be carried out without the landowner's permission, tacit support or co-operation. Given encouragement landowners often go out of their way to oblige and as a result much can be achieved. |
You may be interested to learn that one chap thought that a volunteer was doing insufficient to earn his wages and that parish funds would be better used elsewhere than on him! He is now apparently a wiser person Cotwold Voluntary Wardens put in steps, bridges, kissing gates etc to benefit the parish as a whole & operate in co-operation with Gloucestershire County Council. They wear an identifying uniform and should not be mistaken for people doing Community Service or on day-release from Leyhill Prison (which regularly happens!) Our Wardens are usually, but by no means always, retired gentlemen, who certainly provide a valuable community service! Say thanks and keep up the good work chaps next time you see them!
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Each gate costs about £300 and labour for installation is valued at £400. Therefore, the total benefit to our community is over £2000 and this comes on top of the value of other gates installed last year by SVP. These gates have not cost King’s Stanley a penny! The gates were donated to the parish by the “Ramblers” charity via the South Cotswolds Group. They were installed at no cost by the Cotswold Voluntary Wardens. They have been installed on farms where landowners have been supportive of efforts to encourage healthy walking and it is a good feeling to know that we have produced something of mutual benefit rather than taking the landowners’ goodwill for granted.
The impact of these gates is that a new 10 mile circuit is opened to all, especially those with difficulties in climbing stiles. If you start at ”The King’s Head” you can walk up to the Cotswold Way, along to Coaley Peak, through Woodchester Park to Inchbrook, back along the cycle track to Ryeford, and home along the Cotswold Way to “The King’s Head”.
Our thanks go to:
the South Cotswold Group of the Ramblers who funded the enterprise,
the Cotswold Voluntary Wardens work-parties for installation
Sarah Ellis of Gloucestershire County Council's Public Rights of Way for all the organising and administration work and finally Mrs. Gwen Wheeler for providing access and agreement to upgrade the stiles involved.
"Men at work late June 2009"
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Press publicity on 28.1.09 showed how keen some of you are to get hold of a booklet or CD!
Later press publicity also revealed that at least one person dislikes kissing gates. Unfortunately it is not always possible to install a gate, however much the walking public might like one. Landowners, the people over whose land you are walking, are less than keen as some people do not like shutting them, and they can be easily damaged. The Public Rights of Way Services, including GCC, uses acknowledged guidance for improving accessibility: If possible the order of preference is for: a gap, a gate, a kissing gate (2 sizes), a stile. Local weather, animals, human or otherwise, and ground conditions make their own rules around these points of entry and exit - if mud there can be, mud there usually is!
The first batch of new kissing gates can be found around Gypsy Lane, Marsh Lane, Dozule Close, Ash Lane and Borough Close.
THE WALKS BOOKLETS HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED AND THANKS TO JULIE'S GENEROSITY, THEY ARE AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE FOR £1.49 AT YEW TREE STORES, HIGH STREET, KING'S STANLEY. CDs are also likewise available. The Newsagents also stock cards and provisions to help sustain you on your walk.
Should you be from out of town and want to obtain a booklet or CD please contact John on walksforeveryone@yahoo.co.uk
If that contact does not work please contact John on jagchg@yahoo.co.uk
The Parish of King's Stanley is blessed with a great many public rights of way (PROW) which anyone is entitled to walk. You can find out where they are by following the links below. Over time some PROW have become roads with pavements, and some close to houses have been given tarmac surfaces, but there are still plenty more leading out into lovelier countryside.
Why not walk around the Parish for a breather looking for our lovely new KISSING GATES which were installed by volunteers from Stroud Valleys Project in conjunction with Gloucestershire County Council! Distance approx 2 miles, the terrain is easy and level and should take about an hour. Wear suitable footwear & clothing as conditions underfoot vary and weather can change! Here is just one of them.
If you are feeling inspired to venture further out you may like to buy an Ordnance Survey map which covers our area: the most local ones are the Explorers 168 covering Stroud, Tetbury & Malmesbury and 179 covering Gloucester, Cheltenham & Stroud. It's best to look at each before buying which ones covers the area best that you are interested in. The two walking supplies shops and newsagents in Stroud usually have them as does the newsagent in Stonehouse.
KISSING GATE WALK INSTRUCTIONS.
1. Walk along Bath Road and cross over the water into Leonard Stanley to find a KG on the left.
2. Cross the field away from the stream to a stile into Dozulé Close & left into Marsh Lane.
3. Follow Marsh Lane past a KG right and a house left to a stream. Turn left for a footpath across a field and back
into King's Stanley. Turn left into Woodside Lane.
4. Pass a stile between houses on the leftand turn right by Rose Terrance into Ash Lane.
5. Follow this lane for about 300 yards, past a huge badgers' sett and stables.
6. Near the end of the lane turn left through a new KG.
7. After 20 yards turn left at another KG.
8. Go through this KG and onto the next KG across a horse pasture.
9. Turn left across a field for the last KG into Borough Close.
10. At Borough Close turn left to rejoin Castle Street, then right for Bath Road.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE THE INSTRUCTIONS AND A SKETCH MAP SCROLL DOWN THIS PAGE.
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You may be interested in looking up the following links:
www.strollinginstrouddistrict.org
http://www.stroud.gov.uk/docs/transport/walk_cycle.asp?did=walking
http://www.stroud.gov.uk/info/local_walks.pdf
www.cotswoldsaonb.org.uk For walks in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and more besides.
http://www.visitthecotswolds.org.uk/general.asp?pid=22&pgid=826 Download local walks!
Strolling in the Stroud District - Home
Walks & Walking Routes 700+ active links to web pages containing 1000's of walking routes, walk descriptions, maps etc. The directory is organised by county making it easy to find details of walks in a given area.
http://prow.gloucestershire.gov.uk/website/ppp/viewer.htm All Gloucestershire footpaths - brilliant!
www.westerndailypress.co.uk/podcast to listen online to over 35 walk descriptions & download them onto your portable device - these walks have previously featured in Saturday editions of the W.D.P.
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Kissing Gates allow more people to enjoy the countryside in The Stanleys
More people in Leonard Stanley and King’s Stanley will be able to go for walks around the parishes thanks to the installation of 9 brand new kissing gates.
Volunteers from Stroud Valleys Project have completed the installation of these kissing gates to improve access to the countryside for all. The new kissing gates that have replaced stiles have already attracted positive responses from walkers who appreciate being able to walk through the gates rather than having to climb over stiles. The gates close automatically to make sure livestock stays in the fields.
Nadine Smykatz-Kloss from Stroud Valleys Project said, “These walks in Leonard Stanley and King’s Stanley offer marvellous views from the Cotswold escarpment over to the Severn Vale. Our volunteers enjoyed the views immensely while installing the gates.”
Regular walks have many health benefits, such as lowering blood pressure, improving flexibility of joints and muscles, building strength, boosting the immune system and improving blood circulation. But there is also some evidence to suggest that simply spending time in the outdoors and in contact with the natural environment has a positive effect on mental health and on quality of life.
King’s Stanley Parish Council is publishing a walk booklet and a CD comprised of 18 walks around the parish - one of which describes the walk around the new kissing gates.
Ms. Smykatz-Kloss added, “If we can encourage people to enjoy the countryside and make sure landowners are reassured that their livestock is not getting stressed, we would achieve a great deal! This work has been made possible through partnership work between landowners and four organisations: the County Council Rights of Way Team, using Severn Trent Water funding, Leonard Stanley and King’s Stanley Parish Councils and Stroud Valleys Project. Making sure landowners’ concerns are being respected will enable further work to be done along the footpaths in the future. We would like to remind walkers to obey the Countryside Code and act responsibly by putting dogs on a leash whenever there is livestock in the fields and making sure dog mess is disposed of safely.”
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Telephone: 01453 753358
Fax: 01453 755641
Email: nadine@stroudvalleysproject.org
Website: www.StroudValleysProject.org
