The Cotswold Way at Coombe near Wotton-under-Edge was often flooded. Resurfacing work by the Gloucestershire Rights of Way team in partnership with the CWA should stop this happening again. Here are before and after photos:

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The programme of improvements to the surface of the Cotswold Way in busy gateways continues with a repeat of the treatment recently carried out at Broadway, but this time near Hamswell, just north of Bath.  Cows have been encroaching on the area and making the area very difficult in the winter.  The work was carried out by a team of Cotswold Wardens from Avon District.

 

The popularity of the Cotswold Way means that gates get very heavy use and eventually wear out.  This is the case at Stumps Cross, between Stanway and Hailes, and as a result the CWA has funded a smart new wooden kissing gate.  The installation was carried out by a work party from the North District of the Cotswold Wardens.

 

The most popular section of the Cotswold Way is between Broadway and the Tower and walkers will probably notice an improvement to one of the soggiest parts of the route. Working with the Cotswold Wardens, we’ve put down geo-textile, ecogrid, stone and a french drain to fix the problem. Many thanks to Neil Hilton of Broadway for his generous donation to make this possible.

The Cotswold Way Association is pleased to be supporting the installation of an information board near the Cotswold Way on the Selsley Common SSSI.  Selsley Common SSSI press release 

The CWA Trustees deeply regret to announce that our Secretary Alan Hooper passed away on the 22nd March after bravely battling a long illness.  We are very appreciative of Alan’s work for the CWA and the Cotswold Voluntary Wardens.  He will be greatly missed.

 

 

The CWA is working with the Cotswold AONB Trails Officer to identify projects which the Trustees can support.  The sort of things we have in mind are …

• Provision of handrails to help on the steeper slopes. 
• Surface improvements in sections that are particularly muddy.
• Modifications to gates and replacing stiles to make sections of the trails more accessible to child buggies, wheelchairs and  “Tramper” disability scooters.

The Cotswold Way and its circular routes are the CWA’s priority but the Trustees will also consider funding improvements on other named Cotswold trails.  These are the Winchcombe, Wardens, Windrush and Diamond Ways, plus the Cotswold sections of the Wychavon, Monarchs, Macmillan, Heart of England, Gloucestershire and Wysis Ways.

We hope to compile a list of projects at the end of April so that they can be prioritized for implementation during the summer.

Please send your suggestions to John Bartram at info@cotswoldwayassociation.org.uk or Simon Mallatratt at admin@cotswoldwayassociation.org.uk  

Just before Christmas, a small team of Cotswold Wardens used the successful model adopted in Broadway to improve the drainage of three muddy and flooded kissing gates on the Cotswold Way near Old Sodbury.  The locations are shown here

Kissing gates undoubtedly improve access on the Cotswold Way but their constant use often makes them wet and muddy so the CWA has embarked on a trial project to improve the surface around a few kissing gates.  The first project has been completed on a gate where the trail crosses West End Lane, SW of Broadway using eco plastic grid, geo-textile and gravel.  The location is point A as shown here.

The Cotswold Way Association has recently funded a much needed handrail along the steep steps at Bunkers Bank, near Haresfield Beacon. The installation was carried out by a work party from Central District of the Cotswold Voluntary Wardens. No more will you have to risk twisted ankle or a wet backside to get down this section of the trail.