Harbury and Ladbroke News
Walks Around Harbury & Ladbroke
Walk 3 Chesterton Valley Walk .
OS Explorer Sheet 206
With the entrance to the Village Hall (P) at your back, turn left to follow South Parade and Park Lane passing the Manor House. Keeping the same direction, continue along Temple End past Temple House where you will see a gate on your left. Go through the gate into the field. Keep the fence on your right and follow the path down the field.
At the bottom, go through a metal gate and over a concrete bridge. Now keeping the hedgerows on your left, follow the path over 5 more fields to the Bishop's Itchington to Warwick Road - Beggars Lane, so called because here at the edge of the parish on poor heath land is where beggars and gypsies once congregated.
Ignore the large farm gate immediately across the road. Bear right across the road and the footpath crosses the wooden bridge and through the hunting gate into a field. Go diagonally right over the field, heading for another hunting gate in the far hedge. Once through the gate, go straight across the field to another hunting gate just to the right of Humblebee Cottages. (The cottages and an old walled garden are all that remain of the Chesterton Manor complex. They are disused and likely to remain so for it would be exorbitantly expensive to bring mains supplies this far out into the countryside).
Within a few yards, go through a metal farm gate and turn immediately left to go through a further hunting gate. Go diagonally across the field, pausing at the top of the hill to admire the fine brick gateway into the churchyard of St Giles Church in the distance. The Gateway is attributed to Inigo Jones and was restored in 1990.
Continue diagonally down the field in the direction of the Church to a stile and footÂbridge across a stream. As a point of interest
this was the route from the Manor House to the Church and the remains of three earlier bridges can be seen under the present one.
You are now in Tournament Field which was once many years ago the Norman manor's fish ponds, and later a jousting area. Go diagonally left up the hill to the wooden gate that leads into the churchyard. There you can inspect the Gateway. The church itself contains fine alabaster memorials to the Peyto family, the lords of the demolished manor you have left behind on top of the hill. Follow the path round the church to the south porch, and leave the churchyard by the main path.
(For a shorter walk back to Harbury 3B (3.25 miles) gpx file
Turn Left and shortly beyond the church take the Kissing Gate on the left into the field and cross the first field heading slightly to the right. Then in the second field head slightly left to the mature oak tree and up to the hedge. Cross through the kissing gate into the next field and head uphill with the lake about 300 metres to your left. The field is so large you need to climb uphill keeping a slightly left bias and then head for the metal gate at the far side of the field; this is to the left of the houses. Go through the small gate onto the road, Beggar’s Lane, and turn right past the futuristic house and bungalow. A footpath emerges on your left. Go through the kissing gate and follow the footpath. You are now on the last stretches of walk 4 which takes you onto Bush Heath lane and then you cross that to a footpath which takes you back to the village playing fields and on to the village hall).
For the longer walks - turn left and follow the road, keeping the lake on your right. The public road ends at the gate and cattle grid ahead. Go through the hunting gate and continue up the farm road - you are now on the "Thwaites Estate".
The road rises gently to Kingston Manor House. You have fine views of the lakes, and a glance behind you will, on a clear day, give views of Warwick Castle and the Malvern Hills. At the Manor House, a shorter route (A) turns left, while the longer route (B) turns right.
Route 3A (4.5miles) gpx file
Turn left up the hill to follow the farm road for about three quarters of a mile to Kingston Barn. Bear left along the farm road, picking up route 3C after about 100 yards.
Route 3 (5.5 miles) gpx file
Turn right to follow the alternative farm road to Kingston Farm. Here, turn left, the bridleway leaves the farm road a short way from Kingston Farm but the estate owners prefer walkers to use the road. Continue along the farm road until the next group of buildings is reached - this is Kingston Barn. Bear right and after about one hundred yards pick up route A.
Turn right to follow the road for a few yards to a futuristic looking house on the right. Almost opposite the house, cross the road to go over a stile into a field. Follow the left hand edge of the field and follow the right hand edges of two more fields to the road - Bush Heath Lane. Turn right and almost immediately left to go through a hunting gate. Go straight across the field to the opposite hedgerow where you enter the village playing fields. Go down the playing fields to return to the Village Hall and car park.