March Walkers

A description of the Toddington ramble.

Our March walk was favoured by lovely weather, warm but hazy. We set off from a roadside parking spot towards Toddington Church, to the North East of Cheltenham, wherin we saw a Tracy family tomb. The Tracys are better know as the inhabitants of Sudeley Castle.

The interesting thing about the church was that it was very ornate but incomplete. This was because the builder of the church, Charles Hanbury Tracy, was bankrupted by his ambitious attempt to build the nearby Toddington Manor. This cost nearly £150,000 (approx £10 million today) to build over a fifteen year period in the early 19th century, coinciding with a decline in the family income.

In it's day Toddington Manor was a sight to behold, having been designed by Augustus Pugin, the architect of the Houses of Parliament. Today Toddington Manor is owned by the artist Damien Hirst, who paid £3 million for it. The building is now mothballed, having been reroofed and made weather tight as a holding measure. Damien Hirst hopes to have the renovation completed, somewhere near the end of his life(!), when it will be opened to the public. Should be quite something to see by then!!

Having completed our look at the Church and the Manor, we started the walk in earnest.

We set off across the fields and arrived at the riverside Mill, with it's interesting squint holes in the surrounding wall, which gave the house a clear view of anybody's approach. From then on we embarked upon a gradual climb which led us to a field housing a large number of sheep well into the lambing season. Levelling off at the high point off the walk we where regalled by a copious display of wild daffodils and espied an enclosure housing a number of rare breed chickens.

Thereafter we skirted round the side of a wood, full of spring flowers, which lead us back downhill, back towards the beginning of the walk. On the way we crossed a river which was said to be an ideal environment for kingfishers. Sadly there were none to be seen on the day, but it was clear that the opportunity was there.

Having returned to find our cars still where we left them the party set off to the nearby Pheasant Inn for lunch, which proved to be an excellent choice.

A good time was had by all before we all set off for home at the end of a very enjoyable walk.