Cirencester

Honey-coloured limestone villages scattered across rolling sheep country, and paths enough to link them all up

0.5 km W

One of England's oldest open-air pools, opened in 1870 beside Cirencester Park, spring-fed and run by volunteers.

0.6 km NW

The river from its Cotswold trickle to the Thames Barrier — the gentlest long walk in Britain.

4.9 km SW · spans 7 counties

Ornate classical portal of one of Britain's longest canal tunnels, in the woods above Coates.

5.9 km W

The influential garden Rosemary Verey made her own, with a knot garden and laburnum walk.

6 km NE

A gas-lit, one-room Cotswold alehouse with beer poured from the tap, run single-handed for decades and beautifully unspoilt.

6.5 km E