Lakes and rivers at Bourton-on-the-Water

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Our view

"On the wilder side of Bourton-on-the-Water to see its natural regeneration."

Walk directions

Turn right out of the main pay-and-display car park in Bourton-on-the-Water and then turn left on a public footpath and continue to a junction, turn left again and continue to a junction opposite the village cemetery. Bear right to follow a lane until it bends left by two gates on the right. Take the right-hand gate to join a path by the entrance to Cotswold Carp Farm.

Follow the path between lakes to where it curves right. Leave the track to go left and over a bridge and through a gate into a field. Go across the field, curving right, to come to a kissing gate at a road.

Cross the road, turn right and immediately left onto a track. After 100yds (91m), go left through a kissing gate into a field and continue parallel to the track. Through another kissing gate, return to the track with a lake to your left. Approaching a gate, cross a bridge to turn left through a kissing gate onto a path alongside the River Windrush. Continue until the path comes to a gate at a field. Turn left, go through another kissing gate and go left over a bridge before turning right beside another lake.

Where this second, smaller lake ends, bear right to a gate, followed by a bridge and another bridge and a stile at a field. Keep to the right side of fields until you come to a track after a footbridge and stile. Continue straight ahead on this track. At a house, continue straight on, leaving the track, and continue to a gate. In the next field, after 25yds (23m), turn left through a gate and then sharp right. Continue to a gate and then go slightly left across a field to another gate. Continue on the same line across the next field to a kissing gate, footbridge and gate. Cross this and follow the right margin of a field, to climb slowly to a junction of tracks. Turn left to visit Clapton-on-the-Hill, or turn right to continue.

Follow a track to a field. Go forward then slightly right (round the field edge if ploughed) to a gateway and descend to pass to the right of woodland. Past this, continue alongside a hedge on your left to two gates followed by a field. Go straight on to a hedge gap; after a stile, a stream appears to the left. Keep on this side of the stream and pass through a copse, crossing two stiles. The path then turns left over a footbridge.

Cross the bridge and then go slightly right across a field to a bridge. Continue across farmland to a stile. Walk along a grassy track between conifers. Go through one more gate and follow a path between fences to a road in Bourton. Walk ahead to the river and turn left, then right past Bourton Riverside Café, then right again, and left to return to the start.

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Location

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Track and field, can be muddy and wet in places, several stiles

Landscape - Sweeping valley views, lakes, streams, hills and village

Dog friendliness - Some stiles may be awkward for dogs; occasional livestock

Parking - Pay-and-display car park on Station Road signposted Bourton Vale Car & Coach Park

Toilets en route - At car park

Walks in Gloucestershire

About the walk

Despite Bourton-on-the-Water’s popularity, the throng is easily left behind by walking briefly eastwards to a chain of redundant gravel pits. In the 1970s these were landscaped and filled with water and fish. As is the way of these things, for some time the resulting lakes looked every inch the... artificial creations they were, but now they have bedded into their surroundings and seem to be an integral part of the landscape. The fish and water have acted as magnets for a range of wetland birds, whose populations rise and fall with the seasons. During the spring and summer you should look out for the little grebe and the splendidly adorned great crested grebe, as well as the more familiar moorhens and coots, and mallard and tufted ducks. Wagtails will strut about the water’s edge, swans and geese prowl across the water, and kingfishers, if you are lucky, streak from bush to reed. Come the autumn, the number of birds will have increased significantly. Above all there will be vast numbers of ducks – pintail, shoveler, widgeon and pochard among them – as well as occasional visitors like cormorants. Either around the lakes or by the rivers you may also spy dippers and, in the hedgerows, members of the finch family. Should you get drawn into the village – as you surely will – keep listening for birdsong and you will hear some improbable ‘visitors’. There’s a large bird sanctuary in Bourton-on-the-Water that houses, among many other birds, one of the largest collections of penguins in the world. The reason for the presence of so many penguins in the Cotswolds is that the sanctuary’s founder was also the owner of two small islands in the Falklands. Penguins aside, Bourton-on-the-Water has a long history. The edge of the village is bounded by the Roman Fosse Way and many of its buildings are a pleasing mix of medieval, Georgian and Victorian. Although the village can become very crowded during the summer months, with the river banks like green beaches, strewn with people picnicking and paddling, it can still be charming. Arrive early enough in the morning, or hang around in the evening until the daytrippers have gone and you will find the series of bridges spanning the Windrush (one from 1756) and the narrow streets beyond them enchanting. They retain the warm honeyed light that attracts people to the Cotswolds. You’ll see far fewer visitors in little Clapton-on-the-Hill, which overlooks Bourton. Make the detour just before Point 5 to see its tiny church.

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Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

Find out more

Walking in Safety

Read our tips to look after yourself and the environment when following this walk.

Learn more

Get an AA guide

Explore our range of ‘50 Walks in’ guides - they’re the ideal companion for a ramble.

Learn more

About the area

Gloucestershire is home to a variety of landscapes, including the Cotswolds, a region of gentle hills, valleys and gem-like villages that roll through the county. To their west is the Severn Plain, watered by Britain’s longest river and characterised by orchards and farms marked out by hedgerows that blaze with mayflower in the spring; beyond the Severn are the Forest of Dean and the Wye Valley.