The footpath over Througham fields to Miserden

I returned to the farmshop at Stancombe Beech, near the scene of yesterday's blip, as I needed to restock the cards. As always I had a great time with Keith and his brother Ashley's daughter who is doing weekend work behind the till. They are so welcoming and all their customers seem to be 'friends' of the farm, loving their produce and being out in the countryside with chickens out in the yard.

The weather was beautiful once again and I decided to drive in the direction of Birdlip looking for a possible spot to take a walk. I remembered the new parking area allotted to the butterfly reserve near The Camp and pulled off the road. I saw a footpath I'd not noticed before leading south through a small field planted with young beech trees. I set up a few pheasants which seem to have survived the shooting season and leaving the field by another stile, I crossed the little lane heading back towards Througham, and came out on the top of this field leading down towards the Holy Brook.

As I walked slowly down the hillside, a man came walking up towards me from the opposite direction. Of  course we stopped to chat and he told me he had come from his home in Cheltenham, parked in Miserden and was heading in a circular route via Bisley, which he thought would take about four hours. I love these interludes where the fact that you are both in such a place on a beautiful day says a lot about yourself. 

We bade farewell and a after walking about a hundred yards further I stopped to take this picture. I like these views and this valley, it being only a quarter of a mile from the farm I first stayed in, which I mentioned ion yesterday's blip. The track headsa down the edge of the field over the 'set aside' area next to the ploughed earth. 

At the bottom of the hill is Honeycombe Farm, close to the Holy Brook which carved the valley and flows on down to join the River Frome in the  Golden Valley, (beside which we live) and then together flowing on through Stroud. Beyond is a farm track climbing up the hillside and on to Miserden, in the next valley beyond. This is a classic Cotswold hilltops scene, wholly different to the nearby steep valleys, where the water powered mills brought industry and wealth.