Travel went by the board last year: Shetland and France didn’t happen. Switzerland? Forget it! Instead, September’s two-week break was a series of North Cotswold day hikes within a short (top-down, of course) drive of home. Interestingly, under glorious autumn skies, delicious picnics and magnificent Cotswold vistas often felt as good as being lost in France, up an alp or spotting otters on Bressay.

Revelatory Cotswold walks

Now, shortly after the lowest-key Christmas and New Year that I can recall, those walks remind of the beauty on our doorstep, and the promise Cotswold paths and bridleways hold for another year if over-seas travel remains less than attractive.

Particularly fascinating was how our walks linked and contextualised places we already knew – and others normally passed at speed in the car. Even after 17 years in the Cotswolds, those September walks were revelatory.

It is hard picking favourites from the many routes high-lighted on our dog-eared map. Guiting Wood delighted several times – and delivered enchanting deer sightings. Equally, the impressive Cotswold escarpment provided consistently rewarding climbs, descents and views of Elgar’s beloved Malverns.

Try Stanway or Stanton to Shenberrow Hill for a start. Or the walk past Graham Greene’s old Chipping Campden home to Dover’s Hill and on along The Mile Drive to Broadway Tower, Capability Brown’s impressive escarpment-top folly.

Reminders of faraway destinations

Longborough to Bourton-on-the-Hill and back via Sezincote’s ‘India in the Cotswolds’ reminded of faraway destinations when pragmatism counselled staying in Blighty. And wherever we trekked, from Hawling to Ilmington, it was interesting to note just how much prime Cotswold real estate is North American-owned.

Which walks hold the greatest allure for (lockdown permitting) late-winter recreation? Guiting Wood is a sure bet for any season, while Ebrington to Ebrington via Foxcote House and Hidcote Manor is helpfully solid underfoot for much of the way. Each walk delighted in its own way.

But if one best epitomised the rolling Cotswold landscape, it was probably heading east from Cutsdean through fields where sheep grazed peacefully and past meadows of smiling sunflowers. And then back via Jonjo O’Neill’s Jackdaw Castle stables – with the well-rated Plough Inn at Ford for journey’s end refreshment.

Whether 2021 sees us heading further afield, or staying closer to home, there’s world-class walking for any season on our doorstep. Maybe you too will discover new corners of the Cotswolds this year.