Cleeve Common and Cleeve Cloud

The Cleeve Common and Cleeve Cloud walk is a 4-mile (6.4km) circular walk from the main road at Cleeve Hill across the highest ground in the Cotswolds, on top of the Cotswold Edge. It is moderate, with about 178m of climbing in short pulls, takes about an hour and three quarters, and passes the golf club café.

It reaches about 320m near the hill fort. The common is open ground with a golf course across it, cattle grazing all year and sheep from April to November, and the National Trail promises extensive views over Cheltenham and far beyond; the Cleeve Common Trust names the Malverns and the Black Mountains on a clear day.

The highest part of the Cotswold Way

The National Trail says that at Cleeve Hill walkers are on the highest part of the whole Cotswold Way, and the Cleeve Common Trust puts the top of the Cotswolds at 330m, at a trig point beyond the radio masts on Cleeve Common, which this loop does not visit. This loop shares the restricted byway by the golf clubhouse with the trail, where the trail’s section from Winchcombe ends at the golf clubhouse, and this walk crosses the golf course too.

Cleeve Hill camp and Cleeve Cloud

Near the high point of the walk the route passes close to Cleeve Hill camp, a hill fort of the kind Historic England calls a small multivallate hillfort. Historic England’s scheduling describes it on a promontory of the scarp in the area known as Cleeve Cloud, with the scarp itself forming its west side and two concentric ramparts elsewhere, each up to 9.1m wide and 2.5m high, with ditches. The interior is just under three hectares. There is no obvious entrance, because of later quarrying and the landscaping of a nineteenth-century golf course. Three tree-ring enclosures close by, once taken for watch towers, are post-medieval.

North of the fort the bridleway runs along the scarp past Huddlestone’s Table, a square block of stone at the foot of the cliff, and the cliffs that OpenStreetMap names Cleeve Cloud. The story goes that the stone marks a Saxon king’s farewell in 811, but the Cleeve Common Trust notes that the Huddlestone family did not come to Southam until the 1520s. Another scheduled earthwork, the Ring, is about 220m from the route near the end of the loop; the Trust describes it as a circular earthwork about 50m across, thought to be a Romano-British enclosure for animals.

What walkers report

Walkers warn about the wind and say check the forecast, because the common is open and exposed, and the Cleeve Common Trust advises avoiding it in fog or low cloud. There is no shade, so take water in summer. The route drops steeply from the hill fort to the bridleway below the scarp, and the Trust asks walkers to take care on loose soil and stones.

Belted Galloway cattle graze the common all year in a fenceless paddock, and sheep from April to November. The Trust asks for dogs on a lead of no more than 2m from 1 March to 31 July, when skylarks nest on the ground, and on a short lead around livestock at any time. The route crosses the golf course, so watch for golfers. Many paths cross the common, so keep the map to hand, and walkers who want more of the view stay on the top longer than this route does.

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Parking, buses and food

The start is a lay-by on the B4632, a busy main road. The Quarry car park and the golf club car park cost £2 for 24 hours in 2026, paid on the Evology Pay app or at the machine outside the golf clubhouse, as there is no machine at the Quarry; parking is free with a £2 spend at Flynn’s on the Hill or the golf club that day, and the Trust lists free parking at the radio masts and the lay-bys near the top of Stockwell Lane. Stagecoach West’s W bus between Cheltenham and Winchcombe stops at Stockwell Lane beside the start, about hourly Monday to Saturday, with no Sunday service; our page on places to stay in Winchcombe covers the nearest town.

Flynn’s on the Hill at the golf clubhouse, near the start, is open to the public for brunch, lunch and coffee, with dogs welcome in the bar. The golf club lists it as open seven days a week for coffee, drinks and cakes, with its menu served Tuesday to Sunday; ring for the hours. The golf club has the only toilets on the common, reached by steps. The Cleeve Hill Hotel is a bed and breakfast beside the road at the end of the loop.

Longer walks on Cleeve Hill

For a whole day, our loop from Winchcombe crosses the common after visiting Belas Knap, and the Cotswold Way from Winchcombe ends at the golf club. Our guide to walking and the outdoors has more on the Cotswold Way, and our guide to the accessible Cotswolds lists Cleeve Common among the places where all-terrain mobility scooters can be used.