Grassy cliffs and quarried rock along a scarp under a blue sky

Tim Heaton, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cotswold Way: Cleeve Hill to Dowdeswell

A 5.5-mile (8.8km) one-way walk on the fifth section of the Cotswold Way, from the golf club on Cleeve Hill to Dowdeswell reservoir, moderate and about three and a quarter hours: along Cleeve Cloud and across the common, then quiet lanes and a wood down to the A40.

Distance: 8.8 km (5.5 mi)
Difficulty: Moderate
Time: 3 hrs, 15 mins
Ascent: 150 m
Circular: One way

Updated 9 November 2026

The route

Starts at Quarry car park by Cleeve Hill Golf Club, off the B4632 follows the Cotswold Way for a while Steep sectionLivestock in fieldsDogs on lead near sheepStilesRoad walkingCafé on route Download GPX

Elevation Highest 306 m, lowest 147 m, climb about 150 m

Step by step

1
Step 1: Cleeve Hill to Cleeve Cloud

Start at the Quarry car park beside Cleeve Hill Golf Club, where the clubhouse has the café and the only toilets on the common. Follow the Cotswold Way south along the western edge of the common, past Rolling Bank Quarry and the round earthwork called the Ring.
Climb gently to the trig point on the edge, at about 317m and about 1km from the start, crossing the golf fairways on the way, and keep along the cliff top of Cleeve Cloud.
- Café
2
Step 2: Cleeve Hill camp and the common

About 2km from the start, pass the curving ramparts of Cleeve Hill camp on the cliff top. Huddlestone's Table, a square stone block, lies at the foot of the cliff below. Keep children and dogs close along the edge.
Go through the gates at the southern end of the edge and follow the waymarks south across the open common, where cattle graze all year and sheep from April to November, through two more gates.
- Dogs on lead
Step 3: Noverton Lane

Leave the common for Noverton Lane, a paved restricted byway, and follow it south along the top for about a kilometre, over the second high point of the section at about 300m.
Keep on along the lanes past Aggs Hill, about 5.7km from the start.
4
Step 4: Lanes to Ham Road

Follow the lanes south, cross a stile about 6.5km from the start, and go on past Arle Grove, a small wood that is a nature reserve, to Ham Road.
- Stiles
5
Step 5: Down through Dowdeswell Wood

Cross Ham Road and follow the public footpath past Middle Colgate Farm and into Dowdeswell Wood.
The path drops about 90m through the wood in under a kilometre and comes out by Dowdeswell Reservoir, where the section ends, about 8.8km from the start and a few hundred metres above the A40.
- Steep section

Getting to the start

Start and finish: Quarry car park by Cleeve Hill Golf Club, off the B4632
Parking: Quarry car park (GL52 3PW) or the golf club car park, off the B4632 at Cleeve Hill: £2 for 24 hours (2026), free to Cleeve Common Trust members.
Public transport: Stagecoach W, Cheltenham to Winchcombe, stops on the B4632 below the golf club about hourly, Monday to Saturday. At the end, Pulhams 801 (daily) and X52 (about every two hours Monday to Saturday, twice on Sundays) stop on the A40 at Lower Dowdeswell for Cheltenham.
Dogs: On Cleeve Common, dogs on a lead of 2m or less from 1 March to 31 July and near stock: cattle graze all year, sheep from April to November.

Sights on the way

The sights this walk passes, numbered as on the map.

Cleeve Common

Sight · Common or park · The Cotswold Edge

Gloucestershire’s largest common: more than 400 hectares of open limestone grassland on the Cotswold Edge above Cheltenham, with the highest point of the Cotswolds at 330m, an Iron Age hillfort, a Bronze Age cross dyke and views to the Malverns and the Black Mountains.
Cleeve Hill camp

Sight · Hill fort or barrow · The Cotswold Edge

Cleeve Hill camp is a small Iron Age hillfort of about 500 BC on the cliff top at Cleeve Cloud, above Cheltenham, with two rings of rampart up to 2.5m high and the scarp as its western wall. Cut by quarries and a golf course, it is a scheduled monument on Cleeve Common.

The Cotswold Way from Cleeve Hill to Dowdeswell is a 5.5-mile (8.8km) one-way walk from the golf club on Cleeve Hill, across Cleeve Common and down to Dowdeswell reservoir by the A40 above Cheltenham. It is moderate, climbs about 150m and takes about three and a quarter hours, with a café only at the start.

It is the fifth of the fifteen sections of the Cotswold Way, after Winchcombe to Cleeve Hill, and the National Trail calls Cleeve Common the highest part of the whole trail. From Dowdeswell, the sixth section carries on to Leckhampton Hill.

What the section is like

It is a walk of two halves. For the first 4km you are on open grassland along the top of the Cotswold Edge, with Cheltenham spread out below on the right and, on clear days, the Malverns and the Black Mountains beyond. Then the trail turns south along Noverton Lane and quiet lanes over the top, and finishes with a descent through Dowdeswell Wood to the reservoir.

The climbing is gentle, about 150m in all, and most of the height is lost in the last kilometre through the wood. There is no shelter on the common, which is exposed in wind and rain.

Cleeve Common and the hillfort

Cleeve Common is the largest common in Gloucestershire, about 405 hectares of limestone grassland that has never been ploughed and reseeded, and the highest ground in the Cotswolds. The trail passes the trig point on the edge, at about 317m, which has the view. The official top, at 330m, is a flat plateau beyond the radio masts, off the line. In spring and summer the grass has orchids, pyramidal, bee and common spotted among them.

Cleeve Hill camp is a small Iron Age hillfort of about 500 BC on the cliff top at Cleeve Cloud, with two curving ramparts up to 2.5m high. Quarrying and a nineteenth-century golf course have left about a third of it. Below the cliff, Huddlestone's Table is a square stone that legend ties to a Saxon king in 811, though the Cleeve Common Trust points out that the Huddlestones did not reach Southam until the 1520s.

A steep grassy scarp with limestone outcrops running north above a wooded vale — Cleeve Cloud and the vale from the Cotswold Way Photo: Tim Heaton, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Our loop over Cleeve Common and Cleeve Cloud walks the same edge from the main road. Further on, the National Trail points out a butterfly reserve on Prestbury Hill, Bill Smylie's, and at the end Dowdeswell reservoir, one of the few places where the native white-clawed crayfish survives.

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Where to eat and sleep at Cleeve Hill and Dowdeswell

At the start, Flynn's on the Hill in the golf clubhouse is open every day for coffee, drinks, snacks and cakes, with a food menu from Tuesday to Sunday (ring the golf club for its hours), and the clubhouse has the only toilets on the common. Both are up steps. The Cleeve Hill Hotel, a 12-room bed and breakfast on the main road below, has a back gate on to the common and the Cotswold Way.

We list nothing at Dowdeswell. The buses at the end run into Cheltenham, a Regency town with plenty of places to eat and stay.

Getting back to Cleeve Hill

Catch a bus into Cheltenham from the stops by the Reservoir Inn at Lower Dowdeswell, on the A40 a few hundred metres from the end. Pulhams 801 runs about hourly, Sundays included, and Pulhams X52 about every two hours, Monday to Saturday, with two journeys on Sundays. From Cheltenham, Stagecoach's W runs to Cleeve Hill about hourly, Monday to Saturday, and stops on the main road below the golf club. It does not run on Sundays.

If you drive, the Quarry car park (GL52 3PW) and the golf club car park off the B4632 charge £2 for 24 hours (2026), and the Quarry car park gate is locked at night.

When to walk it

Choose a clear day, because the view is the point of the first half, out to the Malverns and the Black Mountains, and on the clearest days the Shropshire hills. Spring and summer bring the orchids. Between 1 March and 31 July dogs must by law be on a lead of 2m or less on the common, and cattle graze it all year.

Places on the way

Cleeve Hill Hotel

B&B · Winchcombe

A 12-room bed and breakfast hotel on Cleeve Hill, about three miles south-west of Winchcombe, with views over the Severn Vale and a door onto Cleeve Common and the Cotswold Way.

Walker-friendly · Dog-friendly

Verified Oct 2026

Stay near the start

Inns, cottages and hotels within a short drive of where the walk begins, so you can set off early.

Where to stay in the Cotswold Edge

The Rising Sun Hotel

Hotel · Cleeve Hill

A Greene King Inns hotel, pub and restaurant with 23 bedrooms near the top of Cleeve Hill, with views over five counties from its beer garden.

Dog-friendly · Walker-friendly

Verified Nov 2026
Sudeley Castle Cottages

Self-catering · Winchcombe

Nineteen holiday cottages on the Sudeley Castle estate at Winchcombe, sleeping three to fourteen, some dog-friendly, with free castle entry in season.

Dog-friendly

Verified Nov 2026
The Lion Inn

Inn · Winchcombe

A restored fifteenth-century coaching inn on North Street, Winchcombe, with nine rooms, run by Butcombe.

Dog-friendly · Walker-friendly

Verified Oct 2026

Questions about Cotswold Way: Cleeve Hill to Dowdeswell

How long is the Cotswold Way from Cleeve Hill to Dowdeswell?

The Cotswold Way from Cleeve Hill to Dowdeswell is 5.5 miles (8.8km) one way, with about 150m of climbing on our line, and takes about three and a quarter hours. It is the fifth of the trail's fifteen sections, and the National Trail gives it as 8.9km with 99m of ascent. Most of the height is lost at the end, in the descent through Dowdeswell Wood to the reservoir.

Is there a café on the Cotswold Way from Cleeve Hill to Dowdeswell?

Only at the start. Flynn's on the Hill, in Cleeve Hill Golf Club's clubhouse by the Quarry car park, is open every day for coffee, drinks, snacks and cakes, with a food menu from Tuesday to Sunday (ring the golf club for its hours), and the clubhouse has the only toilets on the common. Both are up steps. There is nothing after that until Dowdeswell, so carry water.

How do I get back to Cleeve Hill from Dowdeswell?

Take a bus into Cheltenham from Lower Dowdeswell, by the Reservoir Inn on the A40: the Pulhams 801 runs about hourly every day and the X52 about two-hourly, Monday to Saturday, with two journeys on Sundays. From Cheltenham, Stagecoach's W climbs to Cleeve Hill about hourly, Monday to Saturday, but not on Sundays.

Does the Cotswold Way cross the golf course on Cleeve Hill?

Yes. Cleeve Hill Golf Club plays across the common, and the Cotswold Way crosses its fairways at the start of this section, between the clubhouse and Cleeve Cloud. The Cleeve Common Trust asks walkers to take care on the golf course, so watch for players, wait while a shot is played and keep off the greens.

Can you take a dog from Cleeve Hill to Dowdeswell?

Yes, but on Cleeve Common dogs must by law be on a lead of 2m or less from 1 March to 31 July, and on a short lead near stock all year: Belted Galloway cattle graze it year round and the commoners' sheep from April to November. Beyond the common, the National Trail asks for leads unless you are told otherwise.

Where do you park for the Cleeve Hill to Dowdeswell walk?

Park at the Quarry car park (GL52 3PW) or the golf club car park off the B4632 on Cleeve Hill, at the start of the Cotswold Way section to Dowdeswell: both charge £2 for 24 hours (2026), free to Cleeve Common Trust members, and the Quarry gate is locked at night. We know of no parking at Dowdeswell, so take the bus back from the end.

More walks to try

All walks

Cotswold Way: Winchcombe to Cleeve Hill

Walk · Starts in Winchcombe · 2 hrs, 45 mins · Dog-friendly

A 5.6-mile (9km) one-way walk on the fourth section of the Cotswold Way, moderate and two and a half to three hours: from Winchcombe by Sudeley up to Belas Knap, down through Breakheart Plantation to Postlip's Norman chapel, then up to the golf club on Cleeve Hill.
Cotswold Way: Dowdeswell to Leckhampton Hill

Walk · Starts in the Cotswold Edge · 3 hrs · Dog-friendly

A 4.7-mile (7.6km) one-way walk on the sixth section of the Cotswold Way, from Dowdeswell reservoir to Leckhampton Hill, moderate and about three hours: a stiff climb through Lineover Wood, field paths to Seven Springs, then Hartley Lane and Charlton Kings Common.
The Cotswold Way

Walk · Dog-friendly

The Cotswold Way is a 102-mile (164km) National Trail walk from Chipping Campden to Bath along the escarpment, in 15 sections; the official guidebook suggests seven to ten days, and its frequent steep climbs make it hard going.