Ilmington, Ebrington Hill and Hidcote

The Ilmington, Ebrington Hill and Hidcote walk is a 5.9-mile (9.5km) circular walk from St Mary's church in Ilmington, near Shipston-on-Stour, up to the garden at Hidcote and back over Ebrington Hill. It is moderate, with about 228m of climbing, a busy lane and a steep end, and takes about two and three quarter hours. Ilmington has two pubs.

Most of the climbing is in the second half, and the views from the ridge are what walkers remember.

Ilmington and St Mary’s

St Mary’s, where the walk starts, is a church of the middle of the twelfth century with additions through to the sixteenth, restored in 1846, 1911 and 1936. It is listed Grade I. About five metres west of the tower stands the base of a medieval cross, its east face carved with a worn panel of the Crucifixion. The National Landscape also publishes a much shorter, easy walk in the village, which our guide to the accessible Cotswolds lists.

Park Lane and the Admington road

The first hour is the flat part. Field paths lead out of the village to the lanes, and the route follows Park Lane and then the road towards Admington for about a mile in all. Walkers single this stretch out: the last part is a fairly busy country lane with no pavement, and they step on to the verge when cars come. One walker took a different line to avoid it with a dog. Take particular care in low sun.

Up to Hidcote

From the lane a public footpath climbs south-west across the fields and through a belt of trees to the edge of Hidcote, on the county boundary. Lawrence Johnston began the garden here in 1907, as rooms divided by hedges and walls, around a late seventeenth-century farmhouse that his mother, Gertrude Winthrop, had enlarged for him. It has belonged to the National Trust since 1948, and the garden is for paying visitors and members. Our guide to the great Cotswold gardens has Hidcote and its neighbour, Kiftsgate Court.

Ebrington Hill and the way down

From Hidcote a restricted byway climbs east to the top of Ebrington Hill, at about 260m the highest point of the walk, and a bridleway carries on along the ridge past the two Ilmington masts and the farm at Nebsworth. Walkers single out the views from the top. The last kilometre drops about 100m into Ilmington, fairly steeply, and comes out on Front Street by the war memorial.

What walkers report

Walkers rate the views and the variety, and they warn about the road, as above. They report livestock in most fields, sheep, cows and horses, and keep dogs on a lead, as our guide to the Cotswolds with a dog advises around livestock. Walkers found stiles with no easy way through for a dog, and one in 2021 turned back at a padlocked gate that a dog could not get through. In summer there are narrow, overgrown stretches with nettles, and one walker had to crawl under a low fallen tree. The fields are muddy after rain, and the climbs near the end feel steep when you are tired.

The route is mostly well signposted, but the start in Ilmington is hard to find. The footpath is unmarked, in front of a row of cottages, and one walker warns against the private drive beside it. Another found it easier to start from Back Lane, on the footpath just before the drive to The Grange.

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Parking, buses and food

Walkers report free parking in Ilmington. Some start from Hidcote’s free car park instead. Stagecoach buses 51 and 51A, between Stratford-upon-Avon and Moreton-in-Marsh station by way of Shipston-on-Stour, call at Ilmington four or five times a day each way, Monday to Saturday, with none on Sunday.

Walkers report two pubs in Ilmington, the Howard Arms on Lower Green and the Red Lion on Front Street, and the volunteer-run community shop and café, by the war memorial, is close to the route on the way back; the shop opens every day (7.30am to 5.30pm on weekdays, 8am to 5pm on Saturdays, 8.30am to 1pm on Sundays), and the café from about 9.30am to 4.30pm from Tuesday to Friday and to 4pm on Saturdays, though its hours vary when volunteers are short. National Trust members can stop at Hidcote halfway round.

Nearby walks

From the other side of Hidcote, Mickleton, Hidcote and Kiftsgate climbs from Mickleton past both gardens. Chipping Campden, about three miles from Hidcote, is the start of the Cotswold Way and of our level walk from Broad Campden.

Campden is also the nearest town with a choice of rooms: see our page on places to stay in Chipping Campden.