Some of the best walking in the Cotswolds is not the long famous trails but the short stretches between two quiet villages. The walk from Guiting Power to Naunton is exactly that. It follows a section of the Warden’s Way through the upper Windrush valley, links two small, lived in villages with barely another soul about, and can be done at an easy pace in an afternoon.
The walk at a glance
- Start and finish: Guiting Power village green (or walk it the other way from Naunton).
- Distance: around two miles each way, so roughly four miles there and back.
- Difficulty: easy. Valley floor and farmland, well signed, with no significant climbs, just a couple of gentle slopes.
- Underfoot: field and valley paths. Fine in trainers when dry, but boots are wiser after rain.
- Time: a gentle half day with time to look around both villages.
- Dogs: suitable, but expect livestock and field gates, so keep dogs under close control.
Which path is this?
This walk uses part of the Warden’s Way, the 14 mile waymarked route that winds through the villages between Bourton on the Water and the Cotswold Way at Winchcombe. It is worth knowing that the Warden’s Way has a sister route, the Windrush Way, which takes a higher line over the hills and follows the river itself while deliberately avoiding the villages. The two together make a popular circular. For this walk you want the Warden’s Way, the one that links the villages.
The route
Start on the village green at Guiting Power, with its war memorial, honey stone cottages and the Norman church of St Michael and All Angels just at the southern edge. Pick up the Warden’s Way by the church and follow the way-marks out of the village and down into the valley.
The path drops gently through farmland in the upper Windrush valley. It is open, quiet walking, the kind of ordinary, unshowy Cotswold countryside that the crowds never see. Follow the waymarks across the fields, and after a couple of miles Naunton comes into view ahead, strung out along the valley floor.
In Naunton itself, make time for two things in particular. The first is St Andrew’s Church, largely 15th century, with a medieval stone pulpit and font worth seeing inside. The second is the village’s remarkable 17th century dovecote, a four-gabled stone building that once held around a thousand pigeons and is one of the largest of its kind in the country. It is free to visit during daylight hours, cared for by the Naunton Dovecote Trust who saved and restored it.
From here, simply retrace your steps along the Warden’s Way back to Guiting Power. Walking it in both directions is no hardship, because the valley looks quite different with the light coming from the other side. If you would rather make a loop, check the OS map for parallel field paths that let you return on a slightly different line.
When to go
There is no bad time for this one. The villages and the dovecote work in any weather, so even a grey afternoon comes home well. Spring and early summer bring green valleys and hedgerows, and a clear late afternoon gives you low golden light across the stone. It is quiet year round, which is rather the point.
Where to park
Park considerately in Guiting Power, where there is a small amount of roadside and green side space. There is also potentially parking at the Village Hall. Both villages are working communities, not car parks, so do not block gateways, passing places or residents’ access. Naunton in particular is mainly one long street with very limited room.
Make a day of it
Both villages reward lingering. In Guiting Power there are two pubs, the Farmers Arms and the Hollow Bottom, plus a cafe in the Old Post Office and a village shop, so you can eat at either end of the walk. Naunton has the Black Horse Inn, a traditional pub pouring local Donnington ales. Cotswold Farm Park and Naunton Downs Golf Club are both close by if you want to extend the day.
For more walking in the area, see our Cotswolds walks guide and the full Warden’s Way and Cotswold Way routes. If you are exploring without a car, our guide to the Cotswolds without a car covers how to reach this corner.
