Easy hikes and walks around Todenham

"The Bell is an eighteenth-century inn on the western side of the High Street. It was regularly visited by author J.R.R. Tolkeinduring his early years at the University of Oxford. The inn has been attributed as inspiration for 'The Prancing Pony' which features in The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955)." Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moreton-in-Marsh

A fantastic, quirky, ancient building steeped in history with lots of nooks and crannies to explore. A lovely courtyard for the summer and a crackling inglenook fireplace for autumn and winter. I've stayed in the hotel, had drinks in the bar(s) and dined in the restaurant and I can recommend a visit if you are in the area.

"The White Hart Royal Hotel in Moreton-in-Marsh, a splendid tapestry woven through centuries of English history. Nestled at the crossroads of the ancient Fosse Way and the route from London to Worcester, this famed inn has stood as a silent witness to the ebb and flow of time. Originally known as The White Hart, its most illustrious guest was none other than King Charles I, who sought refuge here twice during the English Civil War, in 1644 and 1645. These visits, once the stuff of local legend, were substantiated by a rare 17th-century diary discovered in the Huntington Library, confirming the monarch’s stays during those tumultuous times.  The inn’s prominence grew with the advent of the turnpike roads in the 18th century, becoming a vital coaching stop." Source: https://whitehartroyal.co.uk/about-us/

Great place for a lovely breakfast. The coffee is good too.

Great coffee and cake.

"The small market town of Shipston-on-Stour is situated in South Warwickshire and ideally located for visitors to the North Cotswolds and Stratford-upon-Avon. It is surrounded by places of interest including Chipping Campden, Broadway, and Moreton-in-Marsh. The towns name derives from being known in ancient times as 'Sheep-wash-Town'. Shipston was for a long time an important sheep market town and after the demand for local wool began to diminish the town continued to flourish thanks to the opening in 1836 of a branch line from the horse-powered tramway built a decade before to link Stratford with Moreton-in-Marsh. The line became a modern railway in 1889. The town was also an important coaching town and many of the inns from that era surviving in the area of the High Street. Shipston today is a charming historic and thriving town with interesting and unusual features.. It is becoming increasingly popular with tourists due to its wonderful mixture of shops, pubs, restaurants and hotels. Shipston was a working Wool Town and developed many woolen skills, including those for making tapestries including the famous Sheldon Tapestries in neighbouring farming hamlet of Barcheston. which became central to the history of English tapestry making. It is today officially commemorated by the 'Wool Fair' which takes place on Spring Bank Holiday Monday. In the Tudor period the little hamlet of Barcheston on the outskirts of Shipston was the first manufacturing home in England for the weaving of magnificent woollen tapestries. They are also known as the Sheldon Tapestries. They are profusely decorated with flowers and mythological motifs and often highlighted in silk. Technically, for that period, they were unrivalled throughout the land. Unfortunately very few have survived." Source: https://www.cotswolds.info/places/shipston-on-stour.shtml

Shipston Cemetery Chapel was built and consecrated in the mid 19th century. It is a Grade II Listed Building consisting of two mortuary chapels - one for members of the Church of England and one for Nonconformists. The cemetery itself is also a Commonwealth War Graves Commission site. Source: https://wikimapia.org/23796671/Cemetery-Chapel

"Barcheston church is a delightful largely fifteenth century building in a secluded spot close to Shipston on Stour. It's most distinguishing feature externally is the leaning north west tower, which inclines dramatically to the west (and is sometimes referred to as 'Warwickshire's Pisa'!). The effect is somewhat alarming, but it has been this way for some centuries, having settled soon after it was built, as witnessed by the additional buttress propping up the west face; hopefully it will be staying put for the foreseeable future. The church has more of a Cotswold appearance than one is normally used to seeing in Warwickshire, and would perhaps seem more at home if it stood over the Gloucestershire or Oxfordshire borders, very much a sign of how far south we are in the county. The layout is quite irregular, the chancel is off centre and the south aisle is more of a seperate chapel only half the length of the nave. The first glimpse upon entering via the lean-to south porch is the view looking across to the north aisle, with it's very domestic looking windows (a post Reformation alteration, possibly to admit more light) and an arcade that seems to be leaning even more dramatically than the tower (where the arcade meets the tower wall there is a bracket 'propped up' by a carved 'helping hand', very apt and much needed assitance judging by the angle!)." Copyright: Aidan McRae Thomson 2012 Source: https://warwickshirechurches.weebly.com/barcheston---st-martin.html