The best family-friendly hikes and walks around Snitterfield

Very simple, austere church. Doors were open in daylight. you can see how the walls are bowing outwards.

Lovely path around a newly created nature reserve in Stratford-upon-Avon. Approximately 1.5km circular route

This path was opened in 2022 and allows visitors to complete a loop North

This whole area is being developed further and whilst there has been some concern over the ecological impact, the changes certainly make this a more interesting place to visit. Good, if limited, parking and within walking distance of the town centre too.

One of the best known landmarks on the hills is Obelisk or Monument Erected in 1876 by Robert Needham Philips to honour his brother Mark Philips, this obelisk on the hill above the Welcombe Hotel is visible for miles up and down the vale of the Avon. Welcombe was once part of the chief manor of Old Stratford and in Shakespeare’s time the Combes family had a considerable estate here.  In 1845 Mark Philips, son of a northern industrialist purchased Welcombe Manor and in the 1860s rebuilt it as the family seat. Today this forms the Welcombe Hotel. Mark Philips was also notable as Manchester’s first Member of Parliament. About Mark Phlips Mark Philips (4 November 1800 – 23 December 1873) was an English Liberal Party politician, and one of the first pair of Members of Parliament for Manchester after the Great Reform Act. Born in Philips Park, Whitefield, Lancashire, the son of Robert Philips, a prosperous merchant and Anne Needham. He was educated at the Manchester Academy while it was in York and then at the University of Glasgow. The town of Manchester was deprived of its parliamentary representation in 1660 in reprisal for its support of the Parliamentarian faction during the English Civil War. Representation was only restored following the Great Reform Act of 1832. He and Charles Poulett Thomson were the first pair of MPs elected in that year. He represented the city in Parliament until 1847, an active member of the Anti-Corn Law League. A champion of universal education, in 1837 he chaired a meeting that led to the creation of the Lancashire Public Schools’ Association which was instrumental in establishing a system of publicly-funded schooling in the UK. He also played an important role in establishing the UK’s first free public library in 1852 and he was President of his old school Manchester Academy from 1842–1846 and from 1871 until his death in 1873. He was High Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1851. Philips donated money to many causes including £1,000 towards the fund for the provision of open spaces and parks for the City of Manchester. This resulted in many estates being purchased by the city, including Lark Hill in Salford, which became Peel Park, and the Bradford Estate which became Philips Park in east Manchester. He died, aged 73, at Welcombe House, Stratford-upon-Avon.

The Welcombe Hills and Clopton Park offer delightful walks through grassland and woodland. Woolly thistle, quaking-grass and the diminutive adder’s-tongue grow in the grasslands where ant hills created by yellow meadow ants are a distinctive feature. The woodland contains oak, horse-chestnut and beech with English elm. Birds are plentiful, with great spotted woodpecker, sparrowhawk, little owl, treecreeper and finches enjoying the woodland where ravens breed in spring. Brimstone butterflies are numerous in the spring sunshine. History of the Welcombe Hills: a Shakespearean tale The reserve may have got its name from a historic well found here with its inscription 'SJC 1686'. Margaret, daughter of William Clopton who died in 1592 supposedly drowned here. It was around this time that Shakespeare was writing his famous play, Hamlet, and its believed that this tragic event provided the inspiration for his 'Ophelia' and her lonely death.

Called into the deli for hot soup and nice crusty bread on a long winter mountain bike ride. The also have real gelato - perfect for summer!

Watch out for shooting parties in the season. Usually friendly, sometimes a little tipsy. Wearing your high visibility gear is absolutely required.