Swinbrook on a lovely day?

A bend in the river Swin
A bend in the river Swin

We were up early for a walk with A&C, the plan was to drive to Swinbrook, to do a walk along the river Swin, look at the church where some of the Mitford sisters are buried, then have lunch at the Swan Inn.

It took us an hour with mishap to get to Swinbrook, even after A had missed a turning! We parked at the pub and waited for Helen to get permission to leave the car there for the morning. The sewage treatment plant smelt like it needed a service, there was some sort of in balance going on.

The walk was a 5 mile circular one that followed the river then crossed over the other side. That meant it was going to be fairly level walking but there would be opportunities for some muddy patches.
About 3 miles into the walk we got stumbled into Asthall and The Maytime Inn was a welcome establishment to have coffee at. The pub seemed very posh and the landlord had some amazing green with a bold yellow check pattern! The coffee was good and came with some nice biscuits.

Swinbrook valley view

I got a set of panorama shots in the church yard. The village was typical Cotswold stone, very idyllic, as we left the church a couple of Morgan cars drove past with suitcases strapped to the rear. After Asthall you have to walk on a small road but there was not that much traffic, and as an added bonus there were a few sightings of Whitethroat, a first for A&C, and a lovely view of the valley as the road with higher than the river. At Widford there is an old mill that has been converted into dwellings, and it was our point to cross the river for the second time and do the final mile back to Swinbrook. From the bridge we saw a Grey Wagtail.

We took a look at the Widford church we seemed very old the layout was unusual in that the pews were in open top bovexes with doors to get to each set which would probably seat about 4 people. More panorama shots were taken.
On the outskirts of Swinbrook we spotted what looked like a Muntjak but turned out to be a Hare! The girls manged to find the Mitfords head stones and had a good look round while a took a couple more panorama sets.

Widford church

Back at Swinbrook Swan Inn we got back into normal footwear, and then headed into the pub. There were quite a few black and white pictures of days of old and the people who live in big houses. The food was reasonable, but the service was quite poor. Especially when we ordered a bottle of wine and A had to go to the bar and find out where it had got to half way through the main course. She gave them her look of disapproval.

The drive home was again un eventful. We had had a great day out with A&C, and hope to return again someday. Perhaps eating at the Maytree Inn at Asthall instead. It was early to bed for us as we had a coach trip to Minsmere arranged with a pick up from Bedgrove at 07:30.