Easy hikes and walks around Chetwode

Its great to see Molly's Community Café in Steeple Claydon avoided closure thanks to a collective effort. A significant part of the funding came from HS2's Community and Environment Fund, which awarded the cafe a £75,000 grant. This fund was set up to help offset the disruption caused by the construction of the high-speed rail link. Additionally, Unita Hopkins, the daughter of Molly Lewis (who originally ran the newsagents on the site), chose to donate the building back to the community for the creation of the cafe. The cafe operates as a not-for-profit Community Interest Company, and it's also run with the help of volunteers under the guidance of a full-time manager. In July 2024, a public meeting was held to address the challenging financial position that would arise as the lease expired and the business started to pay rent. A small group of volunteers with relevant skills are working with the cafe manager and directors to implement suggestions to ensure its continued viabilit

The Church was attacked by Cromwell and his men in the civil war of 1643. Some of the Royalist garrison had taken refuge there and you can still see the bullet holes in the 15th century door made by the attacking Roundheads.

A beautiful park with an obelisk as the centrefold, built in 2012 to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

If you know the English novelist Flora Thompson, you may enjoy this stop at her childhood home.

Picturesque gravel road from Cottisford, links well with routes into Tusmore or on towards Hethe

Welcoming community facility for everyone, where you can enjoy a wide range of food (including vegan and gluten free options. Can recommend bacon sandwich, panini, cakes and coffees. Indoor and outdoor seating. https://www.mollyscafe.org/ - *If you are visiting in a group of 4 or more- please ring the cafe first to pre order- this will help to avoid long waiting times*

Flora Thompson (née Timms) (1876 – 1947) was a self-taught English novelist, who wrote about the decay of Victorian agrarian England. She is best known for her semi-autobiographical trilogy "Lark Rise to Candleford". "Laura's parents ... thought the house was well worth the rent, for it was two small thatched cottages made into one, with two bedrooms and a good garden. Of course, as they said, it had not the conveniences of a town house. Until they themselves had bought an oven grate and put it in the second cottage downstairs room, known as 'the wash-house', there was nowhere to bake the Sunday joint, and it was tiresome to have to draw water up from a well and irritating in wet weather to have to walk under an umbrella half way down the garden to the earth closet. But the cottage living-room was a pleasant place, with its well-polished furniture, shelves of bright crockery, and red-and-black rugs laid down to 'take the tread' on the raddled tile floor. In summer the window stood permanently open and hollyhocks and other tall flowers would push their way in and mingle with the geraniums and fuchsias on the window-sill. This room was the children's nursery ... [and ] had one advantage over most nurseries. The door opened straight out on to the garden path and in fine weather the children were allowed to run in and out as they would. Even when it rained and a board was slipped, country fashion, into grooves in the doorposts to keep them in, they could still lean out over it and feel the rain splash on their hands and see the birds flicking their wings in the puddles and smell the flowers and wet earth while they sang: 'Rain, rain, go away, Come again another day.'" From Flora Thompson's "Lark Rise to Candleford"

This beautiful ancient lime tree has a girth of 8.02m at a height of 1.10m, suggesting an advanced age of around 300 years. Lime trees are important trees for beekeepers with their fragrant and nectar-producing flowers.