Great Tew and Little Tew Walk

The Great Tew and Little Tew Walk is a 3.2-mile (5.2km) loop from Great Tew, the estate village of ironstone and thatch 8 miles south-west of Banbury. It follows the Great Tew Estate's own Little Tew Walk, one of three free walk maps the estate publishes. It is easy to moderate, with about 81m of climbing, and takes about an hour and a half.

It starts and ends at the Falkland Arms, which makes the order of the day simple: walk first, eat after. The estate's map gives no distance, stiles or surfaces, so we have measured the line and read the gates and stiles from OpenStreetMap.

The village and the estate

Great Tew is an estate village, owned and let by the Great Tew Estate, and its cottages are the reason most people come. The estate's history page traces it from Lucius Cary, who inherited in 1629, through nearly 50 years in public trusteeship from 1914, to the Johnston family now. The church of St Michael and All Angels, listed Grade I, stands apart from the village to the south-east, off New Road near the end of the walk.

Despite its reputation, Great Tew lies outside the Cotswolds National Landscape. The estate has its own ironstone quarry.

Little Tew and the fields

The walk drops off the ridge by the Crimea Office and the cricket pitch, crosses the B4022, and runs across the fields into Little Tew, a small village with its own church of St John the Evangelist. From there the route turns south over a stile and through gates to the B4022 again, for a short stretch along the road.

South of the road the path passes Tracy Barn and runs east towards the lane to Soho Farmhouse. Soho Farmhouse, the members' club, is closed to casual visitors, so do not expect to call in. The walk turns north before it and climbs gently back past the New Garden to the village.

Gates, stiles and stock

OpenStreetMap maps two stepover stiles on the stretch south of Little Tew, and gates elsewhere. The fields are farmed and grazed, so keep dogs on a lead near stock. There are two crossings of the B4022 and about 90m along it: walk facing the traffic.

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The estate's other walks

The estate publishes two more free maps: a Golden Valley walk and the Great Tew Park walk, the natural short loop from the Square. That one runs east along the track from the Square, down the side of the park, then back along the road and up New Road past the turning for the church. Both start from the same car park, so you can add one on another day.

Food and drink

The Falkland Arms is a 16th-century Wadworth pub on the green, with flagstones, an inglenook and seven rooms, and it calls itself fully dog friendly. For something lighter, Quince and Clover is a café in the Old Post Office; it publishes no opening hours, so ring 01608 683225 before you plan on it.

Getting there and the route

There is no daily bus to Great Tew. Banbury station is about 8 miles away and Charlbury about 7, so come by car or taxi, and use the car park the estate's map marks just north of the Falkland Arms.

For a longer walk in the same country, the Heyford station and Rousham walk crosses the Cherwell valley to the east, and the Adderbury and Bloxham Grove walk explores the villages to the north.

This route is drawn, not recorded: we drew it along paths mapped in OpenStreetMap through the places on the estate's map, and checked it against Oxfordshire County Council's rights of way layer. Nobody from this guide has walked it yet, and a walk-through is still to come. Download the estate's map before you go, and follow it where it differs.