10 of us gathered at the Cleeve Hill Hotel for a Friday afternoon walk. The hotel's back gate took us straight onto Cleeve Common.

We headed over to the farmlands around Nottingham Hill with their intricate dry stone walls dividing the fields.

Our high point was a cairn with 360 degree views of the surrounding countryside.

We could see over to the Malvern Hills and beyond and back to the hotel.

We then headed down through woodland - the first bluebells just appearing - and continued through farmland back to the hotel.

The weather was mainly kind with just one short shower. However, there were some muddy areas to contend with and those with gaiters fared best!

There was plenty of time to relax before meeting the remaining 2 members of our group and heading to the nearest hostelry for dinner.

We started our walk from the beautiful, unspoilt Cotswold town of Winchcombe and headed along the wonderfully named Puck Pit Lane in the direction of Hailes Abbey.

We crossed a number of fields and stiles before reaching the Abbey and its adjoining church the beautiful painted walls of which had been partially restored.

We then headed to the Hayles Fruit Farm Tea Shop where we stopped for a welcome break.

We continued our walk to Farmcote with its honey-coloured stone houses and another interesting little church perched on the hillside.

We then set off down to a sheltered spot for lunch with far reaching views, lots of spring lambs and interesting (to some) strip lynchets (the remnants of Medieval farming methods).

Although we had good weather for most of the day we did have a light hail shower over lunch.

This cooled us down and encouraged us to move swiftly on up the old packhorse route with views down to the extensive Guiting Forest below.

The towering Sudeley Castle was soon in sight and we followed a meandering track towards it through farmland with yet more lambs springing about for our entertainment.

We admired the view of Sudeley Castle and its church and continued on to Winchcombe where we had time to explore its fascinating historical buildings and its tea shops!

We had dinner at the hotel which was wonderfully fresh and tasty and many of us enjoyed the delights of the 24 hour hotel bar.

One case of blisters and one of the group having to leave early meant that 10 of us set off in the morning onto Cleeve Common.

We soon reached the toposcope and enjoyed superb views over to Tewkesbury, the Malvern Hills and towards the Brecon Beacons.

We continued along the Cotswold Way escarpment for more fine views before 4 of the group had to head back for an early departure.

6 of us remained and carried on up to the highest point in the Cotswolds at 330m.

Having achieved such heady heights we headed across the Common onto a track which took us to Belas Knap, a Stone Age Long Barrow burial site, where we had an early lunch.

Fully sated, we continued our journey through varied farmland.

On our approach to the edge of the Common we got great views of Postlip Hall, a gabled Elizabethan manor house.

We then had a steep ascent back to the higher part of the Common but knew that once we were at the top we would be nearly home!

A brief stop on the top revealed rain on its way so we swiftly headed down to the hotel and arrived just in time!

We enjoyed a last cup of tea and a chat before we went our separate ways after a wonderfully relaxing and enjoyable weekend.