B2B Day 22 Castle Combe to West Littleton: Loath to Leave the Castle Inn

For an OS map of today's walk (6.45 mi; 10.38 km; 691 ft total ascent) click here.

Breakfast at the Manor House

We were loath to leave the Castle Inn in Castle Combe, because it was such a relaxing and beautiful place to stay. The Castle Inn caters to large groups (like groups of golfers), and so perhaps that was the reason that our breakfast this morning was at “The Manor House” rather than in the conservatory at the Castle Inn. The Manor House is an even more expensive and upmarket place to stay than the Castle Inn. We walked there, past beautiful cottages used for accommodation, and chose a table near the window. The central table where you serve yourself for the breakfast preliminaries had the most incredible variety we had ever seen. They had four types of juice, two types of fruit smoothies, charcuterie (cheese, meat, baguettes), all kinds of fresh fruit, fruit salad, lots of dried fruit (cranberries, apricots), nuts, different 

Sara in front of the fire at the Castle Inn

granolas (including macadamia mango and a cocoa oat granola that Sara had to try), and probably a few other things we didn’t notice. We had tea and toast at the table, and Ken had eggs benedict for his cooked breakfast, while Sara had sausage, egg, and mushrooms. The place was elegant, and the staff were friendly.

We went back to our room at the Castle Inn and stayed there till checkout at 11:00—we definitely wanted to enjoy it for as long as we could! I lazed in the room while Ken went out to explore the village. It was cold enough that there was a lit fire in the dining area at the inn, which was a good place to sit while getting our packs organized. A little later, the hotel staff also let us leave our packs at the hotel when we both decided to have a last wander around the village. Castle Combe is famously picturesque, and we took lots of pictures—all the while trying not to get into other people's pictures!

The main square of Castle Combe, with the Castle Inn (left & centre) and the market cross (right)

The "classic view" of Castle Combe...

...is a magnet for photographers!

The village is beautiful and has been used in many films—we had seen War Horse which had been partly filmed there, and we both remembered an episode of Agatha Christie’s Poirot in which Poirot attempts to retire to the country, and his “home” was obviously filmed in Castle Combe.

Poirot's home?

It rained in the morning, but the rest of the day was fairly dry. Nevertheless, after a quick lunch at the Old Stables Café where we had also bought a sandwich for dinner, we went back to the Castle Inn to pick up our backpacks and then head out of the village towards West Littleton. Our path initially took us by the Manor House and then onto the golf course behind it. We noticed that there weren’t many golfers on the course as we passed through. We found the paths better than expected, and after a mile or two encountered a beautiful hamlet of simply lovely houses (West Kington). 

At the beautiful hamlet of West Kington

On leaving West Kington we initially went down a path that led to a house because we were hoping it was the public footpath, but it wasn’t: it was the driveway! We backtracked a bit and took the real public footpath, which was a bit overgrown but not terrible. It crossed and then followed a cute little stream which would be our companion for much of the rest of the walk. Ken attempted to take several photos of some ducks, but they kept moving too fast to get a good one!

Alongside the stream

Eventually we entered a long farm track through fields with the stream still on our left, encountering a group of three horses that initially ignored us while we were up close and taking pictures of them, but then when we had crossed into the next field, they followed us and seemed to be asking, “Why aren’t you paying attention to us?”

The horse not really paying attention to us

 

Pay attention to us!

The little valley path was quite enjoyable, with the little stream on our left falling in stages along the way as we walked upstream. A few fields had sheep dotted about. After a couple more miles we finally walked up and out of the valley, and alongside more large fields the path that would take us to West Littleton became self-evident. Although some dramatic dark clouds threatened, it didn't rain.

Beautiful fields near West Littleton

The valley approaching West Littleton

We arrived around 4:20 p.m. without seeing our host, Boo. We sat on a bench outside the house to figure out what to do, but then she arrived a few moments later with the dog she had been walking. She took us in and asked if we would like tea, and she served us tea and delicious brownies. We really enjoyed chatting with her about our walk. One of the reasons we like traditional B&Bs is being able to meet and talk with friendly hosts, and this B&B was no exception. Our room was spacious and lovely, and we basically relaxed the rest of the time in our room, eating the dinner we had brought. Ken had started reading Bill Bryson’s Down Under at the Garden House at Peasedown St. John, and he noticed it on the shelves here, so he is hoping to finish it during our two days here. Sara is reading a copy of Little Women.