A walk to The Roman Villa at Great Witcombe

Within about 2 miles of the Parish you can take a pleasant stroll to Witcombe Roman Country House as it is correctly known. The house was built in the first century and was probably always occupied until it was demolished in the fifth century.

You can see the ruins of the house and the spring that supported the building and occupation of the house.

There is a mosaic there that is within a building on the site but this is only open at certain times of year by English Heritage who own the site; their website will give you the opening dates.

Once there the views back down the valley towards Cheltenham are tremendous and you can walk further on following marked paths.

How to get there

The site is at the Birdlip end of Ermin Street. Go over the roundabout on the A46 (Past the Shell garage). 200 yards beyond this on the right is a signed single track road that is actually called “ Droys Court”, but there is no road sign saying this.

Now you can either take the car up this road, through the working farm (so please drive carefully) for about a mile to a small car park and walk the last 100+ yards to the villa. Or if you fancy a really pleasant walk you can park in a lay-by on the right hand side just past the turning up to the villa. It is uphill most of the way but the reward is that it’s downhill on the way back!