Mayhem in Minchinhampton - Minchinhampton, United Kingdom
Minchinhampton, United Kingdom
What's Minchinhampton Like?
It's a picturesque small Cotswold town with a huge common which looks like a really lovely place to take a walk. Extremely quiet in the town centre on a Sunday afternoon with every place closed except the small corner shop. It was quite sad to see how many places that used to be pubs and thriving community places have been converted to homes. There was a large pub all boarded up and closed and a large restaurant for sale with permission to convert to homes. Quite a few houses still had the pub signs hanging outside their homes, a sign of what it must have been like about thirty years ago perhaps. It does feel like this village has lost its soul and it made me feel quite sad about how these places are changing. Both Minchinhampton and Rodborough commons are Jurassic Limestone and are a central plateau with steep sides. They drop down to the valley on the west side and the Frome valley on the north side. The site designation includes the outlying areas of Iron Mills and Littleworth Commons. Lindsey Nature Reserve adjoins the western edge of Minchinhampton Common.The Common is of both geological and biological importance. There are disused quarries near the centre which provide fossil evidence for research purposes
What I know now that I have visited Minchinhampton
It was once a busy prosperous 17th century market town associated with the production of cloth, it has a market square where farmers used to come to buy and sell livestock
There were once working cloth mills located to the south in the valleys below
It's main attraction now is the very large common,(one of the largest grassland commons in the Cotswolds, a National Trust area of outstanding natural beauty) which is great for walks and golfers too, lots of dog walkers but I'm sure in the Summer months there are lots of people here
It's perfectly ok for horses and a donkey called Alfie to wander around the neighbourhood and keep the residents front lawns trimmed
The Post Office is a genuine Queen Ann building
The Cotswold Club is the only place to have a drink but closed at 3 30 on a Sunday. It was opened in 1946 and looked like a place tourists would be stared at if they went in
The Ragged Cot Inn on the outskirts on the main road is a lovely place to stop and have a drink - its set in a former 17th century coach house
On a Sunday afternoon in this town you can hear a pin drop as you walk down the deserted streets
There is a lovely walk behind a huge house, and has views of the countryside too, a lovely local lady told us about it just as we were about to turn around and head back to the high street
Part of the common was used to house a military hospital during WW2
The town feels like it has been stuck in a time warp as we wandered through admiring the very old cottages that haven't really been altered over the hundreds of years since they were built. I was quickly reassured of the fact that this has not happened as I peered through one cottage window and saw a man playing on an X Box, so some of them do live in modern times!
It is possible to debate the meaning of a road sign for half an hour and still not be too sure what it means "No parking more than 15 yds from the road" ??
Highlight of the Day
While driving around the village for the first time it became evident pretty quickly that there was nowhere to park near the centre, the roads are far too narrow for that sort of thing. We drove a bit further out and stumbled upon 4 horses and a donkey happily wandering through the streets without a care in the world, more surprising to us, without anyone with them! We followed them up the road and watched in amazement as they grazed on people's front lawns as they made their way along the road. We wondered if they escaped from somewhere or if they belonged to a travelling family but later we did some research and found out that they are allowed to wander freely in the area.
Things to Do Next Time I Visit
Walk on the common and have an ice cream
Look around what seemed to be a very large church in proportion to the size of the village - it dates back to the 12th century with a really tall spire
The Old Lodge looks like a nice place to have lunch with floor to ceiling windows in the restaurant overlooking the common - its in the middle of the common
Perhaps some fossiling in the disused quarries on the common