Читать книгу The Cotswold Way. NATIONAL TRAIL Two-way trail guide - Chipping Campden to Bath онлайн

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The path leads to a kissing gate, through which you then turn left along the edge of the escarpment with views extending across the Vale of Evesham – the first of many fine panoramas to be enjoyed along the Cotswold Way. Some seats have been placed here, to make the most of the view, and one of these is found by a topograph marking Dover’s Hill. From here it is said that on a clear day you can see 60 miles (96km) across the Worcestershire Plain towards Wales. Nearby, in the corner of the meadow by a gate leading into a car park, there’s a memorial stone dedicated to Captain Robert Dover.

Owned by the National Trust, at 755ft (230m) Dover’s Hill is one of many fine vantage points along the Cotswold escarpment. It was named after Captain Robert Dover (1582–1652), a wealthy and somewhat eccentric lawyer who organised his first ‘Olympick Games’ there in 1612. The games included leapfrog, wrestling, skittles and ‘shin-kicking’, and apart from an interruption during the Civil War, the games continued annually until 1852. Dover’s Olympics were revived in 1951, and now take place each spring bank holiday.