OK, hold tight, as this is mightily confusing. Shotover Park is the same as Shotover Country Park, right? Wrong! Totally different places!
A little bit of history: Shotover Park, part of the larger Shotover Estate, has hosted Queen Elizabeth 1, is Grade 1 listed with English Heritage, owned by the Shotover Trust and covers 1,767 acres. It’s a fascinating history. And my goodness, the avenue. I love an avenue of trees, especially in summer, but even when the trees are bare there is still a striking grandeur. I can imagine carriages lined up, waiting to drop off Oxford high society at a banquet or the like. Oh to live in such a time!
Follow the avenue right to the end where the octagon temple is, and bear right and down, eventually passing outbuildings. Unfortunately you can’t get near enough to see the actual house but even the outbuildings are pretty impressive! Keep following the route along the path until you get to a gate and the A40, it is quite disorientating to realise where you are as you have probably often driven past this numerous times without ever seeing it. You can either follow the path around to the right, through field, back out onto Littleworth Road and up the hill to the start, known locally as ‘the loop’, or you can trace your steps back. Keep your eyes peeled around March time when the private gardens of Shotover House open for Daffodil Day – a great opportunity to nose behind closed gates at the stunning gardens.
Glorious, glorious views, pushchair friendly if you don’t veer off the off the paths and a whole part of Shotover discovered that you may have never even knew existed.
