At first glance the village of Frampton on Severn looks too perfect to be true. Those thatched cottages and Georgian mansions surrounding the village green, complete with its ivy-covered inn, cricket club and general store, surely must be part of a movie set, due to be taken down and packed away, once filming is done?
To really get to know Frampton, you need to walk on its wilder side.
To begin with, there are the lakes. Go up the potholed track past the sailing club, where metal halyards on the rows of beached dinghies clink forlornly in the wind. Follow the signpost across the fields, and you come to stretches of open water where grebes dive and coots call, swimming by thickly wooded islands. Here, ringed with trees, far from the crowd on the green, is a secret world of its own. Wait quietly, and you might see a cormorant fly overhead, or the sudden blue streak of a kingfisher diving from its favourite branch.
The Gloucester to Sharpness canal and its towpath form another self-contained world, a more populated one, of boats and bridge keepers, hikers and bikers. In the holiday season the Stables Cafe and the canal Heritage Centre do brisk business. The Marina and canal banks are a floating village in their own right, with narrowboats adorned with painted flowers and with quirky names: Tiger Lily, Mayflower,Wayzgoose, Pretty Penny. They sport flowerpots on their roofs, bicycles, piles of firewood. Many have dogs, or hang out washing. These are boats that look lived in.
Walk only a few hundred yards though, down the towpath in the direction of Sharpness, and again you find a different Frampton. Once away from the boats you feel the quiet descend. The canal stretches out silently before you, a gleaming silvery sheet . You meet few people here, only a walker or two, or the odd cyclist. On winter mornings you and the wildfowl have the space, and the peace, completely to yourselves.
Look to your right as you walk, and you see the marshes stretching away towards the Severn and have frequent glimpses of the mighty river itself, full of changing lights under the wide sky.
The Gloucester to Sharpness canal, opened in 1827, was originally a commercial project, undertaken to save lives and goods from the treacherous Severn. Wheat, timber, sheet iron and bricks travelled the 16 miles between Gloucester and Sharpness in barges. Now it’s a playground for summer visitors, who visit the nearby Slimbridge wildfowl reserve.
Go down to Epney or Arlingham, or Epney, only 3 miles from Frampton, and you can find footpaths that bring you closer to the Severn. There you can watch the swirling muddy currents of this tidal giant among rivers, known for its eels and salmon, but also for the ships and mariners it has drowned. Or sit at a bench on the green outside the Anchor pub at Epney and watch the river from there.
The river’s famous periodic tidal wave, the Severn Bore, is best seen from the nearby village of Stonebench.
If you're looking for a less turbulent place, the heart of Frampton village is the Green, with its pub, post office, cricket club and three heron-haunted ponds. Known for centuries as Rosamund’s Green for its associations with the Clifford ancester Jane Clifford (‘the Fair Rosamund’), mistress of Henry II, this 22-acre stretch is said to be the longest village green in England.
Sit with a drink under the majestic sycamore tree outside the Bell Inn, or saunter down to its rival establishment, the Three Horseshoes, passing the ponds on the way. If Jacqueline's Restaurant is open you can get home-cooked food and locally made jam. Look out for the tame swans waddling lazily up to the shop door to demand their regular feed.
The enthusiast for ancient buildings has plenty to look at in Frampton: the Georgian and Tudor listed buildings around the green; the pretty 14th-century church, reached by an avenue of ancient horse chestnut trees; the half-timbered Manor Farmhouse, now lived in by the Clifford family; the medieval Wool Barn; the 15th-century Tithe Barn near the church. Frampton Court, once the Cliffords’ family home, is an elegant Palladian house, designed in 1730 by John Strahan, pupil of John Vanbrugh. (Information on guided tours: 01452 740268.)
Frampton’s appeal, though, goes beyond bricks and mortar. It resides partly in the sense of life continuing unbroken in a centuries-old place where many trace their ancestry back generations. And above all it lies in the surprisingly wild beauty of the natural surroundings.
Comfortable and welcoming B & B accommodation in Frampton is available at The Tythe House,The Bell Inn, The True Heart, Wards Court, and at Frampton Court. (The True Heart is an especially eco-friendly place.)
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