Distance: 7.3 miles

Difficulty of the terrain: medium

Get the route via: Ordnance Survey Maps or download the GPX. file from Dropbox

Circular walk from Oakham Railway Station, through the town centre and out into the countryside up to Cold Overton Park Hill, which at 197m above sea level is the tallest hill in Rutland England’s smallest county.

The Story

The Walk

Getting Back

The Tallest Hill in England’s Smallest County

At 197 metres above sea level, Cold Overton Park Hill’s Ordnance Survey trig point marks the highest point in England’s smallest county.

197 metres above sea level might sound relatively far from the clouds in comparison with some of the Midland’s other “county tops” like The Black Mountain in Herefordshire (703 metres above sea level), Kinder Scout in Derbyshire (636 metres above sea level) and Shropshire’s Brown Clee Hill (540 metres above sea level). But it in fact is comparable to Newtonwood Lane – Nottinghamshire’s (disputed) county top – (205 metres above sea level) and is higher than Normanby Hill Lincolnshire’s tallest peak, which stands 168 metres above sea level.

So, the geographical size of a county does not neatly correspond with the height of its tallest peak.

Cold Overton Park Hill’s eastern face is a gentle escarpment above Oakham, Rutland’s quintessentially quaint little county town. Looking in that direction you can see Rutland Water, the reservoir that lies near the small county’s heart, and out towards the flat rolling landscape of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire beyond.

To the west Cold Overton Park Hill turns into a plateau, a mini upland which crosses the county line into Leicestershire. An area once part of a medieval hunting park in common with much of Rutland and eastern parts of Leicestershire as a whole.

The Walk

Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps or download the GPX. file from Dropbox

I create the Walk Midlands routes via Ordnance Survey Maps Explorer enabling me to take them on my phone. Subscribe yourself via the banner above.

This walk to the top of Cold Overton Park Hill is a circular starting and finishing at Oakham Railway Station.

From Oakham Station exit onto the station forecourt from the eastbound platform Platform One.

Here turn right.

Having walked a short distance, there is a residential road with the spire of Oakham’s large All Saints parish church looming in distance at the bottom of it, off to the left.

Turn left here and follow the road as it runs through a residential area.

At the bottom of this road you come out onto a main thoroughfare opposite All Saints church and part of Oakham School.

To the right, at the bottom of All Saint’s churchyard on the far side of the road there is a footpath.

Cross the road and walk down this footpath.

At the bottom of the path turn right, coming out into a square next to Oakham’s Royal Mail delivery office.

Cross this square walking leftwards towards a wooden shelter – called The Butter Cross – in the middle. Take care to avoid cars and delivery vans when doing so.

In the middle of the square just beyond The Butter Cross there is a row of shops in the middle of the square. Here keep heading left walking down the row of shops.

At the bottom of the market square you come out onto a main road. Upon reaching the road use the crossing lights on the left to head to the other side.

Here turn left, and then quickly right down a road heading out of Oakham town centre.

Keep walking straight down the road until you reach a railway level crossing which you head over.

On the other side of the level crossing there is a road running off to the left through a residential area.

Turn left down this road.

Follow the road as it runs to the edge of Oakham.

You approach higher ground on the edge of the town, continuing on up the road, walking along the wide grass verge, heading uphill.

There are good views behind you back towards Oakham and Rutland Water and off to the side towards the reservoir and down as far as Cambridgeshire.

Presently you reach the top of the hill and keep on walking over to the otherside.

Continue walking downhill along the side of the road.

Near the bottom of the hill close to the River Gwash there is a junction. At the junction take the left hand arm of the road and cross the river.

Keep on the road a little further walking uphill through a patch of woodland next to a large farmhouse.

Just on the other side of the woodland on the right there is a footpath through a gate running off the road into a field.

Here turn right heading through the gate and follow the footpath walking straight ahead along the bottom of the field.

Presently, having just crossed the field line you come to a waymarking post marking a point where several footpaths join. Here, turn right and cross a footbridge over the River Gwash.

On the other side of the bridge turn left stepping out onto a green lane.

On the other side of the green lane there is a gate into a field. Once in the field walk straight across making for another waymarking post next to a stile on the far side.

Having crossed the stile, heading to the right walking towards the bottom of the field. Then turn left walking along a line of bushes above the River Gwash.

Soon you reach a stile leading into a field. Once in the field walking along the path straight ahead walking through the middle of a cluster of recently planted trees.

Continue through a gate, then head over a stile on the far side of the field, keeping on walking as you approach a small stand of trees in the distance.

Walking through these trees you enter a snicket running between houses on the edge of the village of Braunston.

Continue down this snicket as it leads out onto a driveway.

At the bottom of the driveway you are standing opposite Braunston’s grand parish church building and the village green.

Here turn right and walk straight uphill along one of the main roads through the village.

This leads to a junction with a main road.

Here turn left then walking a short distance along the pavement of the main road.

Near the edge of Braunston on the right hand side of the road there is a bridleway sign pointing off road. Cross the road here and turn right up the bridleway.

A little way up the bridleway you take a sharp turn to the left. Then keep on the path as it runs through woodland to the left.

Continuing a little further you take a sharp turn to the right then follow the wooded track uphill as it runs between fields.

Presently you emerge near the top of the hill, not far from Cold Overton Park Hill.

You reach a gate leading off the bridleway into a meadow. Once in the meadow turn left walking across the meadow slightly uphill. Walk through a wooden gate into another field heading straight across towards a tall hedgerow studded with trees on the far side.

Here a gate leads you onto another bridleway. Once stood on the bridleway, turn right and begin walking along it down a green lane until you reach a gate out onto a field.

This field is the side of Cold Overton Park Hill.

Walk straight across the field keeping close to the hedgerow at the top of the ridge line.

Off to the east the views across the lower lying country are impressive. You can see for miles out into Lincolnshire and East Anglia.

Keep walking straight ahead near the top of the ridge passing between fields. You steadily approach a radio mast, part of a relay system that takes advantage of Cold Overton Park Hill’s height.

If you keep your eyes peeled over the hedge on your left you see the trig point marking the highest part of the hill. It is on private land and not readily accessible by footpath.

Presently on the edge of a cluster of farm buildings you reach a wooden gate out onto a car park type area.

Once out of the fields walk straight ahead down a track, past the farm buildings and the radio mast towards the main road.

At the side of the main road walk straight across and head down a largely unpaved road on the far side. According to Ordnance Survey this is actually a public road. However, its surface is not well maintained and largely broken up. I did not actually see any cars or other vehicles on it at all, when I walked the route around about midday in early March 2023.

Continue on the road for quite some distance.

Presently you begin heading steadily downhill, Oakham and Rutland Water visible in the distance in front of you.

The road leads you to the edge of the large village of Barleythorpe, which has become effectively subsumed into Oakham.

Upon reaching the houses you soon come to the main road back into Oakham, not far from where the train station is.

Here, turn right and walk along the pavement beside the road.

Keep walking ahead for quite some distance, passing a playing field on the edge of Oakham proper.

Just after the playing field and a branch of Lidl there is a junction. Here turn right.

Follow this road a little way and you soon see signs for the level crossing just after Oakham Station.

This is where the walk ends.

Getting Back

Oakham is served by trains running between Birmingham and Stansted Airport (some of which stop sooner at Peterborough or Cambridge). Heading east the next station is Stamford. Whilst in the western direction Melton Mowbray, Leicester, Nuneaton and Birmingham New Street are the main stations directly served. These trains are hourly for most of the day. There is also a limited service by East Midlands Trains who run services towards Corby, Kettering, Norwich and London in the southern direction and Loughborough and Nottingham to the north. Rutland and Oakham have a limited bus service with the main destinations served outside the county being nearby major towns like Corby, Stamford, Peterborough and Melton Mowbray. Correct as of March 2023.