Ten Boxing Day walks near Cheltenham, from Cleeve Common and Leckhampton Hill to Pittville Park, with parking, cafes and a pub serving on the day. Updated November 2026.
Cheltenham has ten Boxing Day walks worth getting out of the house for in 2026, and this guide puts them in one place with distances, parking, cafes and a pub serving on the day. Most people head up to Cleeve Common or Leckhampton Hill for the view back over the town, both free and a short drive or a long walk from the centre. Crickley Hill has a cafe and toilets by the car park, and Pittville Park and the Honeybourne Line need no car at all. Every place was checked against its owner’s own website on 13 November 2026.
Overview
Boxing Day 2026 is a Saturday, and the bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December. What to know before you set out:
- Light. The sun sets just after 4pm, so start the hill walks by 1pm. Crickley Hill’s gates are locked to cars at 6pm.
- Free or paid. Every walk here is free. Crickley Hill charges £2.50 to park all day, and the Sherborne estate charges non-members of the National Trust £4.
- Mud and livestock. The escarpment paths at Cleeve, Leckhampton and Crickley are limestone and get slippery in winter. Cattle graze Cleeve Common and Crickley Hill through the winter, so keep dogs close.
- Fog. The Cleeve Common Trust says the common is best avoided in fog or low cloud, when even regular visitors get lost on the open top.
Hill walks near Cheltenham
1. Cleeve Common
Gloucestershire’s largest common, more than 400 hectares of open limestone grassland on the hill above Bishop’s Cleeve and Southam, often named as the highest ground in the Cotswolds. The Cotswold Way crosses it, and the trust that manages it publishes the Cleeve Hill Common Ring, a six-mile circuit with a four-mile short cut, starting and finishing at the Quarry car park by the golf club.
The trust says sheep normally come off the common in November, but cattle stay on through the winter, in paddocks or roaming, so dogs must be kept under close control. Flynn’s on the Hill, the restaurant at the Cleeve Hill golf clubhouse, is open to the public and lets dogs into the bar; ring for its Christmas hours.
Price free
Parking Quarry car park by the Cleeve Hill golf club entrance; parking anywhere else inside the common's boundary is an offence
Cafe Flynn's on the Hill at the golf clubhouse, 01242 672025
Access open access land on foot; steep scarp, open and exposed on top
Website cleevecommon.org.uk/visiting
Listing Our listing
Good for views, Cotswold Way, a six or four-mile circuit, dogs under close control
2. Leckhampton Hill and the Devil’s Chimney
The hill you can see from most of south Cheltenham, owned and managed by Cheltenham Borough Council with the neighbouring Charlton Kings Common. It rises to 293 metres, with views across Cheltenham and the Severn Vale to the Welsh hills, and the council lists an Iron Age hillfort, a long barrow and the kilns, quarries and old tramways of the limestone industry.
Part of it became the Cheltenham Escarpment National Nature Reserve on 4 June 2026. The Devil’s Chimney, the quarrymen’s rock stack below the summit, is a short detour off the Cotswold Way.
The council also marks a three-kilometre route suitable for wheelchairs.
Price free
Parking Daisybank Road off Leckhampton Road (nearest the Devil's Chimney), and Hartley Lane near the top of the hill
Access three-kilometre route suitable for wheelchairs; other paths steep and loose
Website cheltenham.gov.uk/communities-and-leisure/parks-and-open-spaces/nature-reserves/leckhampton-hill-and-charlton-kings-common
Good for views over the town, the Devil's Chimney, Iron Age hillfort, quarry history
3. Crickley Hill
A spur of the Cotswold escarpment off the A417, owned jointly by the National Trust and Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, with views to Robinswood Hill, May Hill and the Brecon Beacons. The National Trust says there is evidence of people on the hill going back to 4,000 BC, and the beech woods of the Scrubbs were planted in the 18th century.
It is the best-equipped of the hill walks, with a visitor centre, cafe and toilets by the car park and an accessible circular trail, laid in 2019, that suits all-terrain pushchairs and wheelchairs. Belted Galloway cattle graze from September to March, and dogs go on a lead near them.
The Wildlife Trust closed its cafes only on Christmas Day in 2024 and has not yet published its 2026 hours.
Open 6am to 6pm on Boxing Day and Christmas Day; the gate is locked to cars at 6pm
Price free entry
Parking £2.50 all day, paid at the end of your visit by card, cash, phone or RingGo (car park 4852); National Trust and Wildlife Trust members are not exempt
Toilets yes, including an accessible toilet and baby changing
Cafe yes; 2026 Christmas hours not yet published
Access accessible circular trail for all-terrain pushchairs and wheelchairs; blue badge bays in the top car park
Address Crickley Hill, near Birdlip, GL4 8JY
Website gloucestershirewildlifetrust.co.uk/nature-reserves/crickley-hill
Good for cafe and toilets, accessible trail, Cotswold Way, dogs on a lead near cattle
4. Lineover Wood, Dowdeswell
A Woodland Trust wood of about 50 hectares on the slope above Dowdeswell Reservoir, five miles south-east of town off the A40. Two-thirds of it is ancient woodland, with old beech trees among the oak, lime and ash, and the Trust says it was first recorded around AD 800 as part of the Dowdeswell estate.
The Cotswold Way crosses it, and higher up the paths open out on to limestone grassland with views back over Cheltenham to the Malvern Hills. There are 2.4 kilometres of public paths and 4.5 kilometres of permissive ones.
The car park is small, so come early or walk in on the Cotswold Way, which enters from the south.
Price free
Parking 12 spaces in the north car park off the A40, opposite the reservoir
Toilets none; the nearest are in Cheltenham
Access woodland paths, steep in places
Website woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/woods/lineover-wood
Good for ancient beech woodland, views to the Malverns, Cotswold Way, a quieter hill than Cleeve
Walks in Cheltenham’s parks
5. Pittville Park
Cheltenham’s biggest park, split in two by Evesham Road. The eastern side sits below the Pittville Pump Room and has the main play area and the aviaries; the larger western side has the lower lake and patches of woodland, with a second play area.
The council lists three places for a drink, the Kiosk in the play area, the Central Cross Cafe and the Boathouse, though none has published Christmas hours yet. The toilets by the play area, including a Changing Places toilet, are normally open in the daytime.
It holds a Green Flag award.
Price free
Parking car park on site
Toilets by the play area, normally open in the daytime; Changing Places toilet
Cafe the Kiosk, Central Cross Cafe and the Boathouse; Christmas hours not published
Access accessible paths
Address between Pittville Lawn and Tommy Taylor's Lane, Cheltenham
Website cheltenham.gov.uk/communities-and-leisure/parks-and-open-spaces/parks-and-open-spaces-directory
Good for lakes, aviaries, play areas, no car needed
6. The Honeybourne Line
The old railway through the north of town, now a walking and cycling path and a nature reserve. It runs from Queen’s Road, opposite Cheltenham Spa station, to the Prince of Wales Stadium in Pittville, with a branch towards the town centre along the River Chelt, so you can walk from the station to Pittville Park and back without getting in the car.
The council says it is a wildlife corridor with a colony of small blue butterflies, and a two-kilometre running route is marked from Queen’s Road bridge. It is surfaced and shared with cyclists.
There are play areas at each end but no toilets.
Price free
Toilets none on the line; use Pittville Park's
Access surfaced path shared with cyclists
Address Queen's Road entrance opposite Cheltenham Spa station, GL50 2NH; northern end by the Prince of Wales Stadium, GL50 4BY
Website cheltenham.gov.uk/communities-and-leisure/parks-and-open-spaces/parks-and-open-spaces-directory
Good for no car needed, pushchairs, links to Pittville Park, a walk that stays firm underfoot
7. Sandford Park
The park at the bottom of the High Street, and the shortest walk here: a meander along the River Chelt past the cascade pools, the fountain, the Italian Gardens with their sunken pool and the Annecy Gardens, named after Cheltenham’s twin town. The council says a kingfisher is sometimes seen on the river.
Across College Road the recreational side, next to Sandford Lido, has a large play area and toilets. Dogs must be on a lead on the ornamental side nearest Bath Road and the High Street.
It suits a gentle stroll for anyone who has had their fill of hills.
Price free
Toilets on the recreational side, next to the lido
Cafe Park Cafe; Christmas hours not published
Address corner of Bath Road and the High Street, Cheltenham
Website cheltenham.gov.uk/communities-and-leisure/parks-and-open-spaces/parks-and-open-spaces-directory
Good for short walk, River Chelt, play area, no car needed
A short drive from Cheltenham
8. Sherborne Park Estate, near Aldsworth
A working National Trust estate off the A40 east of Northleach, about 20 miles from Cheltenham, with fallow and roe deer in the parkland. Three waymarked walks start from Ewe Pen Barn: the Short Woodland Stroll, the Family Fun Walk and the Historic Farmland Hike, with a sculpture trail around the old pleasure grounds.
The 18th-century water meadows, where the Trust says otters and water voles live, have their own car park at Northfield Barn. The estate is open from dawn to dusk on Boxing Day and Christmas Day.
Lodge Park, the 17th-century deer-coursing grandstand on the estate, is shut for the winter.
Open dawn to dusk every day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day included
Price free
Parking Ewe Pen Barn and Northfield Barn car parks; non-members £1.50 for an hour or £4 all day; National Trust members free by scanning their card
Call 01451 844130
Address Sherborne Park Estate, Aldsworth, GL54 3DT
Website nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/gloucestershire-cotswolds/lodge-park-and-sherborne-park-estate
Good for three waymarked walks, deer, water meadows, sculpture trail
9. Haresfield Beacon and Standish Wood
The National Trust’s three spurs of the escarpment above Haresfield, near Stroud, about 15 miles south-west of Cheltenham. The Trust describes views across the Severn estuary to the Forest of Dean and the Brecon Beacons from the hill fort on the beacon, with long and round barrows and a cross dyke more than 3,000 years old.
The Cotswold Way runs right through the estate, and Shortwood has beech trees more than 200 years old. It is open from dawn to dusk on Boxing Day.
Open dawn to dusk every day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day included
Price free
Access open hilltop and woodland tracks, steep in places
Address near Whiteshill, Stroud, GL6 6PP
Website nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/gloucestershire-cotswolds/haresfield-beacon-and-standish-wood
Good for views over the Severn, hill fort, Cotswold Way, beech woods
Cheltenham walks with a pub
10. The Rising Sun Hotel, Cleeve Hill
The Cotswold stone Greene King pub and hotel perched on Cleeve Hill, next to the common, which makes it the obvious stop after the Common Ring. Its Boxing Day 2026 page says it is serving a Boxing Day menu of three courses for £52 or two for £45.50, and takes a £5 deposit per adult and per child when you book.
The bar is dog-friendly. The pub warns that it is built over several levels reached only by stairs.
Price Boxing Day menu, 3 courses £52, 2 courses £45.50
Booking £5 deposit per adult and per child
Address Cleeve Hill, Cheltenham, GL52 3PX
Website greeneking.co.uk/pubs/gloucestershire/rising-sun-hotel/christmas/boxing-day
Good for after Cleeve Common, dogs in the bar, Boxing Day menu, car park
How we chose
These are the walks people in Cheltenham search for and the places that open on 26 December, taken from the National Trust’s opening calendars, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, the Cleeve Common Trust, the Woodland Trust and Cheltenham Borough Council’s park pages, with a pub that publishes its Boxing Day menu. No organised Boxing Day walk had been announced in Cheltenham by mid-November; we will add one if it is. For more ideas, see things to do in Cheltenham, what’s on in Cheltenham this month, the Christmas Day parkrun, Christmas dinner in Cheltenham, New Year’s Eve in Cheltenham and the Cheltenham business directory.
Run a place that should be here, or spot something that has changed? Email newsdesk@cheltenhamjournal.co.uk. Taken a good photograph of any of these places? Email it to newsdesk@cheltenhamjournal.co.uk and we will add it with your name as the credit.
Frequently asked questions
Which National Trust places near Cheltenham are open on Boxing Day 2026?
Crickley Hill is open from 6am to 6pm on Boxing Day and Christmas Day, and the Sherborne Park Estate near Aldsworth and Haresfield Beacon near Stroud are open from dawn to dusk on both days. Lodge Park, the grandstand on the Sherborne estate, is shut for the winter.
Where can I walk the dog near Cheltenham on Boxing Day?
Cleeve Common, Leckhampton Hill, Lineover Wood and Crickley Hill all take dogs. On Cleeve Common the sheep are normally off by late November, but cattle stay on the common through the winter, and at Crickley Hill dogs go on a lead where the Belted Galloway cattle are grazing. In Sandford Park dogs must be on a lead on the ornamental side nearest the High Street.
Is there a pub open on Boxing Day near a Cheltenham walk?
The Rising Sun Hotel, on Cleeve Hill above the common, is serving a Boxing Day menu at £52 for three courses or £45.50 for two, with a £5 deposit per person when you book. Its bar is dog-friendly.
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