I understand that due to an internal dispute within the landowners family 'Sandfords' [the opening hill on the Cotswold Clouds] may be lost forever. If this is true then it will be a sad loss.
Perhaps someone who knows the full story can post it here.
I believe the hill has been in use since the 1930's - can one of you historians detail the history of the hill?
Murray
This is the first I've heard about the possible demise of Sandfords, but I'll contact the Stroud 'gravevine' at the weekend. Sandfords was indeed used PreWar, under the name Sandfords Knoll, along with a number of other tracks onto the same escarpment that are now disused for a variety of reasons. I'll check my files at the weekend and provide the Community with any other historical information that I have.If the demise of Sandfords is true, it highlights the continuing problem that we have with finding and keeping suitable sections, particularly if these are not established rights-of-way with statutory vehicular access. We are trying to run the route of the Stroud Anniversary Trial exclusively over County Roads, partly to minimise our extensive PR obligations and partly because we believe that's where classic trials should run. But finding new Cotswold sections that are sufficiently challenging to modern trials cars is not easy. But that's worthy of a whole new discussion!Andrew
ReplyDeleteAn update - Yes, I'm afraid it's true, Sandfords has gone for the foreseeable future for reasons too complicated/confidential to explain. Stroud are looking for a suitable replacement so expect some changes to next year's Cotswold Clouds.Andrew
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