I went walking on Cleeve Hill the other day and thought how lucky I am to live in the Cotswolds. Roel Gate is about three miles south of Winchcombe my nearest town. I went to Birdlip Primary school and danced around the maypole every Spring - they still do it! 
Roel Gate
I love to walk the secret ways of prehistoric man,
Where scratched across the Cotswold hills the ancient
trackways ran.
The cattle ways,the salt ways, the lonely pilgrims ride
To the hinterland of England from silver Severnside.
I wonder if these ancient folk had time to stand and stare,
Saw beauty in the rolling hills and loved the upland air:
Gazed over English plains to watch the morning rise,
Or lingered long on Birdlip Hill to gaze at sunset skies.
Perhaps they made these upland ways with nothing more in mind
Than to escape the hazards of the plains they left behind.
But glad I am they ran them on skylines lifted high
Where we may walk on quiet hills beneath a Cotswold sky.
And best of all,the ancient way that climbs by Salters Hill
To ride a world of sky and wind where time is standing still.
Here by the lonely Roel Gate where fields fade into sky,
Here on the roof of Cotswold I touch eternity.
- Arthur Dalby.
A spectacular setting. The reflections of the poet on ancient times are so stirring.