I’ve visited the Minster Lovell Hall ruins a number of times with my kids from the early days of having just one in a sling and going for a walk with my husband to more recently with them all running around.
An English Heritage site, the old manor house ruins date back to the 1440’s and is free to visit. There’s no shelter so best to visit on a dry day. There are a couple of information boards giving the history and they’re pleasant to wander around.
The Minster Lovell ruins have a beautiful setting right next to the River Windrush. My most recent visit today was a scorching 30 something degrees and I’d heard from friends that it was a good spot for a paddle in the river. It was lovely and cool in the shade of the trees and we had fun splashing around in the river.
It’s lovely and grassy around the Minster Lovell ruins with plenty of lovely spots for a picnic on a sunny day. Just remember your picnic blanket!
Minster Lovell Swimming
If you fancy a bit of wild swimming or paddling, here are my top tips from today’s visit. When I arrived there kids swimming around and swinging out from a rope swing into the water and the water seemed quite deep to get into. One of the other Mums there let me know that it’s much shallower by the tree. If you go then you’ll see what I mean by the tree. There’s one that grows out from the edge that smaller kids can sit on and slide down to get closer to the water before getting in. The water then only came up to just below the knee of my 7 year old son. So perfect for his age but a little deep for my toddler without me holding on to him. If your back is to the ruins then over to the right the water is deep enough to swim. The Wild Swimming website reckons it’s about 1m.
Minster Lovell Ruins Parking
There’s not parking at the ruins and it’s recommended on the English Heritage site to park at St Kenelm’s Church which is slightly confusing as there’s not a car park right at the church. Once you get close to Minster Lovell, you’ll pick up the brown signs to the Minster Lovell Hall ruins and St Kenelm’s Church. This takes you down towards the Minster Lovell Swan hotel where I’ve had a lovely Sunday lunch in the past. Turn right when you see the hotel and past the most gorgeous Cotswold houses. Further along this road (about a minute) you’ll see a sign saying that it’s single track only with no passing place and you’ll see a handful of marked car parking space. to your right. This is the best place to park if you can and then you walk a few minutes on from there to the church and through the church yard to the ruins. You can take a right where the car parking spaces are and might find a space on the road outside the church if you’re lucky but there’s not space to turn around and I always hate reversing along a windy road with kids in the back making all kinds of noise!
