Follow me... (29 Sep 1994)
Above, Sue Chapman and Eynsham Morris at the official opening - story by David Horne.
The circular walk, described as a “leisurely half hour stroll”, starts at the Oxford Instruments [later Polar Technology] car park, off Station Road, and follows the westerly route of the old GWR railway line.
It runs alongside two fields and comes back via Chilbridge Road to re-join the village.
Eynsham Parish Council, the Eynsham Society and Oxfordshire County Council were the three funding bodies involved and Sue Chapman acted as a go-between on the project.
It has taken a lot of compromise between three landowners, the GR Blake Partnership, Oxford Instruments and the local authorities to achieve the walk, says Mrs Chapman. “Usually you have to go to litigation to achieve this sort of thing, but everyone is satisfied. Landowners have not had their privacy disturbed and the footpath is now ready to go on to the Ordnance Survey Maps,” she adds.
Previously there was a permissive path, but it was blocked because of the damage and noise inflicted by people on motor bikes. Now the circular walk has proper fences and stiles put up by a work party from the county council's countryside services.
NOTE: in 2021 Polar Technology diverted the original route away from the back of their factory site, onto a more pleasant route through the north field and re-joining the old railway line as shown on the map below (follow the dashed line from point A – E).
