I stopped by here just as the sun was setting. I wasn’t expecting to see much, but actually it was a pretty top spot. The sun-lit ridge of Lansdown and the barrow-shaped Kelston Round Hill made up the horizon on one side. Near the barrow on this side is a stream. This leads into the River Avon, which flows close by (unseen). An overall feeling for the landscape is a bit obscured by the old railway – though it’s now a path and you’d probably get a good view from up here of the overall scene.
What made me really mad at the time was how the field containing the barrow had been divided up by horse owners, who’ve stuck their usual ‘private property keep out’ signs all over the place. I felt rather intimidated, and was sure they’d blocked off the very footpath that goes right past the barrow. However, I wasn’t feeling brave enough to get shirty with them. So I didn’t approach the barrow as I would have liked (and as would seem perfectly reasonable from the map). My 1:50,000 map seems to have the paths in a different place to the larger scale one, and I would probably go back armed with the latter next time, and before I start whinging to the council about public footpaths*.
I was annoyed at the time, but looking back I think this would be an interesting spot to return to. The barrow was quite big, unlike the usual vague bumps you get used to seeing, and its position in the landscape seems interesting.
*you can now cross the fields quite easily – so long as you don’t mind horses nibbling at you. You just have to unhook bits of fence and rehook them behind you. I’m sure it’s better than it was.