Chipping Norton School parkrun

Chris Jeanes
9 minutes ago
6 min read

Wanting to complete my 'Pirates' challenge (Seven Cs and an R), I headed over to Chipping Norton School for my 74th parkrun course, it's an historic coaching town in the Cotswolds and is a lovely place to spend the morning after you have had your parkrun fix. I met up with fellow Redway Runners and parkrun tourists Luke and Karen, who had also not done this parkrun yet. This is a long established parkrun and they were on event 193 on the morning of our visit on the 10th of May 2025. This was another parkrun with great parking and toilets open before the parkrun, which I was very relieved to find open on my arrival after the fairly lengthy drive from Milton Keynes. The route is two cross country laps on mostly grass and flat for the most part, but with some inclines toward the end of each lap on a trail section. It was warm and sunny on the morning of our visit, so we were fine in road shoes, but you would probably want some trail or hybrid shoes if you were coming in winter.

[I first visited this parkrun on 10th May 2025]

parkrunners in front of Chipping Norton School sign — It was a lovely morning, I was a bit warm in sleeves!

Bit of History

Chipping Norton School is a mixed Secondary school & sixth form with over 1000 students and dates back to 1928 so is nearly 100 years old. The town itself is an historic market town and indeed the word "Chipping" is derived from the Old English word cēping meaning "market". There is the remains of a Motte and Bailey castle on top of the hill and the parish church of St Mary's is located on the hill next to the castle. The settlement of Chipping Norton itself was built at the bottom of the hill and was important in the Wool industry in medieval times, and there was also a very grand looking Woollen Mill built in much later times (completed in 1872) which is still standing today in the outskirts of the town, and worth taking a quick look at if your drive home happens to take you past it. The town centre is also worth a visit, with many historic buildings including the Town Hall built in 1842. In modern times it is a very pleasant place to shop or enjoy a coffee in one of the many coffee shops.

Chipping Norton Town Hall — The Stunning Town Hall

Briefings

The briefings started with a very friendly First Timers and Visitors briefing, where we were welcomed to Chipping Norton School parkrun, not to be confused with Chipping Norton parkrun in New South Wales. Tourists this morning from Leicester, Abingdon, St Albans and Milton Keynes, and no one admitting to being totally new to parkrun this morning. There was then a very good description of the course (which I will go into shortly in the course notes section), after the course description we were asked if any of us are going to Diddy Squat farm later (which is quite nearby). I believe Jeremy Clarkson may live in Chipping Norton. Either way I personally don't fancy the very long queues to line Mr Clarkson's pockets, but each to their own. The main brief started by asking any of the early finishers if they would like to barcode scan as they were a few volunteers short this morning. In addition to the tourist locations mentioned on the visitor brief there were also visitors from Nottingham and Sheffield, plus a shout out for someone running their 50th parkrun. There was also a reminder that on the lane following the cut-through to be respectful to other pedestrians. Then the usual parkrun messages such as Under 11s to stay within arms length at all times, first aid kit at the finish and a round of applause for all the volunteers, then a reminder to ensure tokens are all handed in at the finish. And then one final ask which is that if you are visiting the leisure centre after the run for the toilets to please wipe your feet before entering, and then without further ado we were set off.

First Timer and Visitor Briefing — First Timer and Tourist Briefing

Course Description

It is one of those courses that looks more complicated than it actually is, it's actually fairly straightforward. essentially a 2 and a bit lap course taking in some playing fields and a wooded section. On Lap 1 you do a complete Anti-Clockwise lap of the school playing fields, this section is entirely on grass, and you will basically be keeping the tree line on your right, keeping to the outer circumference of the school grounds the whole way round and doing a complete curcuit of the school grounds you will soon come back to the start. Passing the start you start lap 2 the same as Lap 1, but on the second lap, you are diverted right onto a short cut-through and then take a left turn onto a tarmaced lane where you need to keep right because of runners coming the other way, follow this lane until you reach a marshal who will direct you right and downhill through a wooded section which is shaped a bit like an hourglass, here you complete an anti-clockwise lap of the woods and at the neck of the hourglass you will see runners coming the other way although you don't actually cross over, you will then come back up the hill going past the neck of the hourglass again and then back up to the lane keeping right once again, once you get back to the fields you turn right and complete another lap of the school grounds, you then do the lane and wooded section a final time before finishing on the far side of the grounds from where you started.

Map of Chipping Norton School parkrun course — Anti-Clockwise Lap of the grounds, turn onto the cutthrough along the lane around the woods back to the fields, same again and then finish.

Difficulty

On a dry day in summer this is going to be a fairly easy 2 out of 5, mainly because of the running on grass as opposed to tarmac for the most part, although you will be absolutely fine in road shoes unless it has been raining. However I suspect this course would get very muddy in winter where you would definatly want Trail shoes or Hybrids and the difficulty would increase as a result. I finished around mid 25 minutes here, so slightly slower than my average pace at other parkruns this year. I think this is largely due to running on grass as well as the hill in the woods.

parkrunners under trees next to a running track painted on the grass playing fields — This is your running surface for a good two thirds of each lap, the remainder is a tarmac path and a trail path through the woods.

Elevation

With 44m of elevation this is not a flat course, but it is also not too hilly either rather mildly undulating, the main climb each lap is coming back up through the wooded section. It is a somewhat tough climb but it is fairly short and sharp and the rest of the lap is fairly flat.

Parking, Facilities and Coffee

Ample free parking on site at the school and the toilets at the leisure centre at the road end of the car park are available to parkrunners both before and after the parkrun (but please wipe your feet if they are muddy). There is no designated cafe for this parkrun but there are lots of coffee shops on the high street. We ended up at the Old Mill, which does an excellent line in breakfast baps and cakes and does an excellent flat white or cappuchino.

parkrunners eating breakfast at the Old Mill on a picnic bench outside — Outdoors in the sun in the back yard of the Old Mill Cafe and Bistro

Other Points of Interest

If you have the time it is well worth taking a stroll along the high street to look at all the old buildings and shops you may even see a vintage car or two, it really is a very attractive town and well worth a look if you don't have to dash home. If you are so inclined you could also take a trip to Diddly Squat Farm Shop which is only a couple of miles south of the town.

Vintage cars parked in the High Street with the Town Hall in the background — Lovely vintage Jag on the High Street

Summary

It really was a glorious morning on our trip to Chipping Norton, and such a great location for a parkrun. The course itself was interesting and varied and it helped that it was such a lovely morning. It also had a very friendly and welcoming core team, plenty of free parking and toilets available to parkrunners with plenty of coffee shops to visit in the High Street. I can throughly recommend a visit here. Hopefully you will have glorious weather like we had! I'll definately try to come back here when I have completed my quest of linking my Milton Keynes parkrun cluster with my Taunton parkrun cluster.