After a night in abergavvney we are heading this May to chipping campden. We would like to be done driving by dark. Are we able to see raglan castle and also stop in Chepstow.and visit Tintern abbey? Will the scaffolding and closure of some areas at abbey prevent us from appreciating this landmark ? Then we would probably only stop at raglan ? Thanks
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
6539 posts
Chipping Campden is less than two hours from Abergavenny, depending on the route you take. The most direct route is 1.5 hours.
We spent about an hour at Raglan castle. It’s a nice castle. From it, you need to drive by Tintern Abbey to get to Chepstow. You can stop by Tintern Abbey and view any ongoing works, then decide whether it would be worth visiting. You can see a lot of the abbey without going in by walking around it and view it from the road through town. Other than the castle, there’s little to Chepstow.
If you drove the most direct route from Raglan Castle through Trelleck, to Tintern, be aware that parts of the road are very narrow.
Driving from Chepstow to Chipping Campden will take about 1hr 18min. If you need a break while driving, Tewkesbury Abbey is nice for a short visit and the town nice to walk around.
Posted by
2407 posts
I don’t bother to pay to go inside Tintern Abbey as I think it looks best from the outside with the ruin set against the backdrop of the wooded hills. The best view is from the A466 on the west side of the Abbey.
It sounds like you have decided to do Tintern on your way east rather than west. Note that a short cut exists between Raglan and Tintern but parts of the road area bit narrow. I shall refer to this Google Map.
On leaving Castle Road at Raglan - you turn L to join A40. After a very short distance come off L & then almost immediately loop around the little green island. You then have the difficult manoeuvre of crossing the busy A40 dual highway to the other side and then going into Raglan village on the south side. Go to the middle of the village and find Chepstow Road going SE.
You stay on Chepstow Road & eventually it climbs a hill where you join the B4293 near Cobbler’s Plain. Stay on this road via Devauden* until it reaches St. Arvans - where you turn hard left onto A466 for Tintern. (If you want to walk to the Eagle’s Nest viewpoint - take first left after joining A466 and use lane for about half a mile to parking area. Take zig zag path uphill through woods for about 20 minutes to find viewpoint. Note that this is a single track country lane and you may have to reverse if you meet anyone. If using such roads - make sure you can drive backwards and can see out the back window).
- In the Devauden area, you will see signposts directing you to turn off left for Tintern. Sure these are short cuts but I have driven them and they are VERY narrow so not advised.
The alternative route from Raglan to Tintern is to leave the castle - turn left onto A40 and stay on A40 to Monmouth by-pass, You then have to loop around a roundabout (after passing through traffic lights) & turn left onto A466 which will take you down the scenic Wye Valley to Tintern. This route is longer but the roads are better.
If you have time, Chepstow Castle is worth seeing but not the town - which has a one-way system. You can park right outside the castle. Whilst here, walk around the corner onto the world’s first multi span iron bridge which also marks the border between Wales & England. The A48 route from Chepstow to Gloucester is rather up & down. The alternative route to The Cotswolds is to cross the Severn bridge and use the M5 on the English side.
Do zoom down on Google Map to places like Raglan & Chepstow to see the road layout. Also look at the roads by zooming down and using Street view so that you know what to expect.