White Horse hill, a lovely dog walk in Oxfordshire

The Uffington White Horse stands proudly on White Horse hill in Oxfordshire. The formidable chalk figure can be seen from miles away. The place is full of history mixed with religious mythology.

The nearby Uffington Castle, an Iron Age hillfort, is the highest point in Oxfordshire, and from the viewpoint on the hill, we could see miles ahead in any direction. To the east, the small Dragon Hill is said to be where St. George slew the dragon.

Distance	Total Time	Difficulty
3.67 km	01:29	Moderate

I always wanted to visit the place and was pleased to learn on the National Trust website that they are happy to receive dogs.

Don’t forget to check the post notes at the bottom of the page, with maps, a detailed table about the hike and links to everything mentioned in the post.

The Hike

As per usual, we started our walk at the car park (Postcode: SN7 7QN). There are three gates from there to the first field. There is also a dog waste bin in the middle of the car park.

We passed the gate close to the end of the car park. A fenced picnic area where dogs are not allowed is to the right of the entrance, and there are signposts showing directions to different trails.

The gang – my wife, Gambá, Pequi and I – followed the path to the White Horse hill turning right towards the castle before we got to the horse figure.

Another dog waste bin is halfway from the car park gate to the white horse.

There were loads of sheep grazing in the area while we went up the hill, so we always kept the girls on a short leash.

We passed the highest point in Oxfordshire and continued to the castle. Then we followed the fence around the Ridgeway doing a little circular until we got to the other side of the Uffington White Horse.

From there, we started the climb down the stairs towards Dragon Hill. We crossed the narrow, paved road at the bottom of the stairs and then up to the hill.

I confess I was a bit disappointed, as I expected, not based on any fact but wishful thinking, to see the horse figure well from Dragon Hill, but that is not actually the case.

Leaving Dragon Hill, we turned right at the bottom of the stairs and continued to walk towards the B4507, in the opposite direction from the chalk horse, down the hill.

We crossed a few gates at the limit of the field by the road. There was no gate to open in the last field, instead, there were steps to climb over the fence and a clever doggy gate installed next to it. Very considerate! Gambá passed it quite quickly without much worry, but Pequi had a harder time accepting that she needed to pass under the small gap :).

From there, we went up the hill back to the car park through the edge of the field, calling the attention of the sheep grazing or resting around. This hill was perhaps the most challenging section and the only reason I ranked this walk as moderate difficulty.

When planning the hike, we considered walking the longer trail suggested on the National Trust website but ended up doing a shorter route. To be fair, this walk gets a little steep when returning to the car park the way we did.

It was a great hike, with lovely views across many counties. The girls were very excited with the sheep around them. 

Cheers,

Ademar