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WINDSOR CASTLE, BERKSHIRE
About sixty miles northwest of London, the small university city of Oxford is one of England’s great urban set pieces, presenting as impressive a collection of Gothic, Classical and Revival architecture as anywhere in Europe. Oxford anchors a diverse swathe of terrain reaching across central southern England, straddling the Chiltern Hills, a picturesque band of chalk uplands on the fringes of the capital. Close to the M25 motorway, this is commuter country, but further out a rural spirit survives from England’s pre-industrial past, felt most tangibly in the Cotswolds, rolling hills between Oxford and Cheltenham that encompass some of the country’s most celebrated landscapes and photogenic villages.
Covering much of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, the picture-postcard Cotswolds region sports old churches and handsome stone mansions, with scenic drives galore and plenty of walking opportunities, not least on the long-distance Cotswolds Way. Highlights include the engaging market town of Chipping Campden, the delightful village of Northleach and bustling Cirencester. Within striking distance of Oxford are handsome Woodstock, a little town that lies alongside one of England’s most imposing country homes, Blenheim Palace, and further south, Henley-on-Thames, an attractive spot on the river famous for its regatta. To the west lies Cheltenham, an appealing Regency spa town famous for its horse-racing, that serves as a base for visits to Gloucester and its magnificent cathedral. Bordering south Oxfordshire, Berkshire has the royal residence of Windsor Castle as its focus, but can also offer a fine gallery in the Thames-side village of Cookham. Striking west from the Chilterns across the North Wessex Downs is the 85-mile-long Ridgeway, a prehistoric track – and now a national trail with a string of prehistoric sites, most notably the gigantic chalk horse that gives the Vale of White Horse its name.
GETTING AROUND OXFORDSHIRE, THE COTSWOLDS and AROUND
By train Mainline services from London Paddington serve Reading, Oxford, Cheltenham and Gloucester, also stopping at Cotswolds villages including Kingham, Moreton-in-Marsh and Kemble. There are also fast trains from London Marylebone, Birmingham, Reading and Southampton to Oxford, and from Birmingham and Bristol to Cheltenham.
By bus Long-distance buses stick mostly to the motorways, providing an efficient service to the larger towns, but local services between the villages are patchy, or nonexistent.
By car The Cotswolds are enclosed by the M5, M4 and M40, which, along with the M1 and A1(M) to the east, provide easy access.
When visitors think of OXFORD, they almost always imagine its university, revered as one of the world’s great academic institutions, inhabiting honey-coloured stone buildings set around ivy-clad quadrangles. The image is accurate enough, but although the university dominates central Oxford both physically and spiritually, the wider city has an entirely different character, its economy built chiefly on the factories of Cowley, south of the centre. It was here that Britain’s first mass-produced cars were made in the 1920s and, although there have been more downs than ups in recent years, the plants are still vitally important to the area. Oxford should be high on anyone’s itinerary, and can keep you occupied for several days. The colleges include some of England’s finest architecture, and the city also has some excellent museums and a good range of bars and restaurants.
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RADCLIFFE CAMERA, OXFORD
Oxford One of Britain’s most captivating cities, with dozens of historic colleges, memorable museums and an enjoyably lively undergraduate atmosphere.
Windsor Castle The oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world – still an important ceremonial residence of the Queen – in the Berkshire countryside near London.
Chipping Campden Perfectly preserved medieval wool town, with honey-coloured houses lining its historic main street.
Cirencester Self-styled “Capital of the Cotswolds”, with a bustling marketplace overlooked by the superb Gothic church of St John the Baptist.
Festivals in Cheltenham Alongside its fixtures on the British horse racing calendar, the upmarket spa town of Cheltenham also boasts lively festivals dedicated to folk, jazz, classical music, literature and science.
Gloucester Cathedral The earliest – and one of the finest – examples of English Perpendicular architecture, topped by a magnificent tower.
HIGHLIGHTS ARE MARKED ON THE MAP
St Aldates, OX1 1DP • Mon–Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 2–5pm; last entry 4.15pm • July & Aug £9, rest of year £7–8; discounts apply if you visit at times when the hall and/or cathedral are closed • 
01865 276492, 
www.chch.ox.ac.uk
Stretching along the east side of St Aldates is the main facade of Christ Church College, whose distinctive Tom Tower was added by Christopher Wren in 1681 to house the weighty “Great Tom” bell. The tower lords it over the main entrance of what is Oxford’s largest and arguably most prestigious college, but visitors have to enter from the south, a signed five-minute walk away – just beyond the tiny War Memorial Garden and at the top of Christ Church Meadow. Don’t be surprised if you have to queue to get in. This is the most touristy of all the Oxford Colleges, particularly popular thanks to its Harry Potter connections: many scenes from the films were shot here, while a studio recreation of the college’s hall provided the set of Hogwarts’ Great Hall.
From the entrance it’s a few steps to the striking Tom Quad, the largest quad in Oxford – so large in fact that the Royalists penned up their mobile larder of cattle here during the Civil War. Guarded by Tom Tower, the quad’s soft, honey-coloured stone makes a harmonious whole, but it was actually built in two main phases, with the southern side dating back to Wolsey, and the north finally finished in the 1660s. A wide stone staircase in the southeast corner beneath a stupendous fan-vaulted ceiling leads up to the Hall, the grandest refectory in Oxford, with its fanciful hammer-beam roof and a set of stern portraits of past scholars by a roll call of famous artists, including Reynolds, Gainsborough and Millais. As well as Albert Einstein, William Gladstone and no fewer than twelve other British prime ministers were educated here.
OXFORD’S COLLEGES
So where, exactly, is Oxford University? Everywhere – and nowhere. The university itself is nothing more than an administrative body, setting examinations and awarding degrees. Although it has its own offices (on Wellington Square), they are of no particular interest. What draws all the attention are the university’s constituent colleges – 38 of them (plus another six religious foundations known as Permanent Private Halls), most occupying historic buildings scattered throughout the city centre. It is these that hold the 800-year-old history of the university, and exemplify its spirit.
The origins of the university are obscure, but it seems that the reputation of Henry I, the so-called “Scholar King”, helped attract students in the early twelfth century. The first colleges, founded mostly by rich bishops, were essentially ecclesiastical institutions and this was reflected in collegiate rules and regulations – until 1877 lecturers were not allowed to marry, and women were not granted degrees until 1920.
There are common architectural features among the colleges, with the students’ rooms and most of the communal areas – chapels, halls (dining rooms) and libraries – arranged around quadrangles (quads). Each, however, has its own character and often a label, whether it’s the richest (St John’s), most left-wing (Wadham) or most public-school-dominated (Christ Church). Collegiate rivalries are long established, usually revolving around sports, and tension between the city and the university – “Town” and “Gown” – has existed as long as the university itself.
All the more popular colleges have restricted opening hours – and may close totally during academic functions. Most now also impose an admission charge, while some (such as University and Queens) are out of bounds to outsiders. Regardless of published rules, it’s always worth asking at the porter’s lodge, at the main entrance of each college: porters have ultimate discretion and if you ask they may let you look around. One nice way to gain access is to attend choral evensong, held during term time and offering the chance to enjoy superb music in historic surroundings for free. New College choir is generally reckoned to be the best, but Queen’s College and Merton are also good. Some colleges also rent out student rooms in the holidays.
Christ Church’s college chapel is otherwise known as Oxford Cathedral. The Anglo-Saxons built a church on this site in the seventh century as part of the priory of St Frideswide (Oxford’s patron saint), although the present building dates mainly from 1120–80. The priory was suppressed in 1524, but the church survived. It’s unusually discordant, with all sorts of bits and bobs from different periods, but fascinating all the same. The dominant features are the sturdy circular columns and rounded arches of the Normans, but there are also early Gothic pointed arches, and the chancel ceiling is a particularly fine example of fifteenth-century stone vaulting.
June Mon & Wed–Sat 10.30am–5pm, Sun 2–5pm; July–Sept Mon–Sat 10.30am–5pm, Sun 2–5pm; Oct–May Mon & Wed–Sat 10.30am–1pm & 2–4.30pm, Sun 2–4.30pm • £4, or £2 with a Christ Church admission ticket • Tours Mon 2.30pm • Free with admission • 01865 276172, www.chch.ox.ac.uk/gallery
Hidden away in Christ Church’s pocket-sized Canterbury Quad is the college’s Picture Gallery. The extensive collection comprises around three hundred paintings and two thousand drawings, with fine works by artists from Italy and the Netherlands including paintings by Tintoretto, Van Dyck and Frans Hals and drawings by da Vinci, Dürer, Raphael and Michelangelo.
Christ Church Meadow fills in the tapering gap between the rivers Cherwell and Thames. If you decide to delay visiting Christ Church College, you can take a stroll east along Broad Walk for the Cherwell, or keep going straight down tree-lined (and more appealing) New Walk for the Thames.
Merton St, OX1 4JD • Mon–Fri 2–5pm, Sat & Sun 10am–5pm • £3 • 01865 276310, www.merton.ox.ac.uk
Merton College is historically the city’s most important. Balliol and University colleges may have been founded earlier, but it was Merton – opened in 1264 – which set the model for colleges in both Oxford and Cambridge, being the first to gather its students and tutors together in one place. Furthermore, unlike the other two, Merton retains some of its original medieval buildings, with the best of the thirteenth-century architecture clustered around Mob Quad, a charming courtyard with mullioned windows and Gothic doorways to the right of the Front Quad. From the Mob Quad, an archway leads through to the Chapel, dating from 1290, inside which you’ll find the funerary plaque of Thomas Bodley, founder of Oxford’s famous Bodleian Library.
High St, OX1 4AU • Daily: July & Aug 10am–7pm; Sept noon–7pm; Oct–June 1–6pm or dusk • £6 • 01865 276000, www.magd.ox.ac.uk
At the east end of the High Street stands Magdalen College (pronounced “maudlin”), whose gaggle of stone buildings is overshadowed by its chunky medieval bell tower. Steer right from the entrance and you reach the chapel, which has a handsome reredos, though you have to admire it through the windows of an ungainly stone screen. The adjacent cloisters are adorned by standing figures, some biblical and others folkloric, most notably a tribe of grotesques. Magdalen also boasts better grounds than most other colleges, with a bridge – at the back of the cloisters – spanning the River Cherwell to join Addison’s Walk. You can hire punts from beneath Magdalen Bridge, beside the college.
TAKING TO THE WATER
Punting is a favourite summer pastime among both students and visitors, but handling a punt – a flat-bottomed boat ideal for the shallow waters of the Thames and Cherwell rivers – requires practice. The punt is propelled and steered with a long pole, which beginners inevitably get stuck in riverbed mud: if this happens, let go of it and paddle back, or you may be dragged overboard.
There are two central boat rental places: Magdalen Bridge Boathouse (01865 202643, oxfordpunting.co.uk), beside the Cherwell at the east end of the High Street; and Salter’s Steamers (01865 243421, salterssteamers.co.uk) at Folly Bridge, south of Christ Church. Opening times vary: call for details, or arrive early (around 10am) to avoid the queues which build up on sunny summer afternoons. At either, expect to pay £20–22 per hour plus a deposit of about £50; ID is required. Punts can take a maximum of five or six people, including the person punting.
Salter’s Steamers also runs passenger boats downstream along the Thames from Folly Bridge, including to Iffley Lock (April–Oct 7 daily; 40min return; £8). Oxford River Cruises (01865 987147, oxfordrivercruises.com) also run short cruises from Folly Bridge, including upstream as far as Godstow on Port Meadow (April–Oct 2 daily; 2hr 30min; £29).
Rose Lane, OX1 4AZ • March, April, Sept & Oct Mon noon–5pm, Tues–Sun 9am–5pm; May Mon noon–6pm, Tues–Sun 9am–6pm; June–Aug daily 9am–6pm; Nov–Feb Mon noon–4pm, Tues–Sun 9am–4pm • £5 • www.botanic-garden.ox.ac.uk
Bounded by a curve of the River Cherwell, Oxford’s Botanic Garden is the oldest of its kind in England, established in 1621. Still enclosed by its original high wall, it comprises several different zones, from a lily pond, a bog garden and a rock garden through to borders of bearded irises and variegated plants. There are also six large glasshouses containing tropical and carnivorous species.
New College Lane, OX1 3BN • Daily: Easter–Oct 11am–5pm, rest of year 2–4pm • Easter–Oct £4, rest of year free • 01865 279555, new.ox.ac.uk
Founded in 1379, New College is entered via the large but rather plain Front Quad. On the left side of the quad rises the magnificent Perpendicular chapel, arguably the finest in Oxford. The ante-chapel contains some superb fourteenth-century stained glass and the west window – of 1778 – holds an intriguing Nativity scene based on a design by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Beneath it stands the wonderful 1951 sculpture Lazarus by Jacob Epstein. Immediately past the chapel lies the college’s peaceful cloisters.
An archway on the east side of the Front Quad leads through to the modest Garden Quad, with the thick flowerbeds of the College Garden beckoning beyond. The north side of the garden is flanked by the largest and best-preserved section of Oxford’s medieval city wall. The conspicuous earthen mound in the middle is a later decorative addition, not medieval.
Spanning New College Lane a few paces off Catte Street is the iconic Bridge of Sighs, an archway completed in 1914 to link two Hertford College buildings. In truth it bears little resemblance to its Venetian namesake, but it does haves a certain Italianate elegance. It was designed, so the story goes, to give residents of Hertford’s older buildings a way to reach the newfangled flushing toilets across the road without having to venture outdoors.
Broad St, OX1 3BG • Closed to the public; some rooms accessible on tours • 01865 287400, www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
Christopher Wren’s pupil Nicholas Hawksmoor designed the Clarendon Building, a domineering, solidly symmetrical edifice at the east end of Broad Street, completed in 1713. It now forms part of the Bodleian Library. Founded by scholar Sir Thomas Bodley in 1602, the Bodleian is the UK’s largest library after the British Library in London, with an estimated 117 miles of shelving. It includes the Modernist 1930s Weston Library (formerly known as the New Bodleian) directly opposite the Clarendon, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and linked to the main building by tunnels. As one of the UK and Ireland’s six copyright libraries, the Bodleian must find room for a copy of every book, pamphlet, magazine and newspaper published in Britain.
Mon–Fri 9am–5pm, Sat 9am–4.30pm, Sun 11am–5pm • Free
Behind the Clarendon Building you enter the Bodleian’s beautifully proportioned Old Schools Quadrangle, completed in 1619 in an ornate Jacobean-Gothic style and offering access to all of the university’s academic faculties, or schools: the name of each is lettered in gold above the doorways which ring the quad. On the east side rises the handsome Tower of the Five Orders, its tiers of columns in ascending order Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite.
Mon–Sat 9am–5pm, Sun 11am–5pm • £1 • Tours available (see below)
Entered from the quad, the Divinity School is a highlight. Begun in 1424, this exceptional room is a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture, featuring an extravagant vaulted ceiling adorned with a riot of pendants and 455 decorative bosses. Built to house the university’s theology faculty, it was, until the nineteenth century, also where degree candidates were questioned about their subject by two interlocutors, with a professor acting as umpire. Few interiors in Oxford are as impressive.
Broad St, OX1 3AZ • Jan & Dec Mon–Sat 10am–3pm; Feb–April & Oct–Nov Mon–Sat 10am–4.30pm; May–Sept daily 10am–4.30pm • £3.50 • www.admin.ox.ac.uk/sheldonian
At the east end of Broad Street, the Sheldonian Theatre is ringed by railings topped with a line of glum-looking, pop-eyed classical busts. The Sheldonian was Christopher Wren’s first major work, a reworking of the Theatre of Marcellus in Rome, semicircular at the back and rectangular at the front. It was conceived in 1663, when the 31-year-old Wren’s main job was as professor of astronomy. Designed as a stage for university ceremonies, nowadays it also functions as a concert hall, but the interior lacks much sense of drama, and even the views from the cupola are disappointing.
TOURS OF BODLEIAN LIBRARY
An audioguide is available for self-guided tours of the Bodleian Library quad and Divinity School (40min; £2.50) – or there’s a host of guided tours around those few areas of the Bodleian open to the public. It’s always advisable to book in advance with the tours office (Mon–Sat 9am–4pm, Sun 11am–4pm; 01865 287400, www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk), located inside the Great Gate on Catte Street. Tours also cover atmospheric Duke Humfrey’s Library and sometimes Convocation House, which aren’t otherwise accessible to the public.
Mini tour 30min; £6. Divinity School and Duke Humfrey’s Library. Mon–Sat 3.30pm, 4pm & 4.40pm, Sun 12.45pm, 2.15pm, 2.45pm, 3.15pm, 4pm & 4.40pm.
Standard tour 1hr; £8. Divinity School, Duke Humfrey’s Library, Convocation House. Mon–Sat 10.30am, 11.30am, 1pm & 2pm, Sun 11.30am, 2pm & 3pm.
Extended tour “Upstairs Downstairs” 1hr 30min; £14. Divinity School, Duke Humfrey’s Library, Convocation House, Gladstone Link, Radcliffe Camera. Wed & Sat 9.15am.
Extended tour “Reading Rooms” 1hr 30min; £14. Divinity School, Duke Humfrey’s Library, Convocation House, Upper Reading Room. Sun 11.15am & 1.15pm.
Broad St, OX1 3AZ • Tues–Sun noon–5pm • Free • www.mhs.ox.ac.uk
The classical heads that shield the Sheldonian Theatre continue along the front of the fascinating Museum of the History of Science, whose two floors display an amazing clutter of antique microscopes and astrolabes, sundials, quadrants and sextants. The highlights are Elizabeth I’s own astrolabe and a blackboard used by Einstein in 1931, still covered with his scribbled equations.
Broad St, OX1 3BH • Daily 10am–noon & 2–6pm • £3 • 01865 279900, www.trinity.ox.ac.uk
Trinity College is fronted by three dinky lodge-cottages. Behind them the manicured lawn of the Front Quad stretches back to the richly decorated chapel, awash with Baroque stuccowork. Its high altar is flanked by an exquisite example of the work of Grinling Gibbons – a distinctive performance, with cherubs’ heads peering out from delicate foliage. Behind the chapel stands Durham Quad, an attractive ensemble of old stone buildings begun at the end of the seventeenth century.
Radcliffe Sq, OX1 3BG • Closed to the public; accessible only on Bodleian Library’s extended tour • 01865 287400, www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
The mighty rotunda of the Radcliffe Camera, built between 1737 and 1748 by James Gibbs, architect of London’s St Martin-in-the-Fields church, displays no false modesty. Dr John Radcliffe, royal physician (to William III), was, according to a contemporary diarist, “very ambitious of glory”: when he died in 1714 he bequeathed a mountain of money for the construction of a library. Gibbs was one of the few British architects of the period to have been trained in Rome and his design is thoroughly Italian in style, its limestone columns ascending to a delicate balustrade, which is decorated with pinprick urns and encircles a lead-sheathed dome. Taken over by the Bodleian Library in 1860, it now houses a reading room.
High St, OX1 4AL • Mon–Fri 2–4pm; closed Aug • Free • 01865 279379, www.asc.ox.ac.uk
Running the entire east side of Radcliffe Square, its immense chapel windows the epitome of the Perpendicular Gothic style, All Souls College is one of the quietest places in central Oxford – because it has no undergraduates. Uniquely, it admits only “fellows” (that is, distinguished scholars) either by election of existing fellows, or by an exam reputed to be the hardest in the world. The result is that All Souls is generally silent. Sightseers gather at the elaborate gates on Radcliffe Square, wondering how to gain access to the lovely quad beyond: turn right and walk around the corner onto High Street to reach the college entrance. This gives onto the modest Front Quad, location of the spectacular fifteenth-century chapel, with its gilded hammer-beam roof and neck-cricking reredos (though all its figures are Victorian replacements). Move through to the spacious North Quad, the object of all that admiration: Hawksmoor’s soaring Gothic twin towers face the Radcliffe Square gates, while ahead, the Codrington Library – also Hawksmoor – sports a conspicuous, brightly decorated sundial designed by Wren.
High St, OX1 4BJ • Mon–Sat 9am–5pm, Sun noon–5pm (July & Aug until 6pm) • Free; tower £4 • 01865 279111, universitychurch.ox.ac.uk
Mostly dating from the fifteenth century, St Mary the Virgin is a hotchpotch of architectural styles. The church’s saving graces are its elaborate, thirteenth-century pinnacled spire and its distinctive Baroque porch, flanked by chunky corkscrewed pillars. The interior is disappointingly mundane, though the carved poppy heads on the choir stalls are of some historical interest: the tips were brusquely squared off when a platform was installed here in 1555 to stage the heresy trial of Cranmer, Latimer and Ridley, leading Protestants who had run foul of Queen Mary. The church’s other diversion is the tower, with wonderful views.
High St, OX1 3DZ • Mon–Sat 8am–5pm, Sun 10am–4pm • oxford-coveredmarket.co.uk
For refreshment on the hoof – as well as a fascinating glimpse into the life of Oxford away from the colleges – drop into the Covered Market, wedged between High and Market streets. Opened in 1774, it remains full of atmosphere, home to butchers, bakers, fishmongers, greengrocers and cheese sellers, plus cafés, clothes boutiques and shoe shops.
Carfax, OX1 1ET • Daily: March 10am–4pm; April–Oct 10am–4.30pm; Nov–Feb 10am–3pm • £3
The busy Carfax crossroads is a fulcrum, where chiefly “gown” architecture along the High Street to the east is balanced by the distinctly “town” atmosphere of Cornmarket and Queen Street to the west. This has been a crossroads for more than a thousand years: roads met here in Saxon times, and the name “Carfax” derives from the Latin quadrifurcus (“four-forked”). The junction is overlooked by a square thirteenth-century tower, adorned by a pair of clocktower jacks. You can climb it for wide views over the centre, though other vantage points – principally St Mary’s (see above) – have the edge.
Cornmarket, OX1 3EY • Daily: April–Oct 10.30am–5pm; Nov–March 10.30am–4pm • Free; tower £2.50 • 01865 240940, www.smng.org.uk
North of Carfax is Cornmarket, now a busy pedestrianized shopping strip lined with familiar high-street stores. There’s precious little here to fire the imagination until you reach St Michael-at-the-Northgate, a church recorded in the Domesday Book, with a late fourteenth-century font where Shakespeare’s godson was baptized in 1606. The church’s Saxon tower, built in 1050, is Oxford’s oldest surviving building; enter for rooftop views and to see an eleventh-century sheela-na-gig.
Beaumont St, OX1 2PH • Tues–Sun 10am–5pm • Free • 01865 278000, www.ashmolean.org
Second only to the British Museum in London, the Ashmolean Museum occupies a mammoth Neoclassical building on the corner of Beaumont Street and St Giles. It grew from the collections of the magpie-like John Tradescant, gardener to Charles I and an energetic traveller, and today it possesses a vast and far-reaching collection covering everything from Minoan vases to Stradivarius violins.
Light and airy modern galleries cover four floors (pick up a plan at reception). The “orientation” gallery in the basement provides a thematic overview of the museum, while the ground floor houses the museum’s “ancient world” exhibits, including its superb Egyptology collection and an imposing room full of Greek sculptures. Floor 1 is dedicated to Mediterranean, Indian and Islamic artefacts (Hindu bronzes, Iranian pottery and so on) while floor 2 is mainly European, including the museum’s wide-ranging collection of Dutch, Flemish and Italian paintings. Floor 3 focuses on European art since 1800, including works by Sickert, Pissarro and the Pre-Raphaelites.
FIRST FOR COFFEE
East of St Mary’s church, two cafés face each other across the High Street, both claiming to be England’s oldest coffee house. To the south, the Grand Café occupies the site of a coffee house opened by a Lebanese Jew named Jacob in or just after 1650. Opposite, the Queen’s Lane Coffee House stands where a Syrian Jew named Cirques Jobson launched a competing enterprise at roughly the same time. Whichever was first, Oxford’s gentlefolk were drinking coffee – and also hot chocolate – several years ahead of London.
Parks Rd, OX1 3PW • Daily 10am–5pm • Free • 01865 272950, www.oum.ox.ac.uk
From the Ashmolean, it’s a brief walk north up St Giles to the Lamb & Flag pub, beside which an alley cuts east through to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. The building, constructed under the guidance of John Ruskin, looks like a cross between a railway station and a church – and the same applies inside, where a High Victorian-Gothic fusion of cast iron and glass features soaring columns and capitals decorated with animal and plant motifs. Exhibits include some impressive dinosaur skeletons, models of exotic beasties, a four-billion-year-old meteorite, and so on.
Parks Rd, OX1 3PP • Mon noon–4.30pm, Tues–Sun 10am–4.30pm; tours (20min) Tues & Wed 2.30pm & 3.15pm; object handling Sat 11am–1pm • Free • 01865 270927, www.prm.ox.ac.uk
Oxford’s eye-popping Pitt Rivers Museum is housed in the same building as the University Museum of Natural History, accessed via a door at the rear of the ground-floor level. Founded in 1884, this is one of the world’s finest ethnographic museums and an extraordinary relic of the Victorian age, arranged like an exotic junk shop with each intricately crammed cabinet labelled meticulously by hand. The exhibits – brought to England by, among others, Captain Cook – range from totem poles and mummified crocodiles to African fetishes and gruesome shrunken heads. Set aside an hour or two to roam the dark corners of this three-storey wonder: look out especially for the brilliant puppets on level 1 and blood-curdling swords and knuckle-dusters on level 2.
30 Pembroke St, OX1 1BP • Tues–Sat 10am–5pm, Sun noon–5pm • Free • 01865 722733, www.modernartoxford.org.uk
Just south of Carfax, narrow Pembroke Street heads west to the outstanding Modern Art Oxford gallery, founded in 1965 and hosting an excellent programme of temporary exhibitions. It’s worth stopping by, whatever happens to be showing.
New Rd, OX1 1AY • Tours daily 10am–5pm, every 20min; last tour starts 4.20pm; 1hr • £10.95; discounted joint tickets with other attractions available, see website • 01865 260666, oxfordcastleunlocked.co.uk
West of Carfax is the site of what was Oxford Castle, built in 1071. Oxford Castle Unlocked offers memorable guided tours, during which costumed warders lead you up the Saxon-era St George’s Tower, show you medieval prison cells and take you down into the Romanesque crypt beneath St George’s Chapel, telling tales of wars, executions and hauntings along the way.
Arrival AND DEPARTURE oxford
By train Oxford station is on the west side of the city centre, a 10min walk along Hythe Bridge St. It’s served by direct trains from around the country, including London Paddington and – slightly slower but often cheaper – London Marylebone.
Destinations Bath (2 hourly; 1hr 20min–1hr 40min); Birmingham (2 hourly; 1hr 10min); Bristol (hourly; 1hr 40min); Cheltenham (every 30min; 2hr–2hr 15min); Gloucester (every 30min; 1hr 40min–2hr 20min); London (2–3 hourly; 1hr); Winchester (2 hourly; 1hr 10min–1hr 30min); Worcester (2 hourly; 1hr 15min–1hr 35min).
By bus Most buses are operated by Oxford Bus (01865 785400, oxfordbus.co.uk) and Stagecoach (01865 772250, stagecoachbus.com). Long-distance routes terminate at Gloucester Green bus station, in the city centre adjoining George St. Most county buses terminate on Magdalen St, St Giles or St Aldates – the #853 service (Mon–Sat 2–4 daily, Sun daily) covers Burford (45min), Northleach (1hr) and Cheltenham (1hr 30min).
Destinations (from Gloucester Green) London Victoria coach station (Oxford Tube and X90 express coaches daily every 10–30min; 1hr 40min); Heathrow Airport (Airline coach daily every 20–30min; 1hr 30min); Gatwick Airport (Airline coach daily hourly; 2hr).
By car Five big park-and-ride sites (parkandride.oxfordbus.co.uk) are signposted around the ring road. All offer cheap parking (around £2/day) as well as frequent buses into the centre (usually every 8–15min: Mon–Sat 6am–11pm, Sun 8am–7pm; £2.80 return). Central Oxford is not car-friendly: many streets are pedestrianized and parking is limited. The largest car park is at the Westgate shopping mall, accessed off Thames St (£28 for up to 24hr).
On foot From the rail station to Magdalen Bridge it’s roughly a mile and a quarter, and you pass almost everything of interest on the way.
By bike Bainton Bikes at Walton Street Cycles, 78 Walton St (01865 311610, baintonbikes.com) rents bikes from £10/day.
By taxi There are taxi ranks at Carfax, Gloucester Green, St Giles and the railway station. Otherwise, call Radio Taxis (01865 242424, radiotaxisoxford.co.uk).
Tourist office 15 Broad Street (July & Aug Mon–Sat 9am–5.30pm, Sun 9.30am–4pm; rest of year Mon–Sat 9.30am–5pm, Sun 10am–3.30pm; 01865 686430, experienceoxfordshire.org). Staff also sell discounted tickets for a range of nearby attractions, including Blenheim Palace, as well as tickets for coaches to London.
Listings information Daily Info (dailyinfo.co.uk) is the continually updated online version of Oxford’s student news sheet. You’ll spot the twice-weekly paper version (Tues & Fri) pinned up in colleges and cafés around town.
Guided tours The tourist office offers excellent guided walking tours of the city centre (daily 10.45am & 2pm, plus extra slots if there’s sufficient demand; 2hr; £14). Many guides tout for business along Broad St, offering daytime walks and evening ghost tours. A literary walk starts from Carfax Tower (Wed 2pm; 1hr 30min; £15; oxfordwalkingtours.com).
As well as the places listed below, another good source of accommodation is the university. Outside term time, many colleges let out rooms on a B&B basis at often bargain rates. Expect little or no hotel-style service, but you are free to soak up the college ambience and may score a view over a historic quad. For more information, visit oxfordrooms.co.uk.
Bath Place4 Bath Place, OX1 3SU 01865 791812, bathplace.co.uk; map. This unusual hotel is tucked away down an old cobbled courtyard flanked by ancient buildings in an unbeatable central location. The sixteen creaky rooms are each individually decorated in attractive antique style with canopied beds and bare stone walls. £135
MalmaisonOxford Castle, 3 New Rd, OX1 1AY 01865 268400, malmaison.com/locations/oxford; map. Classy designer hotel in what was a Victorian prison, part of the Oxford Castle complex. Rooms – which take up three cells, knocked through – are nothing short of glamorous, featuring contemporary bathrooms and high-tech gadgets. Head through to C wing for the bigger, mezzanine suites. £173
Old Bank92 High St, OX1 4BJ 01865 799599, oldbank-hotel.co.uk; map. Great location for a slick hotel in a shiny conversion of an old bank. All 42 bedrooms are decorated in crisp, modern style, some with great views over All Souls College opposite. £209
Old Parsonage1 Banbury Rd, OX2 6NN 01865 310210, oldparsonage-hotel.co.uk; map. This lovely, centrally located hotel occupies a charming, wisteria-clad building from 1660, with 35 tasteful, modern rooms. Free parking, and free walking tours for guests on request. £195
The Randolph1 Beaumont St, OX1 2LN 0344 879 9132, randolph-hotel.com; map. Oxford’s most famous hotel, long the favoured choice of the well-heeled visitor, occupies a neo-Gothic brick building with a distinctive, nineteenth-century interior. It’s now part of the Macdonald chain, still with traditional service, well-appointed bedrooms and a distinguished club atmosphere. £151
Buttery 11 Broad St, OX1 3AP 01865 811950, thebutteryhotel.co.uk; map. This friendly sixteen-room guesthouse/hotel has a slap-bang central location, and modest rooms, plain but decent. Choose a back room to avoid the noise of carousing students. £125
Richmond 25 Walton Crescent, OX1 2JG 01865 311777, the-richmond-oxford.co.uk; map. Quiet B&B attached to the excellent Al-Shami Lebanese restaurant. Rooms are simple but prices are low – and you can opt for a delicious Lebanese breakfast (hummus, olives, white cheese, pitta bread etc). £85
Tower House 15 Ship St, OX1 3DA 01865 246828, towerhouseoxford.co.uk; map. This lovely guesthouse in a 300-year-old building overlooks Jesus College. The eight doubles (five en suite) sport fresh, modern decor. Breakfast is at the affiliated Turl Street Kitchen next door. Profits support local charities. £115
Central Backpackers13 Park End St, OX1 1HH 01865 242288, centralbackpackers.co.uk; map. Independent hostel with fifty beds (including female-only dorms), 24-hour access and a friendly attitude. On a busy street: expect noise from nearby bars. Dorms £22
Oxford Backpackers9a Hythe Bridge St, OX1 2EW 01865 721761, hostels.co.uk; map. Independent hostel with 120 beds in bright, modern dorms (including female-only) and 24-hour access – but just a touch scruffy. Dorms £15
YHA Oxford2a Botley Rd, OX2 0AB 0345 371 9131, yha.org.uk/hostel/oxford; map. Located in a modern block behind the train station, this popular YHA hostel has 187 beds in four- and six-bedded dorms, plus nine doubles, some en suite. There’s 24-hour access, with good facilities and a decent café. Dorms £18, doubles £49
With so many students and tourists, Oxford has a wide choice of places to eat. Lunchtimes tend to be very busy, though there’s no shortage of options. The restaurant scene ranges from fine dining to more affordable outlets offering seasonal cooking. The best choice lies on the edge of the centre, along Walton Street and Little Clarendon Street in easygoing Jericho, or southeast on the grungier Cowley Road, buzzing with after-work lounge bars.
Ben’s Cookies 108 Covered Market, OX1 3DZ 01865 247407, benscookies.com; map. This hole in the wall – the first outlet in a now-global chain – has been churning out the best cookies in Oxford, perhaps England (and some say the world) since 1984, from ginger to peanut butter to triple chocolate chunk. Mon–Sat 9.15am–5.30pm, Sun 10am–4pm.
Missing Bean 14 Turl St, OX1 3DQ 01865 794886, www.themissingbean.co.uk; map. Plate-glass windows look out onto this pleasant old street, as conversation swirls and Oxford’s finest coffee – or so they say – goes down. Mon–Fri 8am–6pm, Sat 9am–6.30pm, Sun 10am–5.30pm.
News Café1 Ship St, OX1 3DA 01865 242317; map. Breakfasts, bagels and daily specials, plus beer and wine, in this brisk and efficient café. Plenty of local and international newspapers are on hand too. Mon–Thurs & Sun 9am–5pm, Fri & Sat 9am–6pm.
Vaults & Garden Radcliffe Sq, OX1 4AH 01865 279112, thevaultsandgarden.com; map. In atmospheric stone-vaulted chambers attached to St Mary’s church, this busy café serves up good-quality organic, local wholefood, plus coffee and cake. The small terrace gazes up at the Radcliffe Camera. Cash only. Daily 8am–6pm.
Branca111 Walton St, OX2 6AJ 01865 556111, branca.co.uk; map. Large, buzzy bar-brasserie dishing up well-prepared Italian food, from simple pastas, pizzas and risottos through to more elaborate meat and fish mains (£11–18). Mon–Wed & Sun 10am–10pm, Thurs–Sat 10am–10.30pm.
Chiang Mai Kitchen130a High St, OX1 4DH 01865 202233, chiangmaikitchen.co.uk; map. An authentically spicy blast of Thai cooking in a homely little timber-framed medieval building tucked down an alleyway off the High St. All the traditional classics are done well, and there’s a good vegetarian selection. Mains around £8–10. Mon–Sat noon–10.30pm, Sun noon–10pm.
Edamame15 Holywell St, OX1 3SA 01865 246916, edamame.co.uk; map. Voted one of the best Japanese restaurants in Britain, this tiny canteen-style place enjoys a flawless reputation. No bookings are taken, so you may have to queue (and then share a table). Tuck into ramen noodles with pork, chicken or tofu, for instance, or salmon teriyaki. There’s plenty for vegetarians. Thurs is sushi night. Mains £6–11; cards not accepted at lunchtime. Wed 11.30am–2.30pm, Thurs–Sat 11.30am–2.30pm & 5–8.30pm, Sun noon–3.30pm.
Gee’s61 Banbury Rd, OX2 6PE 01865 553540, gees-restaurant.co.uk; map. Formal restaurant occupying chic Victorian conservatory premises. The inventive menu takes in British seasonal dishes such as asparagus and locally reared spring lamb, alongside steaks, fish dishes and more continental cuisine – crab linguine, bouillabaisse, burrata. Mains £15–26; two-course express menu (Mon–Fri noon–6pm) £13.50. Book ahead. Daily 10am–10.30pm.
Pieminister 56 Covered Market, OX1 3DX 01865 241613, pieminister.co.uk; map. Your nose will lead you to this pie shop inside the Covered Market. The wide choice includes deerstalker pie (venison and red wine), moo pie (beef and ale), heidi pie (goats’ cheese and spinach), and so on, all accompanied by mashed potato, gravy and minty peas, for just £7.50. Gluten-free options, too. Mon–Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 11am–4pm.
Pierre Victoire 9 Little Clarendon St, OX1 2HP 01865 316616, pierrevictoire.co.uk; map. Much-loved French bistro in a buzzy little Jericho street behind St Giles. The two-course lunch menu (Mon–Sat only) is a steal: £11.50 for great cooking – trout fillet, coq au vin, stuffed peppers – warm service and pleasant ambience. Or go for the dinner menu of steak frites, mussels, duck breast or calves’ liver (mains £12–19). Two-course pre-theatre menu £12.50 (6–7pm; not Sat). Mon–Sat noon–2.30pm & 6–11pm, Sun noon–10pm.
Turl Street Kitchen 16 Turl St, OX1 3DH 01865 264171, turlstreetkitchen.co.uk; map. Much-loved hideaway on a charming backstreet, one of Oxford’s top spots for a quiet battery-recharge over coffee and cake. Food is seasonal and hearty – parsnip soup, braised free-range chicken with chickpeas, fennel and wild garlic gratin – served in a cosy setting of sofas and grained wood. Mains £8–15. All profits support local charities. Mon–Thurs & Sun 8am–midnight, Fri & Sat 8am–1am.
The Bear 6 Alfred St, OX1 4EH 01865 728164, bearoxford.co.uk; map. Tucked away down a narrow side street, this tiny old pub (the oldest in Oxford, founded roughly 800 years ago) offers a wide range of beers and quirkily traditional decor, which includes a collection of ties. Mon–Thurs 11am–11pm, Fri & Sat 11am–midnight, Sun 11.30am–10.30pm.
Café Tarifa 56 Cowley Rd, OX4 1JB 01865 256091, cafe-tarifa.co.uk; map. Atmospheric lounge bar decked out in Arabian style, with cocktails and cushions, also hosting a variety of generally chilled live music and DJ nights and cult movie screenings. Mon–Thurs 10am–midnight, Fri 10am–12.30am, Sat 10am–1am, Sun 10am–11pm.
Eagle & Child 49 St Giles, OX1 3LU 01865 302925, nicholsonspubs.co.uk; map. Dubbed the “Bird & Baby”, this was once the haunt of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. The beer is still good and the old wood-panelled rooms at the front are great, but the pub is no longer independently owned – and feels a bit corporate. Mon–Sat 11am–11pm, Sun noon–11pm.
Lamb & Flag 12 St Giles, OX1 3JS 01865 515787; map. Generations of university types have relished this quiet old tavern, owned by St John’s College, which comes with low-beamed ceilings and cramped but cosy rooms in which to enjoy hand-drawn ale and genuine pork scratchings. Cash only. Mon–Sat noon–11pm, Sun noon–10.30pm.
Raoul’s 32 Walton St, OX2 6AA 01865 553732, raoulsbar.com; map. Famed Jericho cocktail bar, with a retro Seventies theme, great tunes and a devoted clientele. Navigate the mammoth menu of cocktails to choose a fave or three. Mon, Tues & Sun 4pm–midnight, Wed–Sat 4pm–1am.
Turf Tavern 4 Bath Place, OX1 3SU 01865 243235, turftavern-oxford.co.uk; map. Small, atmospheric medieval pub, reached via a narrow passageway off Holywell St, with a fine range of beers, and mulled wine in winter. Daily 11am–11pm.
The Bullingdon 162 Cowley Rd, OX4 1UE 01865 434998, thebullingdon.co.uk; map. Popular East Oxford venue for comedy, live music and DJ nights, from punk to grime. The cheap drinks for students pull in a predictable crowd, but the atmosphere rarely disappoints.Mon–Thurs & Sun noon–1am, Fri & Sat noon–3am.
Wheatsheaf 129 High St, OX1 4DF 01865 721156, facebook.com/wheatsheaf.oxford; map. Cramped music pub in a great central location, mainly showcasing local indie and punk bands. Also hosts the Spin Jazz Club (Thurs from 8.30pm; spinjazz.net).Mon–Wed & Sun noon–11pm, Thurs–Sat noon–midnight.
Holywell Music Room 32 Holywell St, OX1 3SD 01865 766266, www.music.ox.ac.uk. This small, plain, Georgian building was opened in 1748 as the first public music hall in England. It offers a varied programme, from straight classical to experimental, with occasional bouts of jazz. Popular Sun morning “coffee concerts” (coffeeconcerts.com) run year-round.
Sheldonian Theatre Broad St, OX1 3AZ 01865 277299, www.admin.ox.ac.uk/sheldonian. Seventeenth-century edifice that is Oxford’s top concert hall, despite rather dodgy acoustics, with the Oxford Philomusica symphony orchestra in residence (oxfordphil.com).
Albion Beatnik Bookstore 34 Walton St, OX2 6AA 07737 876213, albionbeatnik.co.uk; map. Quirky independent bookshop in Jericho that focuses on twentieth-century literature (and jazz). Also has a good secondhand selection, lots of readings and events, and plenty of tea. Mon & Tues 3–8pm, Wed–Fri 1–8pm, Sat 11am–7pm; also Sun 3–6pm in university term time.
Alice’s Shop 83 St Aldates, OX1 1RA 01865 723793, aliceinwonderlandshop.com; map. Tiny Victorian shop that featured in Lewis Carroll’s “Through The Looking Glass” – staffed by a sheep – that is now a mini-emporium of all things Alice: books, souvenirs, toys, ornaments, home furnishings and more. July & Aug daily 9.30am–6.30pm; Sept–June Mon–Fri & Sun 10.30am–5pm, Sat 10am–6pm.
Antiques On High 85 High St, OX1 4BG 01865 251075, antiquesonhigh.co.uk; map. A group of outlets for antiques, prints, books and vintage fashion, as well as an affiliated gallery selling contemporary pieces by the Oxfordshire Craft Guild and Oxford Art Society. Mon–Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 11am–5pm.
Blackwell 48 Broad St, OX1 3BQ 01865 792792, blackwell.co.uk; map. Oxford’s leading university bookshop, a behemoth of a place that seems to extend for miles, above and below ground, stocking huge general ranges as well as academic titles. Mon–Sat 9am–6.30pm, Sun 11am–5pm.
Gloucester Green markets Gloucester Green, OX1 2BN lsdpromotions.com/oxford; map. This city-centre square hosts vibrant open-air food and craft markets: great for browsing and some of the city’s best street food on Sat. Food Wed 9am–4pm; food, antiques & crafts Thurs 9am–4pm; food, arts & textiles Sat 10am–5pm; farmers’ market 1st & 3rd Thurs of month 9am–3pm.
Oxford Cheese Company 17 Covered Market, OX1 3DZ 01865 721420, oxfordcheese.co.uk; map. Fantastically aromatic deli in the Covered Market. The perfect place to pick up all sorts of delicious nibbles, including their very own creation: Oxford Blue soft cheese, mellow, creamy and delicious. Mon–Sat 9am–5pm.
From Oxford, a short journey west brings you into the Cotswolds; your first stop could be Burford or Moreton-in-Marsh – but make time, on the way, for the charming little town of Woodstock and its imperious country-house neighbour Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Winston Churchill. South of Oxford you’ll find the pleasantly old-fashioned riverside haunt of Henley-on-Thames and open walking country around the Vale of White Horse. plus genteel Windsor and Cookham further afield.
WOODSTOCK, eight miles northwest of Oxford, has royal links going back to Saxon times, with a string of kings attracted by its excellent hunting. The Royalists used Woodstock as a base during the Civil War but, after their defeat, Cromwell never got round to destroying the town or its manor house: the latter was ultimately given to the Duke of Marlborough in 1704, who razed it to build Blenheim Palace. Long dependent on royal and then ducal patronage, Woodstock is now both a well-heeled commuter town for Oxford and a base for visitors to Blenheim. It is also an extremely pretty little place, its handsome stone buildings gathered around the main square, at the junction of Market and High streets.
Park St, OX20 1SN • Tues–Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 2–5pm • Free • 01993 814106, www.tomocc.org.uk
In an eighteenth-century house in the centre of Woodstock, the rather good Oxfordshire Museum offers an engaging take on the county’s archeology, social history and industry. Its café overlooks the rear garden, which shelters original megalosaurus footprints, recovered from a local quarry and displayed i a Jurassic garden of ferns, pines and redwoods.
ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION woodstock
By bus #S3 for Oxford (every 20min; 30min) and Chipping Norton (hourly; 20min); #500 for Oxford Parkway station (every 30min; 20min); #233 for Burford (Mon–Sat hourly; 55min).
Websites wakeuptowoodstock.com and www.oxfordshirecotswolds.org.
The BearPark St, OX20 1SZ 01993 811124, bearhotelwoodstock.co.uk. Behind the ivy-clad walls of this thirteenth-century coaching inn lurks a stylish, modern chain hotel – oak-carved four-poster, roaring log fires and all. Grab a table by the bay window for upscale, country-house food: Gressingham duck, Scottish beef and the like. Two-course menu £32. Mon–Thurs noon–2.30pm & 7–9.30pm, Fri & Sat noon–2.30pm & 7–10pm, Sun noon–2.30pm & 7–9pm. £110
King’s ArmsMarket St, OX20 1SU 01993 813636, www.kingshotelwoodstock.co.uk. Chic little hotel, with fifteen contemporary-styled rooms. The fine restaurant (mains £12–17) specializes in Modern British cuisine – leg of lamb or local goats’ cheese salad. The bar/restaurant can remain busy until after 11pm: if you want an early night, choose a room at the back. Mon–Fri noon–2.30pm & 6.30–9.30pm, Sat & Sun noon–9pm.£110
Woodstock, OX20 1PS • Daily: palace & gardens 10.30am–5.30pm; park 9am–6.30pm or dusk • Palace, park and gardens £24.90; park and gardens £15.30 • 01993 810530, blenheimpalace.com
In 1704, as thanks for his victory over the French at the Battle of Blenheim, Queen Anne gave John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722), the royal estate of Woodstock, along with the promise of enough cash to build himself a gargantuan palace. Work started on Blenheim Palace with Sir John Vanbrugh, who was also responsible for Castle Howard in Yorkshire, as principal architect. However, the duke’s formidable wife, Sarah Jennings, who had wanted Christopher Wren, was soon at loggerheads with Vanbrugh, while Queen Anne had second thoughts, stifling the flow of money. Construction halted and the house was only finished after the duke’s death at the instigation of his widow, who ended up paying most of the bills and designing much of the interior herself. The result is England’s grandest example of Baroque civic architecture, an Italianate palace of finely worked yellow stone that is more a monument than a house – just as Vanbrugh intended.
The interior of the house is stuffed with paintings and tapestries, plus all manner of objets d’art, including furniture from Versailles and carvings by Grinling Gibbons. The Churchill Exhibition on the ground floor provides a fascinating introduction to Winston (1874–1965), born at Blenheim as grandson of the seventh Duke of Marlborough, and buried alongside his wife in the graveyard of Bladon church just outside the estate.
Start your exploration of Blenheim’s gardens by riding the narrow-gauge miniature train (March–Oct every 30min; 50p) on a looping journey to the Pleasure Gardens a few hundred yards to the east of the palace (also an easy walk). Here, as well as a café, you’ll find a butterfly house, lavender garden, maze and other diversions. On the west side of the house, fountains spout beside the terrace of the palace café and paths lead down to the lake past the vivid Rose Garden. A path from the front of the house leads you across Blenheim’s open park down to Vanbrugh’s Grand Bridge and up to the hilltop Column of Victory, topped by a heroic statue of the 1st Duke.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE blenheim palace
Entrances The estate has two entrances: the Hensington Gate lies just south of Woodstock on the A44 Oxford Rd, a few minutes on foot from town; the quieter Woodstock Gate is in the centre of town, at the far end of Park St.
By bus All of Woodstock’s main buses (see above) stop at the Hensington Gate.
Blenheim Palace tours Free guided tours (35min) inside the palace depart about every quarter-hour, though you’re free to opt out and stroll at your own pace. On Sun or when the palace is very busy, tours are replaced by guides stationed in every room, who give details as you move through.
Three counties – Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire – meet at genteel HENLEY-ON-THAMES, long a favourite stopping place for travellers between London and Oxford. Nowadays, Henley is a good-looking, affluent commuter town at its prettiest among the old brick and stone buildings that flank the short main drag, Hart Street. At one end of Hart Street is the Market Place and its fetching Town Hall, while at the other stand the easy Georgian curves of Henley Bridge. Overlooking the bridge is the parish church of St Mary, whose square tower sports a set of little turrets worked in chequerboard flint and stone.
Mill Meadows, RG9 1BF • Daily 10am–5pm • £12.50 • 01491 415600, rrm.co.uk
A five-minute walk south along the riverbank from the foot of Hart Street lies Henley’s imaginative River and Rowing Museum. Three galleries explore the wildlife and ecology of the Thames along with the history of rowing and the regatta, from ancient triremes to the modern Olympics. A fourth gallery is devoted to models illustrating scenes from the children’s classic Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (1859–1932), set near Henley.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE henley-on-thames
By train Trains arrive from London Paddington (every 30min; 1hr – change at Twyford) and Reading (every 30min; 30min). From the station, it’s a 5min walk north to Hart St.
By bus Bus #800/850/X80 from High Wycombe (every 15min; 40min) and Reading (hourly; 40min) stops on Hart St.
Tourist office In the Town Hall (Mon–Sat 9am–4pm; 01491 578034, visit-henley.com and experienceoxfordshire.org).
Boat trips Just south of the bridge, Hobbs of Henley offers boat trips along the Thames (Easter–Sept; 1hr; £9.75; 01491 572035, hobbsofhenley.com), and has rowing boats and motor-launches for rent.
The AngelThameside, RG9 1BH 01491 410678, theangelhenley.com. Of Henley’s many pubs, this one stands out for its prime riverside location, with a fine outside deck overlooking the water. Decent food, too: light bites £6–9, mains £11–15. Mon–Sat 11.30am–10pm, Sun 11.30am–7pm; kitchen same hours.
Chocolate Café13 Thameside, RG9 1BH 01491 411412, thechocolatecafe.info. Lovely local café on the water, serving posh all-day breakfasts (eggs benedict £7.50), lunchtime light bites (£6–9), cream teas (from £6.50) and a massive range of hot chocolates, dark and white, with options for nougat, chilli, cinnamon, peppermint and more. Mon–Thurs 8am–5.30pm, Fri–Sun 8am–6pm.
Hotel du Vin New St, RG9 2BP 0330 016 0390, hotelduvin.com. This slick central hotel occupies the creatively revamped old Brakspear Brewery. Rooms are in contemporary boutique style; a few on the top floor have river views. The restaurant serves sumptuous modern European cuisine using local produce. Two-course menu £17.95. Mon–Sat noon–2.30pm & 5.30–10pm, Sun noon–4pm & 6–9.30pm.£129
The main reason to visit WINDSOR, a royally associated town 21 miles west of London, is to join the human conveyor belt ogling Windsor Castle. If you’ve got the energy and inclination, it’s also worth crossing the river to visit Eton College, which grew from a fifteenth-century free school for impoverished scholars to become one of the most elitist schools in the world (for guided tours contact 01753 370100, etoncollege.com). Download details of the Eton Walkway, a two-mile circular walk, at outdoortrust.com.
Windsor, SL4 1NJ • Daily: March–Oct 9.30am–5.30pm; Nov–Feb 9.45am–4.15pm; last entry 1hr 30min before closing • £20.50 • 0303 123 7304, royalcollection.org.uk/visit/windsorcastle
Towering above the town on a steep chalk bluff, Windsor Castle is an undeniably imposing sight, its chilly grey walls, punctuated by mighty medieval bastions, continuing as far as the eye can see. Inside, most visitors just gape in awe at the monotonous, gilded grandeur of the State Apartments, while the real highlights – the paintings from the Royal Collection that line the walls – are rarely given a second glance. More impressive is St George’s Chapel, a glorious Perpendicular structure ranking with Henry VII’s chapel in Westminster Abbey, and the second most important resting place for royal corpses after the Abbey. On a fine day, you should put aside some time for exploring Windsor Great Park, which stretches for several miles south of the castle.
Arrival and departure windsor and eton
By train London Paddington to Windsor & Eton Central station via Slough (every 30min; 40min) or London Waterloo to Windsor & Eton Riverside station (every 30min; 55min). From Oxford and Reading, change at Slough.
Tiny COOKHAM, a prosperous Berkshire village five miles northwest of Windsor on the border with Buckinghamshire, was home to Stanley Spencer (1891–1959), one of Britain’s greatest – and most eccentric – artists. Much of his work was inspired by the Bible, and many of his paintings depict biblical tales transposed into Cookham – which he once famously described as “a village in Heaven”. There’s a fine sample of his work at the Stanley Spencer Gallery (April–Sept Tues–Sun 10.30am–5.30pm; Oct–March Thurs–Sun 11am–4.30pm; £6; 01628 471885, stanleyspencer.org.uk), which occupies the old Methodist Chapel on the High Street. Three prime exhibits are View from Cookham Bridge, the unsettling Sarah Tubb and the Heavenly Visitors, and the wonderful (unfinished) Christ Preaching at Cookham Regatta. Download details of an hour-long walk round Cookham, visiting places with which Spencer is associated, from the gallery website.
About three miles south of Cookham, on the banks of the Thames, the even smaller village of BRAY has the unlikely distinction of hosting two of Britain’s four triple-Michelin-starred restaurants – the other two are in London.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE cookham and around
By train First get to Maidenhead, served by trains every 15min from London Paddington (40min) and Reading (15min). Change at Maidenhead for hourly trains to Cookham (7min). Bray is a mile or so from Maidenhead station.
Bel & The DragonHigh St, Cookham, SL6 9SQ 01628 521263, belandthedragon-cookham.co.uk. This historic half-timbered pub is a nice place for a pint, while the airy modern restaurant offers excellent upmarket international cuisine (mains £9–33), with a more affordable bar menu, backed by an extensive wine list. Also five comfortable rustic-style rooms. Mon–Fri noon–11pm, Sat noon–11.30pm, Sun noon–10.30pm; kitchen Mon–Sat noon–3pm & 6–10pm, Sun noon–9pm.£140
Fat Duck High St, Bray, SL6 2AQ 01628 580333, thefatduck.co.uk. Regularly voted one of the world’s top restaurants, showcasing chef Heston Blumenthal’s uniquely inventive culinary style. The menu might feature such classic creations as snail porridge and egg-and-bacon ice cream, with whisky wine gums to finish. Reservations (bookable up to four months in advance) are like gold dust. From £265 a head. Tues–Sat noon–1.15pm & 7–8.15pm.
Waterside Inn Ferry Rd, Bray, SL6 2AT 01628 620691, waterside-inn.co.uk. Part of the Roux family’s culinary empire, this lovely restaurant has been wowing diners with its idiosyncratic take on French cuisine since 1972. Signature dishes include sumptuous soufflé Suissesse (cheese soufflé with double cream) and tronçonnette de homard (pan-fried lobster with white port sauce). Lunchtime menus £50–80; six-course tasting menu £168. Reserve well in advance. Wed–Sun noon–2pm & 7–10pm.
THE RIDGEWAY NATIONAL TRAIL
The Iron Age inhabitants of Britain developed the Ridgeway (nationaltrail.co.uk/ridgeway) as a major thoroughfare, a fast route that beetled across the chalky downs of modern-day Berkshire and Oxfordshire, negotiated the Thames and then traversed the Chiltern Hills. It was probably once part of a longer route from the Dorset coast to the Wash in Norfolk. Today, the Ridgeway is a National Trail, running from Overton Hill, near Avebury in Wiltshire, to Ivinghoe Beacon, 87 miles to the northeast near Tring. Crossing five counties, it keeps to the hills and avoids densely populated areas, except where the Thames slices through the trail at Goring Gap, marking the transition from the open Berkshire–Oxfordshire downs to the wooded valleys of the Chilterns.
It’s fairly easy hiking, and most of the route is accessible to cyclists. The prevailing winds mean that it is best walked in a northeasterly direction. The trail is strewn with prehistoric monuments, though the finest archeological remains are on the downs edging the Vale of White Horse and around Avebury).
In the southwestern corner of Oxfordshire lies the pretty Vale of White Horse, a shallow valley whose fertile farmland is studded with tiny villages a striking collection of prehistoric remains. The Ridgeway National Trail, running along – or near – the top of the downs, links several of these ancient sites and offers wonderful, breezy views. The Vale is an easy day-trip from Oxford or elsewhere, but you might opt to stay locally in one of the Vale’s quaint villages – tiny Woolstone is perhaps the most appealing.
Uffington, SN7 7UK • Open access • Free • 01793 762209, nationaltrust.org.uk/white-horse-hill • 10min walk from signposted car park. Or, from Oxford, take a bus to Wantage (45min) then change for a Swindon-bound bus to Woolstone (35min), 15min walk away
White Horse Hill, overlooking the B4507 six miles west of the unexciting market town of Wantage, follows close behind Stonehenge and Avebury in the hierarchy of Britain’s ancient sites, though it attracts nothing like the same number of visitors. Carved into the north-facing slope of the downs, the 374ft-long Uffington White Horse looks like something created with a few swift strokes of an immense brush. The first written record of the horse’s existence dates from the time of Henry II, but it was cut much earlier, probably in the first century BC, making it one of the oldest chalk figures in Britain. There’s no lack of weird and wonderful theories concerning its origins, but burial sites excavated in the surrounding area point to the horse having some kind of sacred function, though no one knows quite what.
Just below the horse is Dragon Hill, a small flat-topped hillock that has its own legend. Locals long asserted that this was where St George killed and buried the dragon, a theory proved, so they argued, by the bare patch at the top and the channel down the side, where blood trickled from the creature’s wounds. Here also, at the top of the hill, is the Iron Age earthwork of Uffington Castle, which provides wonderful views over the Vale.
The Ridgeway trail (see above) runs alongside the white horse and continues west to reach, after one and a half miles, Wayland’s Smithy, a 5000-year-old burial mound encircled by trees. It is one of the best Neolithic remains in the area, though heavy restoration has rather detracted from its mystery.
ACCOMMODATION and eating vale of white horse
Fox and Hounds Uffington, SN7 7RP 01367 820680, uffingtonpub.co.uk. Friendly local pub in this quiet village a mile and a half north of White Horse Hill. Four well-kept en-suite rooms for B&B, and decent food; mains £10–12. Kitchen Mon–Fri noon–2pm & 6–9pm, Sat noon–3pm & 6–9pm, Sun noon–3pm. £105
White Horse InnWoolstone, SN7 7QL 01367 820726, whitehorsewoolstone.co.uk. A mile north of White Horse Hill, this half-timbered, partly thatched old inn offers swanky accommodation, mostly in a modern annexe, and upmarket pub food (mains £11–15). Kitchen daily noon–2.30pm & 6–9pm. £90
The limestone hills that make up the Cotswolds are preposterously photogenic, dotted with a string of picture-book villages, many of them built by wealthy cloth merchants between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. Largely bypassed by the Industrial Revolution, which heralded the area’s commercial decline, the Cotswolds is characterized by handsomely preserved traditional architecture. Numerous churches are decorated with beautiful carving, for which the local limestone was ideal: soft and easy to carve when first quarried, but hardening after long exposure to the sunlight.
For their beauty and ease of access the Cotswolds are a major tourist attraction, with many towns afflicted by plagues of tearooms, antiques shops and coach parties. To see the region at its best, avoid the main towns and instead escape into the countryside. If you have a car, almost any minor road between Oxford and Cheltenham will deliver views, thatched cottages and oodles of rural atmosphere; otherwise, plan day-walks from one of the more attractive centres – Chipping Campden is the number-one choice, or opt for Northleach, foodie hub Kingham or the walkers’ haven of Winchcombe.
This might be a tamed landscape, but there’s good scope for exploring the byways, either in the gentler valleys that are most typical of the Cotswolds or along the dramatic escarpment that marks the western boundary with the Severn Valley. The Cotswold Way national trail runs for a hundred miles along the edge of the Cotswold escarpment from Chipping Campden in the northeast to Bath in the southwest, with a number of prehistoric sites providing added interest along the route. The section around Belas Knap is particularly rewarding, offering superb views over Cheltenham and the Severn Valley to the distant Malvern Hills.
Getting around and information the Cotswolds
By train Hourly trains from London Paddington via Oxford serve Kingham (1hr 25min) and Moreton-in-Marsh (1hr 35min), access points for the central and northern Cotswolds between Stow and Chipping Campden. Hourly trains on a different line from London Paddington via Swindon serve Kemble (1hr 15min), useful for Cirencester and southerly stretches around Tetbury.
By bus Local buses do a reasonable job connecting the larger towns and villages, but few buses run on Sun; smaller villages are rarely served more than once a week, if at all. Local tourist offices will be able to advise on travel plans – or you can check the public transport info at escapetothecotswolds.org.uk.
On foot The Cotswolds is prime walking country: wherever you are there’s likely to be a marked trail nearby for anything from an hour’s rural stroll to a multi-day epic. Loads of routes are downloadable for free from tourism websites, with full descriptions and maps.
Travel pass The one-day “Cotswold Discoverer” (£10) allows unlimited travel on trains (Mon–Fri after 8.50am, Sat & Sun all day) between Oxford, Kingham and Moreton, and between Swindon, Kemble, Cheltenham and Gloucester, and on many of the buses covering main routes in and around Cotswold villages, from Oxford and Stroud in the south to Stratford-upon-Avon in the north. Buy it from local bus drivers or any train station. Details at escapetothecotswolds.org.uk.
Websites cotswolds.com, www.oxfordshirecotswolds.org and escapetothecotswolds.org.uk.
Twenty miles west of Oxford you get your first real taste of the Cotswolds at BURFORD, where the long, wide High Street, which slopes down to the bridge over the River Windrush, is simply magnificent, despite the traffic. The street is flanked by a remarkable line of old buildings that exhibit almost every type of classic Cotswolds feature, from wonky mullioned windows and half-timbered facades with bendy beams, through to spiky brick chimneys, fancy bow-fronted stone houses and grand horse-and-carriage gateways.
Church Green, near the river, OX18 4RY • Daily 9am–5pm • Free, but donation welcomed • burfordchurch.org
Of all the Cotswold churches, St John the Baptist has the most historical resonance, with architectural bits and pieces surviving from every phase of its construction, beginning with the Normans and ending in the wool boom of the seventeenth century – the soaring Gothic spire built atop the old Norman tower is particularly eye-catching. Thereafter, it was pretty much left alone and, most unusually, its clutter of mausoleums, chapels and chantries survived the Reformation. A plaque outside commemorates three “Levellers” – a loose coalition of political thinkers that blossomed during the English Civil War – who were executed here in 1649 and whose aims are commemorated on Levellers Day in May (levellersday.wordpress.com).
TOP 5 COTSWOLDS CHURCHES
St James Chipping Campden.
St John the Baptist Burford.
St John the Baptist Cirencester.
St Mary Tetbury.
St Peter and St Paul Northleach.
ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION burford
By bus #853 (Mon–Sat 3–4 daily, Sun daily) stops by the A40 at the top of Burford, from Northleach (15min), Cheltenham (45min) and Oxford (45min). #233 (Mon–Sat hourly) from Woodstock (55min) and #X10 from Chipping Norton (Mon–Sat hourly; 30min) stop on the High St.
Tourist office 33a High St (Mon–Sat 9.30am–5pm, Sun 10am–4pm; 01993 823558, www.oxfordshirecotswolds.org).
Angel 14 Witney St, OX18 4SN 01993 822714, theangelatburford.co.uk. This sixteenth-century inn is highly regarded for its lively, creative menu – black pudding enlivening calves’ liver, apricots and salsa adding zip to aubergine tagine. Mains £15–18. Also three traditional, tasteful en-suite rooms. Kitchen daily noon–9.30pm. £110
Bay TreeSheep St, OX18 4LW 01993 822791, cotswold-inns-hotels.co.uk. First-class hotel in a lovely location off the High St, occupying a wisteria-clad stone house dating from the sixteenth century. Its twenty-odd rooms, in the main house and a couple of annexes, are done up in a lavish rendition of period character. Bar meals are excellent (light bites £8–10, mains £13–20), featuring anything from tiger prawns to local pork sausages. Kitchen daily noon–2pm & 7–9.30pm. £125
Bull105 High St, OX18 4RG 01993 822220, bullatburford.co.uk. This venerable old inn has been hosting guests for more than three hundred years – Charles II dallied here with Nell Gwynne, as did Lord Nelson with Lady Hamilton. Traditionally styled rooms feature panelling and four-poster beds, while the restaurant grafts French and Mediterranean influences onto local ingredients, with emphasis on fish and seafood. Mains £15–23.Kitchen daily noon–2.30pm & 6.30–9pm.£110
Kelmscott, GL7 3HJ • April–Oct Wed & Sat 11am–5pm • £9.50; timed tickets, so call ahead to confirm arrangements • 01367 252486, kelmscottmanor.org.uk • No public transport. The car park is a 10min walk from the house
Kelmscott Manor, amid the Thames-side water meadows about eight miles south of Burford, is a place of pilgrimage for devotees of William Morris, who used this Tudor house as a summer home from 1871 to his death in 1896. The simple beauty of the house is enhanced by the furniture, fabrics and wallpapers created by Morris and his Pre-Raphaelite friends, including Burne-Jones and Rossetti.
When Country Life magazine calls you “England’s favourite village”, it could easily prompt a downward spiral. But for KINGHAM, set in the Evenlode Valley between Chipping Norton (the highest town in Oxfordshire) and Stow-on-the-Wold (the highest town in the Cotswolds), everything’s looking up. There’s still nothing to do in this cheery, noticeably upmarket village, other than eat well, walk well and sleep well… but that’s the point. The stroll in from the railway station is lovely, marked by the Perpendicular tower of St Andrew’s Church.
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GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
Arrival and departure kingham and around
By train Kingham has hourly trains from London Paddington (1hr 25min), Oxford (25min), Moreton (10min) and Worcester (50min). The station is a mile west of the village.
Daylesford OrganicDaylesford, GL56 0YG 01608 731700, daylesford.com. This super-sleek farm complex a mile north of Kingham includes a spectacularly well-stocked deli and café, where light lunches (£10–16) are filled out by cream teas and informal suppers of wood-fired pizza or chicken teriyaki (£13–19). An absurdly expensive, but very good, glimpse of Chelsea in the Cotswolds. Booking essential. Mon–Sat 8am–8pm, Sun 10am–4pm.
Kingham PloughKingham, OX7 6YD 01608 658327, thekinghamplough.co.uk. The epitome of a Cotswold gastropub. Book ahead for one of Oxfordshire’s most atmospheric, upmarket and welcoming restaurants. Local, seasonal produce of all kinds, expertly prepared, is served off a short, daily-changing a la carte menu (mains £18–25) or a less ambitious bar menu: see twebsite for specific menu times. They also have seven comfortable, country-style rooms. Kitchen Mon–Sat noon–9pm, Sun 11.30am–3pm & 6–8pm.£145
Kings HeadBledington, OX7 6XQ 01608 658365, thekingsheadinn.net. Just west of Kingham, this sixteenth-century inn with regulars popping up the bar serves local, ethically sourced Modern British fusion dishes – potted shrimps, steak and ale pie, Cotswold lamb (mains £14–22). The rooms, some floral, some designer-chic, are a snip. Kitchen Mon–Thurs noon–2pm & 6.30–9pm, Fri noon–2pm & 6.30–9.30pm, Sat noon–2.30pm & 6.30–9.30pm, Sun noon–2.30pm & 7–9pm. £100
A key transport hub and one of the Cotswolds’ more sensible towns, MORETON-IN-MARSH is named for a now-vanished wetland nearby. It has always been an important access point for the countryside and remains so with its railway station, which is on the line between London, Oxford and Worcester. It also sits astride the A429 Fosse Way, the former Roman road that linked Exeter with Lincoln. On the broad, handsome High Street, enhanced with Jacobean and Georgian facades, stands the nineteenth-century Redesdale Hall, named for Lord Redesdale, father of the infamous Mitford sisters (among them Diana, wife of British wartime fascist leader Oswald Mosley; and Unity, a close companion of Adolf Hitler), who as children lived at Batsford House near the town.
Arrival and information moreton-in-marsh
By train Moreton has hourly trains from London Paddington (1hr 35min), Oxford (35min), Kingham (10min) and Worcester (40min). The station is a 2min walk from the High St.
By bus #1 (Mon–Sat 4 daily) to/from Broadway (25min), Chipping Campden (45min) and Stratford-upon-Avon (1hr 15min); #2 (Mon–Sat 4 daily) to/from Chipping Campden (30min) and Stratford-upon-Avon (1hr 10min); #801 (Mon–Sat every 1–2hr; June–Sept also 2–3 on Sun) to/from Stow-on-the-Wold (15min), Bourton-on-the-Water (25min) and Cheltenham (1hr 10min), some also via Northleach (55min).
Tourist office High St (Mon 8.45am–4pm, Tues–Thurs 8.45am–5.15pm, Fri 8.45am–4.45pm, Sat 10am–1pm; Nov–March Sat closes 12.30pm; 01608 650881, cotswolds.com).
Acacia Guest House2 New Rd, GL56 0AS 01608 650130, acaciainthecotswolds.co.uk. Decent little B&B on the short street connecting the station to the High St – very handy for arrivals and departures by train or bus. £65
Horse and GroomBourton-on-the-Hill, GL56 9AQ 01386 700413, horseandgroom.info. Occupying a Georgian building of honey-coloured Cotswold stone two miles west of Moreton, this free house has a reputation for good beer and excellent food. The menu changes frequently, focused on meat sourced from local farmers and seasonal veg. It’s popular: book ahead. Mains £13–18. Also five appealing rooms, one with French doors opening onto the garden. Mon–Sat noon–11pm, Sun noon–10.30pm; kitchen Mon–Sat noon–3pm & 6.30–9.30pm, Sun noon–3pm & 6.30–8.30pm.£120
Manor HouseHigh St, GL56 0LJ 01608 650501, cotswold-inns-hotels.co.uk. Pleasant four-star hotel occupying a sixteenth-century former coaching inn, with a nice garden and stylish rooms. Its posh restaurant, with muted contemporary styling, serves Modern British cuisine (mains £11–17), with good vegetarian options available. Daily noon–2.30pm & 7–9.30pm. £120
Ambling over a steep hill seven hundred feet above sea level, STOW-ON-THE-WOLD, five miles south of Moreton, draws in a quantity of visitors disproportionate to its size and attractions, which essentially comprise an old marketplace surrounded by pubs, antique and souvenir shops, and an inordinate number of tearooms. The narrow alleyways, or “tchures”, running into the square were designed for funnelling sheep to the market, which is itself dominated by an imposing Victorian hall. St Edward’s Church has a photogenic north porch, where two yew trees flanking the door appear to have grown into the stones.
Arrival and INFORMATION stow-on-the-wold
By bus Buses stop just off the main square, including #801 (Mon–Sat every 1–2hr; May–Sept also 2–3 on Sun) to/from Bourton-on-the-Water (10min), Moreton (15min) and Cheltenham (1hr 10min), some also via Northleach (30min); and #802 (Mon–Sat 4–6 daily) to/from Kingham station (15min).
Tourist office In the library on the main square (April–Oct Mon & Wed 10am–5pm, Tues & Fri 10am–7pm, Thurs 10am–2pm, Sat 10am–4pm; 01451 870998, stowinfo.co.uk and cotswolds.com).
Jaffe & Neale8 Park St, GL54 1AQ 01451 832000, jaffeandneale.co.uk. Outpost for this much-loved Chipping Norton bookshop/café, which has brought a fresh, contemporary feel to the interior of this old building. Come for the carrot cake, stay for the literary inspiration. Mon–Sat 9.30am–5pm, Sun 10am–4pm.
Number Nine9 Park St, GL54 1AQ 01451 870333, number-nine.info. Pleasant old house offering quality B&B just down from the town square. The three bedrooms feature low beams but contemporary styling – and the rates are a bargain. £75
Porch HouseDigbeth St, GL54 1BN 01451 870048, porch-house.co.uk. Purportedly the oldest inn in Britain, with parts of the building dated at 947 AD (though the interiors have been freshly modernized). The thirteen hessian-floored rooms look good, but are on the small side. The restaurant is a comfortably posh affair (mains £13–18), with cheaper nosh in the wonky-beamed pub. Mon–Sat 8am–11pm, Sun 8am–10.30pm; kitchen Mon–Fri noon–3pm & 6–9.30pm, Sat noon–9.30pm, Sun noon–8.30pm. £115
Queen’s HeadThe Square, GL54 1AB 01451 830563, queensheadstowonthewold.com. Traditional old pub that provides good beer, good service and a pleasant chatty atmosphere. Food is a level above standard pub grub (mains £11–15), and they have a few simple, stylish rooms nearby. Mon–Sat 11am–11pm, Sun noon–10.30pm; kitchen daily noon–2.30pm & 6.30–9pm.£79
Borzoi BookshopChurch St, GL54 1BB 01451 830268, borzoibookshop.co.uk. Lovely little independent bookshop in the centre of town, with a great range of stock and knowledgeable staff. Mon–Sat 9.30am–5pm.
Fosse GalleryThe Square, GL54 1AF 01451 831319, fossegallery.com. Long-established, privately owned gallery devoted to contemporary British art. Whatever’s showing, it’s worth popping in. Mon–Sat 10.30am–5pm.
BOURTON-ON-THE-WATER is the epicentre of Cotswold tourism. By the village green – flanked by photogenic Jacobean and Georgian facades in yellow Cotswold stone – five picturesque bridges span the shallow River Windrush, dappled by shade from overhanging trees. It looks lovely, but its proximity to main roads means it’s invariably packed: coaches cram in all summer and the High Street now concentrates on souvenirs and teashops, interspersed with everything from a Model Village to a Dragonfly Maze and Bird Park.
A mile outside Bourton-on-the-Water, LOWER SLAUGHTER (as in slohtre, Old English for a marshy place, cognate with “slough”) is a more enticing prospect, though still on the day-trippers’ circuit. Pop by to take in some of the most celebrated village scenery in the Cotswolds, as the River Eye snakes its way between immaculate honey-stone cottages. There is a small museum (and souvenir shop) signposted in a former mill, but the main attraction of the stroll through the village is to stop in for a little something at one of the grand hotels occupying gated mansions on both sides of the street.
Secluded in a shallow depression, NORTHLEACH is one of the most appealing and atmospheric villages in the Cotswolds – a great base to explore the area. Despite the fact that the A40 Oxford–Cheltenham road and A429 Fosse Way cross at a large roundabout nearby, virtually no tourist traffic makes its way into the centre. Rows of immaculate late medieval cottages cluster around the Market Place and adjoining Green.
Fosse Way, GL54 3JH • May–Oct daily 10am–5pm; Nov–April Mon, Tues & Thurs–Sun 9.30am–4pm • Free • 01451 861563, escapetothecotswolds.org.uk
Just outside town is the Georgian Old Prison, which has interesting displays on the history of crime and punishment, along with the Cotswolds Discovery Centre, a visitor centre explaining the work of the Cotswolds Conservation Board in maintaining the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Mill End, GL54 3HL • Daily 9am–5pm • Free • 01451 861132, northleach.org
One of the finest of the Cotswolds “wool churches”, St Peter and St Paul is a classic example of the fifteenth-century Perpendicular style, with a soaring tower and beautifully proportioned nave lit by wide clerestory windows. The floors of the aisles are inlaid with an exceptional collection of memorial brasses, marking the tombs of the merchants whose endowments paid for the church. On several, you can make out the woolsacks laid out beneath the owner’s feet – a symbol of wealth and power that survives today in London’s House of Lords, where a woolsack is placed on the Lord Chancellor’s seat.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE northleach
By bus Buses stop by the Green.
Destinations #801 (Mon–Sat 5 daily) to/from Cheltenham (40min), Bourton-on-the-Water (15min), Stow-on-the-Wold (30min) and Moreton-in-Marsh (40min); #853 (Mon–Sat 3–4 daily, 1 on Sun) to Burford (15min), Cheltenham (30min) and Oxford (1hr); #855 (Mon–Sat 5–6 daily) to/from Cirencester (20–40min) and Bibury (20min).
Cotswold Lion Café Old Prison, GL54 3JH 01451 861563, escapetothecotswolds.org.uk. Friendly café on the edge of the town, serving up teas, coffees, cakes and light lunches (under £10). Daily 10am–4.30pm.
Wheatsheaf West End, GL54 3EZ 01451 860244, cotswoldswheatsheaf.com. Excellent former coaching inn, remodelled in a bright modern style softened by period furniture, bookcases and etchings. Its restaurant has upscale Mediterranean cuisine – polenta with nettles and peas, spiced lamb pie with sultanas, and so forth. Mains £13–19. It also has fourteen comfortable, en-suite rooms. Mon–Sat noon–3pm & 6–9pm, Sun noon–3.30pm & 6–9pm. £120
A detour between Northleach and Cirencester passes through BIBURY, dubbed “the most beautiful village in England” by William Morris. Bibury draws attention for Arlington Row, originally built around 1380 as a wool store and converted in the seventeenth century into a line of cottages to house weavers. Their hound’s-tooth gables, warm yellow stone and wonky windows stole William Morris’s heart – and
are now immortalized in the British passport as an image of England.
Arrival and departure bibury
By bus The #855 (Mon–Sat 5–6 daily) runs to Northleach (20min) and Cirencester (20min).
Situated on the northern edge of the Cotswolds, near Stratford-upon-Avon, CHIPPING CAMPDEN gives a better idea than anywhere else in the area of how a prosperous wool town might have looked in the Middle Ages. Its name derives from the Saxon term campadene, meaning cultivated valley, and the Old English ceapen, or market. The elegant High Street is hemmed in by mostly Tudor and Jacobean facades – an undulating line of weather-beaten roofs above twisted beams and mullioned windows. The evocative seventeenth-century Market Hall has survived too, an open-sided pavilion propped up on sturdy stone piers in the middle of the High Street, where farmers once gathered to sell their produce.
Sheep St, GL55 6DS • Daily 10am–5pm; Hart Silversmiths Mon–Fri 9am–5pm, Sat 9am–noon • Free • 01386 841100, hartsilversmiths.co.uk
Just off the High Street is the Old Silk Mill, where designer Charles Ashbee relocated the London Guild of Handicraft in 1902, introducing the Arts and Crafts movement to the Cotswolds. Today, as well as housing galleries of local art, the building rings with the noise of chisels from the resident stone carvers. Upstairs, you’re free to wander into the workshop of Hart, a silversmith firm – it’s like stepping into an old photograph, with metalworking tools strewn everywhere under low ceilings, and staff perched by the windows working by hand on decorative pieces.
Church St, GL55 6JE • Tues–Sun 10am–5pm; Oct–March closes 4pm • £5 • 01386 841951, courtbarn.org.uk
The history of the Guild of Handicraft, and its leading exponents, is explained at the superb Court Barn Museum. Sited opposite a magnificent row of seventeenth-century Cotswold stone almshouses, the museum displays the work of Charles Ashbee and eight Arts and Crafts cohorts, placing it all in context with informative displays and short videos. Featured works include the bookbinding of Katharine Adams, the stained-glass design of Paul Woodroffe and furniture by Gordon Russell.
Church St, GL55 6JG • March–Oct Mon–Sat 10am–4.30pm, Sun noon–4pm; Nov–Feb Mon–Sat 11am–3pm, Sun noon–3pm • Free • 01386 841927, stjameschurchcampden.co.uk
At the top of the village rises St James’ Church. Built in the fifteenth century, the zenith of Campden’s wool-trading days, this is the archetypal Cotswold wool church, beneath a magnificent 120ft tower. Inside, the airy nave is bathed in light from the clerestory windows. The South Chapel holds the ostentatious funerary memorial of the Hicks family, with fancily carved marble effigies lying on a table-tomb.
Panoramic views crown the short but severe hike up the first stage of the Cotswold Way, north from Chipping Campden to Dover’s Hill (which is also accessible by car). The highest point, 740ft above sea level, affords breathtaking vistas over to the Malvern Hills and beyond. This is where, in 1612, local lawyer Robert Dover organized competitions of running, jumping, wrestling and shin-kicking that rapidly became known as the Cotswold Olimpicks, still staged here annually (see olimpickgames.co.uk).
ARRIVAL AND information Chipping campden
By train Moreton-in-Marsh station is 8 miles away, connected by bus #1 or #2.
By bus Buses stop on the High St, including routes #1 & #2.
Destinations Broadway (Mon–Sat 4 daily; 20min); Moreton-in-Marsh (Mon–Sat every 1–2hr; 45min); Stratford-upon-Avon (Mon–Sat every 1–2hr; 40min).
Tourist office High St (March–Oct daily 9.30am–5pm; Nov–Feb Mon–Thurs 9.30am–1pm, Fri–Sun 9.30am–4pm; 01386 841206, campdenonline.org and cotswolds.com).
Badgers HallHigh St, GL55 6HB 01386 840839, badgershall.com. This tearoom in an old stone house has won awards for its traditional English tea and cakes, all freshly made daily. It also does light lunches (under £10). En-suite guest rooms upstairs feature period detail – beamed ceilings and antique pine furniture. Mon–Sat 10am–4.30pm, Sun 11am–4.30pm.£115
Bakers ArmsBroad Campden, GL55 6UR 01386 840515, bakersarmscampden.com. From the archway under the Noel Arms on the High St, walk a mile or so south to find this gem, named a North Cotswolds Pub of the Year for its ales, its atmosphere and its solid food – fish pie, gammon and good veggie options (mains £10–15). Mon 5–11pm, Tues–Fri noon–3pm & 5–11pm, Sat noon–11pm, Sun noon–10.30pm; kitchen Tues–Thurs noon–2pm & 6–8pm, Fri & Sat noon–2pm & 6–9pm, Sun noon–4pm.
Eight BellsChurch St, GL55 6JG 01386 840371, eightbellsinn.co.uk. Much-loved old inn with a first-rate restaurant – pheasant with mushrooms, pork with apricots and chestnuts, lamb’s liver on bubble and squeak. Mains £13–22. It also has seven individually done-up bedrooms, smartly modern without boutique pretension. Kitchen Mon–Thurs noon–2pm & 6.30–9pm, Fri & Sat noon–2.30pm & 6.30–9.30pm, Sun noon–3pm & 6–9pm.£120
Volunteer InnLower High St, GL55 6DY 01386 840688, thevolunteerinn.net. There are nine budget rooms at this lively pub, often used by walkers and cyclists (you can rent bikes from £12/day; www.cyclecotswolds.co.uk). The on-site Maharaja restaurant serves unusual Bangladeshi fish and chicken curries and fruity Kashmiri dishes (mains £8–17). Pub daily 11am–11pm; restaurant Mon–Thurs & Sun 6–10.30pm, Fri & Sat 6–11pm.£50
BROADWAY, five miles west of Chipping Campden, is a handsome little village at the foot of the steep escarpment that rolls along the western edge of the Cotswolds. It seems likely that the Romans were the first to settle here, but Broadway’s high times were as a stagecoach stop on the route from London to Worcester. Its long, broad main street, framed by honey-stone cottages and shaded by chestnut trees, attracts more visitors than is comfortable, but things do quieten down in the evening.
Russell Square, WR12 7AP • Tues–Sun: Feb, Nov & Dec 11am–4pm; March–Oct 11am–5pm • £5 • 01386 854695, gordonrussellmuseum.org
Just off the village green, the absorbing Gordon Russell Design Museum is dedicated to the work of this local furniture-maker (1892–1980), whose factory formerly stood next door. Influenced both by the Arts and Crafts movement but also by modern technology, Russell’s stated aim was to “make decent furniture for ordinary people” through “a blend of hand and machine”. The museum showcases many of his classic furniture designs, alongside other period artefacts ranging from metalware to mirrors.
65 High St, WR12 7DP • Tues–Sun 10am–5pm • £5 • 01386 859047, broadwaymuseum.org.uk
A former coaching inn now holds the Broadway Museum, run in partnership with Oxford’s mighty Ashmolean Museum. Objects across four floors of displays include embroidered tapestries and furniture in the panelled ground-floor rooms, Worcester porcelain, glass, examples of William Morris tiles, and Cotswold pottery on the upper levels, as well as paintings by Gainsborough and Reynolds.
Fish Hill, WR12 7LB • Daily 10am–5pm; shorter hours in bad weather • Tower £5, bunker £4, joint ticket £8 • 01386 852390, broadwaytower.co.uk
A mile southeast of the village, Broadway Tower, a turreted folly built in 1798, has become an icon of the Cotswolds, perched at more than 1000ft above sea level with stupendous views that purportedly encompass thirteen counties. Now privately owned, it stands alongside a family activity park with café. The historical displays in the tower are a bit limp: visit to climb the 71 steps to the roof, for those views. Nearby you can venture down into a Cold War-era nuclear bunker. A circular walk from Broadway heads up to the tower (4 miles; 3hr).
Arrival and information Broadway
By bus #1 (Mon–Sat 4 daily) to/from Chipping Campden (20min), Moreton-in-Marsh (25min) and Stratford-upon-Avon (1hr); #606 (Mon–Sat 4 daily, 2 on Sun) to/from Winchcombe (25min) and Cheltenham (1hr).
Tourist office Russell Square (Feb, March, Nov & Dec Mon–Sat 10am–4pm, Sun 11am–3pm; April–Oct Mon–Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 11am–3pm; 01386 852937, broadway-cotswolds.co.uk).
Crown and Trumpet14 Church St, WR12 7AE 01386 853202, cotswoldholidays.co.uk. This cheery, historic local tavern has decent beers, a lively atmosphere, quality Sun roasts and regular sessions of live blues and jazz. Mains £6–13. Also has five simple en-suite rooms.Kitchen Mon–Fri 11am–3pm & 5–11pm, Sat 11am–11pm, Sun noon–4pm & 6–10.30pm.£75
Lygon ArmsHigh St, WR12 7DU 01386 852255, lygonarmshotel.co.uk. A grand coaching inn that hosted Charles I (in 1645) and Oliver Cromwell (in 1651) in rooms which still retain their original panelling and fittings today. In 2017, they had a top-to-toe refit, which injected much-needed freshness into both the rooms and restaurant, now serving good, upmarket Modern European cuisine (mains £13–21), including in the majestic Great Hall. Food served Mon–Fri 11am–3pm & 5–10pm, Sat & Sun 11am–10pm.£170
Olive Branch78 High St, WR12 7AJ 01386 853440, theolivebranch-broadway.com. Award-winning guesthouse in an old stone house – a touch pastel-and-chintz, but cosy and well run. Some rooms have king-size beds and access to the garden. £117
Russell’s20 High St, WR12 7DT 01386 853555, russellsofbroadway.co.uk. This relaxed, stylish restaurant serves Modern British cooking: Cotswold lamb chops with lemon & caper-crumbed kidney, honey & thyme-glazed duck breast, monkfish with bulgur wheat, and so on. Mains £15–32, or two-course set menu £20. Seven boutique rooms feature mood lighting, designer furniture and huge stand-alone bathtubs and showers-for-two. Food served Mon–Sat noon–2.15pm & 6–9.15pm, Sun noon–2.30pm. £130
About eight miles southwest of Broadway – and nine miles northeast of Cheltenham – WINCHCOMBE has a long main street flanked by a fetching medley of stone and half-timbered buildings. Placid today, it was an important Saxon town and one-time capital of the kingdom of Mercia, and flourished during the medieval cloth boom, one of the results being St Peter’s church, a mainly fifteenth-century structure distinguished by forty alarming gargoyles that ring the exterior. On Winchcombe’s southern edge is Sudeley Castle (March–Oct daily 10am–5pm; £14.95; 01242 604244, sudeleycastle.co.uk), which combines ravishing good looks with a fascinating history. In its magnificent estate stands St Mary’s Church, housing a beautiful Victorian tomb that marks the final resting place of Katherine Parr, Henry VIII’s sixth wife.
2 miles south of Winchcombe, GL54 5AL • Open access • Free; EH • www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/belas-knap-long-barrow • On foot from Winchcombe, the path strikes off to the right near the entrance to Sudeley Castle. When you reach the country lane at the top, turn right and then left for the 10min hike to the barrow
The Neolithic long barrow of Belas Knap occupies one of the Cotswolds’ wildest summits. Dating from around 3000 BC, this is the best-preserved burial chamber in England, stretched out like a strange sleeping beast cloaked in green velvet, more than fifty metres long. The best way to get there is to walk.
Arrival and information winchcombe and around
By bus #606 from Broadway (Mon–Sat 4 daily; 35min) and Cheltenham (Mon–Sat 4 daily, 5 on Sun; 20min).
Tourist office High St (April–Oct daily 10am–4pm; Nov–March Sat 10am–4pm, Sun 10am–3pm; 01242 602925, winchcombe.co.uk and cotswolds.com).
Self-styled “Capital of the Cotswolds”, the affluent town of CIRENCESTER lies on the southern fringes of the region, midway between Oxford and Bristol. As Corinium, it became a provincial capital and a centre of trade under the Romans, in Britannia second in size and importance only to “Londinium” (London). The Saxons destroyed almost all of the Roman city, and the town only revived with the wool boom of the Middle Ages. Few medieval buildings have survived, however, and the houses along the town’s most handsome streets – Park, Thomas and Coxwell – date mostly from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Cirencester’s heart is the delightful Market Place, packed with traders’ stalls every Monday and Friday, and for the fortnightly Saturday farmers’ market (cirencester.gov.uk/markets).
Market Place, GL7 2NX • Daily 10am–5pm; Oct–March closes 4pm • Free • 01285 659317, cirenparish.co.uk
The magnificent parish church of St John the Baptist, built during the fifteenth century, dominates the market place. The church’s most notable feature is its huge porch, so big that it once served as the local town hall. The flying buttresses that support the tower had to be added when it transpired that the church had been built over the filled-in Roman ditch that ran beside the Gloucester–Silchester road. Inside the church is a colourful wineglass pulpit, carved in stone around 1450, and the Boleyn Cup, a gilded silver goblet made in 1535 for Anne Boleyn.
Park St, GL7 2BX • Mon–Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 2–5pm; Nov–March closes 4pm • £5.40 • 01285 655611, coriniummuseum.org
West of the Market Place, the sleek Corinium Museum is devoted to the history of the town from Roman to Victorian times. The collection of Romano-British antiquities is particularly fine, including some wonderful mosaic pavements. Other highlights include a trove of Bronze Age gold and an excellent video on Cotswold life in the Iron Age.
Brewery Court, off Cricklade St, GL7 1JH • Mon–Sat 9am–5pm; April–Dec also Sun 10am–4pm • Free • 01285 657181, newbreweryarts.org.uk
Just south of the Market Place, the New Brewery Arts Centre is occupied by more than a dozen resident artists whose studios you can visit and whose work you can buy in the shop. It’s worth popping by to see who is working and exhibiting – and, perhaps, to catch some live music.
ARRIVAL AND information cirencester
By train From Kemble station, about 5 miles southwest – served by hourly trains from London Paddington (1hr 15min) and Cheltenham (1hr) – take bus #882 (Mon–Fri 5 daily, 2 on Sat; 15min) or a taxi (about £10).
By bus National Express coaches from London Victoria and Heathrow Airport stop on London Rd, while local buses stop in or near Market Place.
Destinations Bibury (#855; Mon–Sat 4 daily; 15min); Cheltenham (#51; Mon–Sat hourly; 40min); Gloucester (#882; Mon–Fri every 1–2hr, 2 on Sat; 45min); Heathrow Airport (National Express; 5 daily; 1hr 30min); London Victoria (National Express; 5–8 daily; 2hr 20min); Northleach (#855; Mon–Sat every 2hr; 20min); Tetbury (#882; Mon–Sat 3 daily; 45min).
Tourist office At Corinium Museum, Park St (Mon–Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 2–5pm; Nov–March closes 4pm; 01285 654180, cotswolds.com).
Corinium12 Gloucester St, GL7 2DG 01285 659711, coriniumhotel.com. Decent three-star family-run hotel in a historic property a short walk northwest of the centre. Only fifteen rooms, modestly priced and adequately furnished. £105
FleeceMarket Place, GL7 2NZ 01285 658507, thefleececirencester.co.uk. This old town-centre inn has been freshly updated to a smart, contemporary look. The 28 rooms, all beams and low ceilings, feature swanky en-suite bathrooms. £99
Ivy House2 Victoria Rd, GL7 1EN 01285 656626, ivyhousecotswolds.com. One of the more attractive of a string of B&Bs along this road, a high-gabled Victorian house with four en-suite rooms. £90
YHA CotswoldsNew Brewery Arts Centre, GL7 1JH 01285 657181, yha.org.uk/hostel/cotswolds. Converted in 2016 from a long-closed brewery warehouse, this new hostel known as the Barrel Store sits alongside a buzzing arts centre, with keenly priced dorms, doubles and family rooms. No food served, but there’s a café next door. Dorms £23, doubles £68
Indian Rasoi14 Dollar St, GL7 2AJ 01285 644822, indianrasoi.org. An up-to-date, contemporary styled restaurant serving excellent Indian food. Go for one of the chef’s specials – fiery Naga chilli lamb or coconutty Mangalore chicken – or one of the great vegetarian options, such as Bengali aubergine. Mains £9–14. Mon–Sat noon–2pm & 5.30–11.30pm, Sun noon–2pm & 5.30–11pm.
Jesse’s BistroThe Stableyard, 14 Black Jack St, GL7 2AA 01285 641497, jessesbistro.co.uk. Wonderful little hideaway, in a courtyard near the museum. The speciality here is fish and seafood, freshly caught and whisked over directly from Cornwall. Expect crab salad or moules marinière, oven-roasted mackerel or pepper-crusted bream alongside meaty favourites such as rump steak. Mains £14–23; two-course lunch £19.50. Mon noon–2.30pm, Tues–Sat noon–2.30pm & 7–9.30pm, Sun noon–4pm.
Made By BobThe Corn Hall, 26 Market Place, GL7 2NY 01285 641818, foodmadebybob.com. Buzzy, hip daytime café/restaurant. Opens for breakfast (Bircher muesli, kippers, eggs Benedict, full English; £6–11), and stays open after lunch for posh tea. Watch the chefs prepare anything from fish soup with gruyère or linguine with cockles to grilled sardines or rib-eye steak (mains £9–21) – or visit the deli section for swanky sandwiches (£6–8). Booking essential for “Bob’s Bar” (Wed–Fri 5–11pm), where nibbles (£4–8) accompany drinks. Mon, Tues & Sat 7.30am–6pm, Wed–Fri 7.30am–11pm.
With Prince Charles’s Highgrove estate and Princess Anne’s Gatcombe Park nearby, TETBURY is the Cotswolds’ most royal town – but this attractive, engaging place has plenty going for it with or without the Windsors. Scenic countryside, good shopping and excellent food make a fine combination. Just down from the central crossroads, marked by the seventeenth-century Market House, Tetbury’s church (daily 10am–4pm; tetburychurch.co.uk) – curiously dedicated to both St Mary the Virgin and St Mary Magdalene – is one of England’s finest examples of Georgian Gothic: the view along the eighteenth-century nave, with its dark box pews, candle chandeliers, slender wooden columns and enormous windows, is breathtaking.
3 miles southwest of Tetbury, GL8 8QS • Daily 9am–5pm • £10 (Dec–Feb £7) • Guided walks March–Oct Mon, Wed & Fri 11am, Sat & Sun 11am & 2pm; 2hr • Free with admission • 0300 067 4890, forestry.gov.uk/westonbirt • From Tetbury take bus #27 or #69 (Mon–Sat 2/3 daily; 8min)
Everything about Westonbirt: the National Arboretum relies on superlatives, from its role as protector of some of the oldest, biggest and rarest trees in the world to the stunning display of natural colours it puts on in autumn. With seventeen miles of paths to roam, across six hundred acres, the best advice is to make a day of it. There are guided walks, self-guided trails and lots for kids and families.
Arrival and information tetbury and around
By train From Kemble station, about 7 miles northeast – served by hourly trains from London Paddington (1hr 15min) and Cheltenham (1hr) – take bus #882 (Mon–Fri 5 daily, 3 on Sat; 20min).
THAMES HEAD
Between Cirencester and Tetbury, Kemble is surrounded by water meadows regarded as the source of the River Thames. From Kemble station – served by hourly trains from London Paddington (1hr 15min) and Cheltenham (1hr) – walk half a mile north to the Thames Head Inn (01285 770259, thamesheadinn.co.uk), by the railway bridge on the A433. At the pub, bar staff and a sketch-map hanging in the porch can point you towards the stroll of about fifteen minutes to Thames Head, a point by a copse in open fields, where a stone marker declares a shallow depression to be the river’s source. However, the Thames is fed by groundwater, and since the water table rises and falls, the river’s source shifts: don’t be disappointed if Thames Head is dry when you visit. The Thames Path (nationaltrail.co.uk) starts here: you can follow it all the way to Greenwich in southeast London, 184 miles away.
By bus Buses drop off in the centre, including #882 to/from Cirencester (Mon–Fri 5 daily, 3 on Sat; 35min).
Tourist office 33 Church St (Mon–Sat: April–Oct 10am–4pm; Nov–March 10am–2pm; 01666 503552, visittetbury.co.uk and cotswolds.com).
PAINSWICK is a beautiful old Cotswolds wool town easily accessible from Cheltenham. The fame of Painswick’s church stems not so much from the building itself as from the surrounding graveyard, where 99 yew trees, trimmed into bulbous lollipops, surround a collection of eighteenth-century table-tombs unrivalled in the Cotswolds.
Half a mile north of Painswick, off Gloucester Rd, GL6 6TH • Mid-Jan to Oct daily 10.30am–5pm • £7.20 • 01452 813204, www.rococogarden.org.uk
Created in the early eighteenth century, the Rococo Garden has been restored to its original form with the aid of a painting from 1748. This is England’s only example of Rococo garden design, a short-lived fashion typified by a mix of formal geometrical shapes and more naturalistic, curving lines. With a vegetable patch as an unusual centrepiece, it spreads across a sheltered gully. For the best views, walk around anti-clockwise.
Arrival and information painswick
By bus #61 runs to/from Cheltenham (hourly; 40min).
Tourist office Painswick’s summer-only tourist office (March–Oct Mon & Wed–Fri 10am–4pm, Tues 10am–1pm, Sat 10am–1pm; 01452 812278, painswicktouristinfo.co.uk and cotswolds.com) is in the gravedigger’s hut in the corner of the churchyard.
Cardynham House Tibbiwell St, GL6 6XX 01452 814006, cardynham.co.uk. Lovely guesthouse with nine modern, themed rooms, most with four-posters and all en suite. The bistro has simple, well-cooked nosh – cod loin, lamb cutlets, beef stroganoff and the like (mains £13–17). Tues–Sat noon–3pm & 6.30–9.30pm, Sun noon–3pm.£110
Olivas Friday St, GL6 6QJ 01452 814774, olivas.moonfruit.com. Brilliant deli and café that does delicious Mediterranean-style lunches – Spanish soups and stews of chicken, chickpeas and chorizo, stuffed aubergines, loads of tapas including calamari, whitebait, olives, and more, all around £12. Daily 10am–5pm.
Until the eighteenth century CHELTENHAM was a modest Cotswold town like any other, but the discovery of a spring in 1716 transformed it into Britain’s most popular spa. During Cheltenham’s heyday, a century or so later, royalty and nobility descended in droves to take the waters, which were said to cure anything from constipation to worms. These days, the town – still lively, still posh – has lots of good restaurants and some of England’s best-preserved Regency architecture.
Cheltenham also has excellent arts festivals (cheltenhamfestivals.com) – jazz (May), science (June), classical music (July) and literature (Oct), plus a separately run folk festival (Feb) – as well as world-class horse racing (main events March & Nov, plus smaller meetings throughout the season, late Oct to early May).
Cheltenham’s main street, Promenade, sweeps majestically south from the High Street, and is lined with some of the town’s grandest houses and smartest shops. It leads into Imperial Square, whose greenery is surrounded by proud Regency terraces that herald the handsome squares of the Montpellier district, which stretches south in a narrow block to Suffolk Road, making for a pleasant urban stroll.
Clarence St, GL50 3JT • Mon–Sat 9.30am–5.15pm, Sun 11am–4pm • Free • 01242 237431, thewilson.org.uk
Just off the Promenade stands The Wilson, formerly known as the Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum, now housing the tourist office, a shop selling beautiful work by the Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsmen (guildcrafts.org.uk) and four floors of exhibitions. The rebranding honours Edward Wilson, a Cheltonian who was on Scott’s ill-fated Antarctic expedition of 1912. Photographs and some of his Antarctic gear are displayed alongside a collection focused on the Arts and Crafts movement, ranging from superb furniture to ceramics, jewellery, pottery and exquisitely hand-illustrated books.
4 Clarence Rd, GL52 2AY • Tues–Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 1.30–5pm • £5 • 01242 524846, holstmuseum.org.uk
Housed in a refined Regency terrace house, the Holst Birthplace Museum was where the composer of The Planets was born, in 1874. Its intimate rooms hold plenty of Holst memorabilia – including his piano in the ground-floor music room – and give a good insight into Victorian family life.
Pittville Park, GL52 3JE • Wed–Sun 10am–4pm • Free • 01242 523852, cheltenhamtownhall.org.uk/visit-us/pittville-pump-room
About ten minutes’ walk north of the centre along handsome Evesham Road brings you into the Pittville district, where local chancer Joseph Pitt began work on a grand spa in the 1820s, soon afterwards running out of cash, though he did manage to complete the domed Pump Room before he hit the skids. A lovely Classical structure with an imposing colonnaded facade, it is now used mainly as a concert hall, but you can still sample the pungent spa waters from the marble fountain in the main auditorium for free.
Arrival and Information cheltenham
By train Cheltenham Spa station is on Queen’s Rd, southwest of the centre. Local buses run into town every 10min; otherwise it’s a 20min walk.
Destinations Birmingham New Street (2–3 hourly; 40min); Bristol (every 30min; 40min); London Paddington (hourly, some change at Swindon; 2hr 15min).
By bus National Express coaches for London and Heathrow stop on Royal Well Rd. Local buses stop on Promenade.
Destinations #46 to/from Painswick (hourly; 40min); #51 to/from Cirencester (Mon–Sat hourly; 40min); #94 to/from Gloucester (every 10min; 35min); #606 to/from Winchcombe (Mon–Sat 4 daily, 5 on Sun; 20min) & Broadway (Mon–Sat 4 daily, 2 on Sun; 1hr); #801 to/from Northleach (Mon–Sat 5 daily; 40min), Stow-on-the-Wold (Mon–Sat every 1–2hr; June–Sept also 2–3 on Sun; 55min) & Moreton-in-Marsh (Mon–Sat every 1–2hr; June–Sept also 2–3 on Sun; 1hr 10min); #853 (Mon–Sat 3–4 daily, 1 on Sun) to/from Northleach (30min), Burford (45min) & Oxford (1hr 30min).
Tourist office In The Wilson, Clarence St (Mon–Wed 9.30am–5.15pm, Thurs 9.30am–7.45pm, Fri & Sat 9.30am–5.30pm, Sun 10.30am–4pm; 01242 237431, visitcheltenham.com and cotswolds.com).
Cheltenham has plenty of hotels and guesthouses, many of them in fine Regency buildings, but you should book well in advance during the races and festivals.
Abbey14 Bath Parade, GL53 7HN 01242 516053, abbeyhotel-cheltenham.com; map. There are thirteen individually furnished rooms at this centrally located B&B, with wholesome breakfasts taken overlooking the garden. £101
Big Sleep Wellington St, GL50 1XZ 01242 696999, thebigsleephotel.com; map. Contemporary budget hotel with 59 rooms including family rooms and suites, all with a retro designer feel and high-tech gadgetry but no frills – and unusually low prices. £49
GeorgeSt George’s Rd, GL50 3DZ 01242 235751, stayatthegeorge.co.uk; map. This Grade II listed building bang in the centre, built in the 1840s, now hosts a stylishly designed 31-room hotel, with contemporary flair to the interiors. Prices are surprisingly competitive. £89
Hotel du Vin Parabola Rd, GL50 3AH 0330 016 0390, hotelduvin.com; map. Occupying a splendid old Regency mansion, this glam boutique-style hotel in the sought-after Montpellier district has 49 jazzy rooms and suites and a reputation for excellence. £109
Lypiatt House Lypiatt Rd, GL50 2QW 01242 224994, lypiatt.co.uk; map. Splendid, four-square Victorian villa set in its own grounds a short walk from the centre, with spacious rooms, open fires and a conservatory with a small bar. £111
Daffodil 18–20 Suffolk Parade, GL50 2AE 01242 700055, www.thedaffodil.com; map. Eat in the circle bar or auditorium of this breathtakingly designed 1922 Art Deco ex-cinema, where the screen has been replaced with a hubbub of chefs. Great atmosphere and first-class British cuisine (mains £15–28), as well as cocktails and a swish of style. Two-course set menu (Mon–Sat 5–6.30pm, plus Fri & Sat noon–2.30pm) from £12. Mon–Thurs 5–11pm, Fri & Sat noon–midnight.
Le Champignon Sauvage 24 Suffolk Rd, GL50 2AQ 01242 573449, lechampignonsauvage.co.uk; map. Cheltenham’s highest-rated restaurant, whose sensitively updated French cuisine has been awarded two Michelin stars, and a welter of other awards. The ambience is chic and intimate, the presentation immaculately artistic. The full menu is £53 (two courses) or £67 (three courses), and there’s a smaller set menu at £27 (two courses). Book well ahead. Tues–Sat 12.30–1.15pm & 7.30–8.30pm.
LumièreClarence Parade, GL50 3PA 01242 222200, lumiere.cc; map. Upscale, contemporary, seasonal British food in a genial ambience of informality, recently named England’s Restaurant of the Year. Cornish scallops or sexed-up corned beef prelude mains such as Gloucester Old Spot pork done two ways, partridge or local venison. Three-course menu £65 (or £35 at lunch), with six- and nine-course tasting menus available. Wed & Thurs 7–8.30pm, Fri & Sat noon–1.30pm & 7–8.30pm.
Scandinavian Coffee PodRoyal Well Place, GL50 3DN thescandinaviancoffeepod.com; map. Eye-catching little coffee house, in architecturally converted premises, that roasts its own beans and offers exquisitely prepared espressos and lattes, along with cakes and light bites (£4–6). Mon–Fri 8am–5pm, Sat 8.30am–5pm, Sun 9.30am–4pm.
Beehive 1–3 Montpellier Villas, GL50 2XE 01242 702270, thebeehivemontpellier.com; map. Popular, easy-going pub with good beer – including locally brewed ales – a friendly ambience and excellent food in the atmospheric restaurant upstairs (mains £10–15). Mon–Thurs & Sun noon–11.30pm, Fri & Sat noon–1am.
Deya Brewing Units 33/34, Lansdown Industrial Estate, Gloucester Rd, GL51 8PL 01242 269189, deyabrewing.com; map. Every Fri & Sat this craft brewery, a 2min walk behind the station, opens up its taproom to serve its range of beers on draught – it’s a unique way to sample unique beers. Fri 4–9pm, Sat 2–8pm.
John Gordons11 Montpellier Arcade, GL50 1SU 01242 245985, johngordons.co.uk; map. Lovely little independent wine bar, hidden off Montpellier’s fanciest street. Take a seat in the shop or outside in the old Victorian covered arcade to watch the world go by while sampling a glass or two of wine, alongside a plate of charcuterie, cheeses and/or antipasti (£6–14), or a range of tapas (£2–5). Mon–Wed 11am–10pm, Thurs 10.30am–11pm, Fri & Sat 10.30am–1am.
Montpellier Wine Bar Bayshill Lodge, Montpellier St, GL50 1SY 01242 527774, montpellierwinebar.co.uk; map. Stylish wine bar and restaurant with lovely bow-fronted windows on a busy little corner. Hang out at the bar with a glass of something smooth, or drop in mid-morning for brunch. Mon–Thurs & Sun 9.30am–11pm, Fri & Sat 9.30am–1am.
Cheeseworks 5 Regent St, GL50 1HE 01242 255022, thecheeseworks.co.uk; map. Posh, aromatic cheesemonger’s in the centre of town, selling from local farm cheeses to European varieties, plus ports, chutneys and accessories. Mon–Sat 9.30am–5.30pm.
The Guild at 51 51 Clarence St, GL50 3JT 01242 245215, guildcrafts.org.uk; map. Showroom and shop beside the Wilson gallery for the Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsmen – professional designers working in jewellery, ceramics, textiles, leatherwork, glass, basketry and more. Quality is excellent, which nudges prices up, but these are unusual items. Tues–Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 11am–4pm.
Proud Lion 8 St George’s Place, GL50 3JZ 01242 525636, proudlion.co.uk; map. Geeky outlet for comics, graphic novels and gaming, with a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm to boot. Mon & Sun noon–5.30pm, Tues & Thurs–Sat 10am–5.30pm, Wed 10am–6.30pm.
For centuries life was good for GLOUCESTER, ten miles west of Cheltenham. The Romans chose this spot for a garrison to guard the River Severn, while in Saxon and Norman times the Severn developed into one of Europe’s busiest trade routes. The city became a major religious centre too, but from the fifteenth century onwards a combination of fire, plague, civil war and increasing competition from rival towns sent Gloucester into a decline from which it never recovered – even the opening of a new canal in 1827 between Gloucester and Sharpness failed to revive the town’s dwindling fortunes. Today, the canal is busy once again, though this time with pleasure boats, and the Victorian docks have undergone a facelift, offering a fascinating glimpse into the region’s industrial past. The main reason for a visit, however, remains Gloucester’s magnificent cathedral, one of the finest in the country.
College Green, GL1 2LX • Daily 7.30am–6pm • Free • 01452 528095, gloucestercathedral.org.uk
The superb condition of Gloucester Cathedral is striking in a city that has lost so much of its history. The Saxons founded an abbey here, but four centuries later Benedictine monks arrived intent on building their own church; work began in 1089. As a place of worship it shot to importance after the murder of King Edward II in 1327 at nearby Berkeley Castle: Gloucester took his body, and the king’s shrine became a place of pilgrimage. The money generated helped finance the conversion of the church into the country’s first example of the Perpendicular style: the magnificent 225ft tower crowns the achievement.
Beneath the fourteenth- and fifteenth-century construction, some Norman aspects remain, and these are best seen in the nave, which is flanked by sturdy pillars and arches adorned with immaculate zigzag carvings. The choir provides the best vantage point for admiring the east window, completed in around 1350 and – at almost 80ft tall – the largest medieval window in Britain, a stunning cliff face of stained glass. Beneath it to the left is the tomb of Edward II, immortalized in alabaster and marble, while below it lies the Lady Chapel (closed at the time of writing for restoration), whose delicate carved tracery holds a staggering patchwork of windows. The innovative nature of the cathedral’s design can also be appreciated in the beautiful cloisters, completed in 1367 and featuring the first fan vaulting in the country – used to represent the corridors of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films.
Gloucester Docks, GL1 2EH • April–Oct daily 10am–5pm; Nov–March Tues–Sun 11am–3pm • £8.50 • Boat trips July, Aug & school hols daily noon, 1.30pm & 2.30pm; rest of year Sat & Sun 1.30pm; 45min • £6.50 • 01452 318200, canalrivertrust.org.uk/gloucester-waterways-museum
Less than half a mile southwest of the city centre, Gloucester Docks holds fourteen warehouses that were built to store grain following the opening of the Sharpness canal to the River Severn in 1827. Most have been turned into offices and shops, but the southernmost Llanthony Warehouse is now occupied by the Gloucester Waterways Museum, which delves into every nook and cranny of the area’s watery history, from the engineering of the locks to the lives of the horses that trod the towpaths, along with plenty of interactive displays. The museum runs regular boat trips out onto the Sharpness canal, with commentary.
Arrival and information gloucester
By train Gloucester station is on Bruton Way, a 5min walk east of the centre.
Destinations Birmingham New Street (hourly; 50min); Bristol (hourly; 40min); London Paddington (hourly, some change at Swindon; 1hr 55min).
By bus Local buses and National Express coaches for London and Heathrow Airport stop opposite the train station.
Destinations #94 for Cheltenham (every 10min; 35min); #882 for Cirencester (Mon–Fri every 1–2hr, 2 on Sat; 45min); #853 (Mon–Sat 2 daily, 1 on Sun) for Northleach (50min), Burford (1hr 5min) & Oxford (2hr).
Tourist office 28 Southgate St (Mon 10am–5pm, Tues–Sat 9.30am–5pm; 01452 396572, thecityofgloucester.co.uk and cotswolds.com).
Mulberry House 2a Heathville Rd, GL1 3DP 01452 720079, the-mulberry-house.co.uk; map. Decent B&B in a modern family home roughly 10min walk northeast of the centre. Two en-suite doubles are enhanced with quality breakfasts. Cash only. £60
New Inn 16 Northgate St, GL1 1SF 01452 522177, newinn.relaxinnz.co.uk; map. Though this inn’s 33 rooms are pretty basic, with bland decor and corporate furniture, their location above an impressively historic pub (see below) is a big plus. £55
Café René 31 Southgate St, GL1 1TS 01452 309340, caferene.co.uk; map. This lively, fancifully decorated central pub serves decent burgers and steaks, with plenty for vegetarians (mains £9–14), plus lighter lunches and great barbecues in summer (Sun). Live blues, jazz and acoustic music twice a week, and after 11pm on weekend nights the cellar bar turns into a club (£2 admission), with loud local DJs. Mon–Thurs & Sun 11am–midnight, Fri & Sat 11am–4am.
New Inn 16 Northgate St, GL1 1SF 01452 522177, newinn.relaxinnz.co.uk; map. Pop into this fourteenth-century pub in the city centre to sup a pint of one of their several cask ales and have a gander at the preserved interior – this is Britain’s most complete surviving medieval courtyard tavern, ringed by galleries (and, reputedly, haunted). You can stay here, too (see above). Mon–Thurs 11am–11pm, Fri & Sat 11am–midnight, Sun noon–10.30pm.£55
So Thai Longsmith St, GL1 2HJ 01452 535185, so-thai.co.uk; map. This Thai restaurant is holding onto its reputation for quality and authenticity. The decor features vaulted brickwork, service is attentive and the food – including unusual northern Thai pork curry with pineapple, and lamb massaman curry – is expertly prepared. Mains £10–16, two-course lunch menu £10. Tues–Sun noon–3pm & 6–11pm.
