Things to do
in Burford

Burford has plenty to fill a longer visit. St John the Baptist's Church, at the bottom of the hill near the river, is worth stepping into for its scale alone, a legacy of the town's wool-trading years. Roughly midway up the High Street, The Tolsey, the early sixteenth-century market house where traders once paid their tolls, now houses the Tolsey Museum, a small local museum whose themed displays tell that same trading history. Number 31 is another historic address worth a glance.

Shopping runs the length of the high street and beyond. Galleries turn up at regular intervals: Cotswold Contemporary, Brian Sinfield Gallery and Drang all show contemporary work, while The Stone Gallery combines jewellery with art, sculpture and design pieces. For antiques, Manfred Schotten deals in sporting kit and club-room curiosities, Antiques @ The George gathers several dealers under one roof, and Burford Antiques & Interiors adds a further stop for browsing.

Independent shops fill in the gaps: Lynne's Shop, Lucky & Gray, Three French Hens and Cotswold Glass & Crafts for gifts, Sahara, The Oxford Shirt Co, Francolini and Hector & Queen for clothing, Delanns jewellery for jewellery, and Mad Hatter Book Shop if you want something to read on the way home. Amanda Hanley on the High Street pairs an interiors showroom with a lifestyle deli, and Burford Garden Company is a further stop if you're travelling by car. Burford Golf Club, just outside the town, gives you an outdoor option beyond the shopfronts.

At the bottom of the hill, the ground levels out towards the River Windrush, and a walk along the water gives you a break from the shopfronts before the climb back up into town. The stretch by the town is easy to fit in alongside a wander around the high street, and longer riverside routes continue towards Fulbrook, Widford and Swinbrook, though the paths beyond town can be muddy or flooded after wet weather.

For cyclists, the National Byway, a signed long-distance cycling route, follows the Windrush valley through Burford, which makes the town a useful stop or starting point for a longer ride. The Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire section listed here runs on through quiet lanes towards Bledington and Kingham, so it's a good option if you want to link Burford with the wider Cotswolds landscape rather than just the town centre.

The villages around Burford, including Fulbrook, Upton, Signet, Widford, Taynton and Swinbrook, are close enough to fold into a walk or short drive, and each offers its own stretch of quiet lanes and countryside beyond the main street.

The high street has enough pubs, cafes and bakeries that you're never far from somewhere to stop. The Mermaid and The Angel are traditional pubs where locals and visitors share the bar, and The Cotswold Arms is a Grade II listed inn offering the same kind of welcome. For something with a kitchen alongside a room to stay, the Golden Pheasant Inn and the Bull, a historic coaching inn, both double up as places to eat.

For a lunch stop between shops, The Priory sits centrally and makes a sensible base before the climb back up the hill. Daytime options include Hunters Cakery and Bakery on the Hill, two separate bakeries, for something sweet, while Nutmeg & Thyme cafe on the High Street and Thyme & Lovage, down by the river at Warwick Hall, do sandwiches, light bites and a proper sit-down with tea or coffee.

Burford has enough beds that you can base yourself here for several days of exploring the wider Cotswolds. On the high street itself, Burford House, Bull and Highway Burford are central hotels and inns right among the shops, and The Prince of Burford offers a similarly central position. The Golden Pheasant Inn works well if you want an inn-style stay without feeling stuck in a tourist resort.

For bed and breakfast, Greyhounds Bed & Breakfast sits close to the centre of town, and Burford Lodge is a short walk out on the Oxford Road. Between the hotels and the B&Bs, you've a reasonable spread of options whether you're stopping for one night or using Burford as a base for the surrounding villages.

Burford makes a good base for the villages that surround it, several of which are close enough to reach on foot or by a short drive. Fulbrook and Upton are the closest, both under a mile away, followed by Signet and Widford a little further out, then Taynton and Swinbrook. Each has its own quiet character away from Burford's high street, and together they give you a fuller sense of this part of the Cotswolds.

Further afield, within about ten miles, you'll find villages including Westwell, Holwell, Asthall, Shilton, Upper Milton, Worsham, Asthall Leigh and Fordwells, the town of Carterton, and, just over the county line in Gloucestershire, Little Barrington, Great Barrington and Windrush, all worth knowing about if you're extending your stay beyond Burford itself.