What is Burford famous for?

Being called the gateway to the Cotswolds, its steep medieval High Street of wool-trade houses falling to the Windrush bridge, its antique shops, and the Burford Levellers, the Civil War mutineers held in the church in 1649.

Who were the Burford Levellers?

Soldiers of Cromwell's New Model Army who mutinied in 1649 over their pay and the cause they were fighting for. Cromwell's men caught them at Burford and locked some three hundred and forty in St John's church; three of their ringleaders were shot against the churchyard wall. A prisoner's name carved in the font survives, and a plaque marks the episode.

Is Burford free to visit?

Yes. The town, the High Street, the church and the ruins at Minster Lovell are all free, and so is parking. Only the Cotswold Wildlife Park south of town charges admission.

Is the Cotswold Wildlife Park in Burford?

Near it, not in it. The park sits about two miles south of the town at Bradwell Grove, though it is usually advertised as Burford's.

Things to Do in Burford, Cotswolds: A Local Field Guide

Burford calls itself the gateway to the Cotswolds, and the geography agrees: a steep High Street of wool-money houses falling to a medieval bridge over the River Windrush. Here is what is worth doing in Burford, when to come, and the country it opens onto that the High Street never shows.

At a glance

Where: Burford, Oxfordshire, on the River Windrush. Just off the A40 between Oxford and Cheltenham, Oxford about forty minutes east.
Best time to visit: Weekday mornings, or out of season. The High Street and its car park fill through summer weekends.
How long to spend: Half a day for the town. A full day if you add the Cotswold Wildlife Park or the ruins at Minster Lovell.
Parking: Free. A large car park at Guildenford, just off the High Street, and free roadside spaces where marked; the car park gets busy in summer.
Getting there: No station in the town. Nearest are Charlbury and Shipton-under-Wychwood, with direct trains from London Paddington to Charlbury in around seventy minutes, then a taxi. By car, off the A40.
Dog friendly: Yes. The riverside and the wider walks take dogs, and most of the pubs do too.
Family friendly: Yes, and more so just south of town, where the Cotswold Wildlife Park has a narrow-gauge railway and an adventure playground.

Things to do in Burford

The High Street and the medieval bridge

The whole point of Burford is the descent. A wide High Street of Cotswold stone, Georgian fronts over older timber, runs steeply down to a three-arched medieval bridge over the Windrush. It has carried trade for more than nine hundred years and is best walked from the top down, with the valley opening in front of you.

St John the Baptist Church

A great medieval wool church, paid for by the merchants whose money built the town, with a guild chapel and a memorial to Edmund Harman, barber-surgeon to Henry VIII. Its hardest history is the Levellers, below.

The Burford Levellers

In May 1649, after the Civil War, soldiers of Cromwell's New Model Army who called themselves Levellers mutinied over pay and the cause they had been made to serve. Cromwell's men caught them at Burford and locked some three hundred and forty in the church; three ringleaders were shot against the churchyard wall. One prisoner, Anthony Sedley, carved his name and the word Prisner into the font, where it can still be read. A plaque on the church marks the three who died.

The Tolsey Museum

Halfway down the hill stands the Tolsey, a Tudor toll house raised on stone pillars, where the medieval market was reckoned and the town's tolls were collected. It holds the local museum now, with the borough maces and a doll's house modelled on a Burford merchant's home.

Cotswold Wildlife Park & Gardens

About two miles south of the town, in the grounds of a Victorian manor, with rhinos, big cats and a walled garden, a narrow-gauge railway and an adventure playground for younger visitors. It opened in 1970 and is usually advertised as Burford's, though it sits out at Bradwell Grove.

Minster Lovell Hall

A short drive down the Windrush, the riverside ruins of a fifteenth-century manor, free to walk, with a complete medieval dovecote standing beside the broken great hall. It was once the home of Francis, Viscount Lovell, an ally of Richard III, and English Heritage keeps it open in daylight.

Visiting Burford: parking, getting there, when to go

Burford sits just off the A40, the Oxford to Cheltenham road, where the Windrush valley meets the edge of the wolds. The town is walkable end to end, though the High Street is genuinely steep, and the river bridge at the bottom is the turning point.

Parking is free. The main car park is at Guildenford, a short walk off the High Street, with free roadside spaces where they are marked; the car park fills on summer weekends, so come earlier in the day. On-street time limits have been under review locally, so read the signs before you leave the car.

Burford has no railway station. The nearest are Charlbury and Shipton-under-Wychwood, both on the line from London Paddington, with Charlbury reached direct in around seventy minutes; a taxi covers the last few miles. A local bus links Burford to the nearby Cotswold towns on certain days only, so check before you rely on it.

Come on a weekday or out of season if you can. The town in summer is a slow file of traffic down the hill for the shopfronts and the view, and it is a better place an hour after they have gone.

Where to eat, drink & stay

The Lamb Inn, tucked off the hill on Sheep Street, is the long-established one, a fifteenth-century inn with a well-regarded kitchen and a garden behind.

The Highway Inn, on the High Street itself, is the older, beamed and flagstoned sort of pub, with rooms upstairs, and an easy place to stop on the walk down.

Huffkins began as a Cotswold bakery in 1890 and keeps its Burford tea room in a listed building on the High Street, which is where to go for the cream tea rather than the pint.

Burford questions, answered

What is Burford famous for?: Being called the gateway to the Cotswolds, its steep medieval High Street of wool-trade houses falling to the Windrush bridge, its antique shops, and the Burford Levellers, the Civil War mutineers held in the church in 1649.
Who were the Burford Levellers?: Soldiers of Cromwell's New Model Army who mutinied in 1649 over their pay and the cause they were fighting for. Cromwell's men caught them at Burford and locked some three hundred and forty in St John's church; three of their ringleaders were shot against the churchyard wall. A prisoner's name carved in the font survives, and a plaque marks the episode.
Is Burford free to visit?: Yes. The town, the High Street, the church and the ruins at Minster Lovell are all free, and so is parking. Only the Cotswold Wildlife Park south of town charges admission.
Is the Cotswold Wildlife Park in Burford?: Near it, not in it. The park sits about two miles south of the town at Bradwell Grove, though it is usually advertised as Burford's.

The country on either side of the valley is another matter. Lanes climb away from the Windrush into farmland that no coach turns into, past gateways with no names on them and houses that prefer it that way.

Burford is the way in. Most of what it leads to is not on the High Street.

The story moves through this world. Begin Chapter One →