A place in the world
Kingham
Kingham was once voted England's favourite village, and it has spent the years since being comfortable about it: a green, a good church, two well-known pubs, and a station that puts London ninety minutes down the line. Here is what is worth doing in Kingham, when to come, and why the trains shaped it more than the wool ever did.
At a glance
- Where
- Kingham, Oxfordshire, in the Evenlode valley near the Gloucestershire border. Chipping Norton about four miles east, Stow about five west.
- Best time to visit
- Any time; it is a quiet residential village rather than a sight, busiest only when its gastropubs are full on a weekend.
- How long to spend
- An hour for the village itself, longer if you walk the Evenlode country or pair it with Daylesford.
- Parking
- On-street parking by the green, and a pay-and-display car park at the railway station a mile out.
- Getting there
- Kingham has its own station on the Cotswold Line, with direct trains from London Paddington in around ninety minutes; this is the village's chief asset. The station is about a mile south of the green. By car, off the B4450.
- Dog friendly
- Yes. The pubs keep dog-friendly rooms and the surrounding walks are good on the lead.
- Family friendly
- Yes for a quiet village stay and country walks, though there are no attractions laid on.
Things to do in Kingham
The village green and St Andrew's Church
The heart of Kingham is its green, ringed by seventeenth- and eighteenth-century stone cottages, with the medieval church of St Andrew above it, its Perpendicular west tower the oldest thing in the village. It is a place to walk slowly and not much more, which is the point.
England's favourite village
Kingham was named England's favourite village by Country Life magazine in 2004, after a judged competition, and the title has clung to it ever since. The judges singled out its valley setting and, unusually, its own railway station, which is a fair clue to what the village is really about.
Kingham station and the London line
The station, a mile out of the village, opened in 1909 and put London within easy reach, which has shaped Kingham more than the wool trade ever did. It is the reason a certain kind of Londoner keeps a house here, and the reason the Friday trains arrive with the week still on them.
The walking country
Kingham sits in gentle Evenlode countryside, and the real thing to do is walk it. Circular routes of a few miles run out through the fields, including a well-trodden loop to Daylesford and back.
Daylesford
Two miles down the lane is Daylesford, the most famous farm shop in England, with its café, cookery school and spa. It is not in Kingham, but it is near enough that the two are spoken of together, and it is half the reason the cars here carry plates from everywhere.
Visiting Kingham: parking, getting there, when to go
Kingham lies in the Evenlode valley off the B4450, a small, prosperous village without a great deal to see and a good deal to like. The green and the church are the centre; the station and Daylesford are each a mile or so out.
Parking is on-street around the green, with a pay-and-display car park at the railway station for those arriving by car to walk or train on.
The train is the point. Kingham is one of the few Cotswold villages with its own mainline station, on the Cotswold Line, with direct services from London Paddington in around ninety minutes and on to Oxford in about twenty-five. The station sits a mile south of the village, a walk or a short drive away; the local bus is sparse.
There is little seasonal to plan around. Kingham is a place to come for a long lunch, a walk and a quiet night rather than a list of sights.
Where to eat, drink & stay
The Kingham Plough, on the green, is the relaxed local favourite, a gastropub with rooms, open fires and North Cotswold ale.
The Wild Rabbit, a smartly done Georgian inn on the edge of the village, is the Daylesford-owned, more ambitious option, with a kitchen to match its prices.
Between them Kingham eats far better than a village this size has any right to, which is a fair part of its fame.
Kingham questions, answered
- Why is Kingham called England's favourite village?
- It was named so by Country Life magazine in 2004, after a reader-nominated and judged competition. The judges praised its Evenlode-valley setting and, notably, the fact that it has its own railway station with a direct line to London.
- Can you get to Kingham by train from London?
- Yes, easily. Kingham has its own station on the Cotswold Line, with direct trains from London Paddington in around ninety minutes. The station is about a mile from the village green, which is part of why Kingham is such a popular weekend base.
- Is Daylesford near Kingham?
- Yes. The Daylesford organic farm shop is about two miles from Kingham, near enough that the two are usually mentioned in the same breath. Its sister inn, the Wild Rabbit, is in Kingham itself.
- Is Kingham worth visiting?
- Yes, if you know what it is: a quiet, handsome village best for its two celebrated gastropubs, its walking country and its easy train link, rather than for attractions. It is a place to stay and eat, not to tick off sights.
What goes on behind the converted barns and the long gravel drives is, as ever in this country, nobody's business but the people inside them.
Kingham keeps its weekends to itself.
The story moves through this world. Begin Chapter One →