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Burford

Burford in the Cotswolds is a small market town much as it was in the Elizabethan era of the sixteenth century. The preservation has nothing to do with sentimental government schemes, but is actually thanks to the decline of the town in the nineteenth century when both the main road from Oxford to Cheltenham, and then the railway passed it by. The town simply stopped in time, and the happy result of this for tourists is the chance to visit a market town from the time of Sir Francis Drake, the Armada, and Shakespeare. If you visit Burford bear in mind as you walk around that in Elizabethan times this was a major town, the third richest town in Oxfordshire, behind only Oxford itself, and Henley. While those towns had economic good fortune and continued to change and grow, Burford missed out and is now a living museum.

Directions: From London follow the M40 towards Oxford. At Oxford take the A40 signposted to Cheltenham. Click here for an interactive road and satellite map centred on Burford.

Contact: Tourist Information Centre. The Brewery, Sheep Street, Burford

phone: +44 (0) 1993 823558

e-mail: Cotswolds@westoxon.gov.uk