Burford

With its medieval bridge, old stone houses and attractive Tudor and Georgian frontages, Burford is justifiably one of the most picturesque towns in England. Often referred to as the ‘Gateway to the Cotswolds’, the town was originally a fortified Anglo-Saxon ford which later grew to be an important regional crossroads and wealthy wool town.

The 16th century Tolsey building, once the meeting place for medieval merchants, now houses The Tolsey Museum, a delightful local museum illustrating the town's social and industrial past. The fine church is a real gem with many interesting memorials charting some of Burford's great families. There is also the signature, on the baptisimal font, of Antony Sedley, one of the Levellers besieged in the church in 1649 - three of the ringleaders were executed by Oliver Cromwell's men in the churchyard.

Little changed over the centuries, Burford is popular with visitors, both for its beauty and history but also for its shopping and antiques, and for the wide variety of places to eat, with restaurants, pubs and teashops...

As well as a Burford Visitor Guide (pdf 887k), there are two other walks around Burford that are available to download:
Great Barrington - Burford (pdf 136k)
Villages of the Windrush Valley (pdf 163k)

There are also several cycle rides:
The Windrush Valley Cycle Route (pdf 1.64Mb), a waymarked 17 mile route between Witney and Northleach
Burford-Bibury (pdf 159k), a 34 mile circular ride
Burford-Stow on the Wold (pdf 159k), a 38 mile circular
Burford-Southrop (pdf 190k), a 34 mile circular
Burford-Northleach (pdf 135k), a 21 mile circular ride


Further information on Burford