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Nine miles north of Lechlade you get your first real taste of the
Cotswolds at BURFORD , where the magnificent High Street, which slopes
down to the bridge over the River Windrush , holds every variety of
golden Cotswold stone. Try to avoid visiting the town in summer, when
cars and tourists battle for space, though the huge parish church ,
originally Norman but remodelled in the fifteenth century, is a delight
at any time. An unusual monument to Henry VIII's barber, Edmund Harman,
shows four Amazonian Indians, said to be the first representation of
native Americans in Britain.
Spare a morning to follow the footpath along the Windrush through
WIDBROOK , a hamlet with an idyllic medieval chapel built in the middle
of a field on the site of a Roman villa, and on to SWINBROOK , just
under three miles east of Burford. The church in this immaculate village
contains a monument showing six members of the Fettiplace family
reclining comically on their elbows: the Tudor effigies rigid and stony-faced,
their Stuart counterparts stylish and rather camp. The best place for
lunch or a drink in Swinbrook is the Swan Inn .
Burford straddles several main Cotswold routes. Buses along the A40
between Oxford and Cheltenham stop several times a day; buses along
other routes are mostly once-a-week market-day services. The tourist
office is situated in Sheep Street (April-Sept Mon-Sat 9.30am-5.30pm,
Sun 10am-3pm; Oct-March Mon-Sat 10am-4.30pm; tel 01993/823558). There
are several B&Bs , including the discreetly signed Tudor Cottage at 40
Witney St, off the main High Street, beautifully furnished with antiques
(tel 01993/823251, bunkered@compuserve.com ; £50-60), or try the Highway
Hotel at 117 High St (tel 01993/822136, £40-50). For good food the Angel
Brasserie at 14 Witney St, should satisfy; there are three themed
bedrooms as well (tel 01993/822714; £70-90).
Motorists heading to Cirencester, ten miles southwest, should take the
B4425 via BIBURY : this village is completely overrun with visitors, but
anyone interested in the early industrial age should make a point of
going to the seventeenth-century Arlington Mill , for a close-up
demonstration of the workings of water power (daily: Easter-Oct
10am-6pm; Nov-Easter 10am-5pm; £2).
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