Dean
A handful of houses down the lanes between Charlbury and Chadlington, small enough that you can drive through it without realising you have. It is quietly better connected than it looks - a former prime minister lives here, and an American vice president picked this corner for a holiday - but there is nothing laid on for visitors, no car park and no tea room. Just a lane, honey-stone cottages and a great deal of sky. Hardly anyone comes, which is rather the point.
The Rollright Stones
A stone circle older than Stonehenge’s famous sarsens, sat quietly on a ridge with barely a soul about. Legend says you can never count the stones twice and get the same number - try it. A stop on our Classic Full Day Tour.
The Cotswold Guy
A farm shop in Guiting Power, built of honey-coloured stone and sat on a quiet village corner where nobody thinks to look for one. There is a kitchen alongside and a courtyard garden round the back, and on a warm day it is a far better place to stop than the back of any queue. This is what a hidden gem actually looks like, and we are happy to include it in your day.
Great Barrington
A short drive through and nothing more, which is exactly the appeal. A handful of honey-stone cottages down a quiet lane, unspoiled in a way the better known villages gave up years ago, and an old stone village hall that looks like something out of a storybook or an old film set. There is nothing laid on and nothing to queue for. We take the lane slowly and let you look.
Swinbrook
A tiny village in the Windrush valley that most visitors drive straight past on their way to Burford. The churchyard holds the graves of the Mitford sisters, there is a proper pub, and there is not a coach park in sight. An old set of village stocks still stands here too, which makes for a photograph nobody else will come home with.