78 BRITAIN
RURAL BRITAIN
n discovering lush river and meadow
landscapes around ‘Wychford’, the
aspiring poet Guy in novelist Compton
Mackenzie’s Guy and Pauline (1915)
declared: “By gad, if I can’t write here,
I ought to be shot.” More familiar to us today for works
such as Whisky Galore, Mackenzie had a soft spot for
the picturesque Cotswold town of Burford (recreated
as ctional Wychford), living for a while beside the
River Windrush, upon which it stands.
Indeed, the Windrush is prone to inspire ights of
imagination in most people who view it, and the less-
explored, golden-stone villages along its length to the
north and south certainly whisper tales ripe for the telling- the perfect invitation to tour, whether walking along
routes such as the Windrush Way or by car along country
roads dancing around the river’s course.
The Windrush rises in Gloucestershire’s Cotswold
Hills above Taddington and tumbles some 40 miles in
a southeastern direction into Oxfordshire before meeting
the Thames at Newbridge.
Beginning your journey in the upper reaches of the
Windrush Valley sets the scene with visions of typical
rural loveliness: honey-coloured cottages idling around
O
the village green at Guiting Power, with two pubs at
either end; Naunton and its water meadows, 17th-century
dovecote and church.
Then it’s on to Bourton-on-the-Water, where the River
Windrush becomes the setting for the village’s annual
summer Football in the River match, making a madcap
splash since 1880. Quite what the Romans would have
thought – they once had a trading settlement here – is
anyone’s guess, but they would surely have approved of
Bourton’s ‘Venice of the Cotswolds’ nickname: a nod to
the ve bridges that span the Windrush here. In summer,
Bourton’s eclectic shops, waterside pubs and attractions
(including the breathtakingly accurate one-ninth-scale replica
model village of Bourton) bustle with visitors. Autumn,
bringing ery colour to the tree-lined river, is a quieter
time to explore, or come in winter when, naturally, the
Chamber of Commerce and villagers stand their illuminated
Christmas tree right in the middle of the Windrush.
Slipping on, the Windrush passes below the Rissingtons:
a group of villages including Wyck Rissington, where
The Planets composer Gustav Holst secured his rst job
as a church organist in 1892. Windrush village (named after
the river), Great and Little Barrington, and further a eld
Taynton are all old quarrying villages, continuing a localBelow: Bourton-
on-the-Water is
one of the prettiest
villages in England
Right: A fine example
of a honey-hued
Cotswold stone
cottage in Burford