Car-free adventures aroundKinghamThe Cotswolds
Country pubs and farm cafés, bluebell woods and blossoming orchards, a tiny museum and a big demonstration farm, a wild garden, a long-distance path, a massive festival… The Oxfordshire village of Kingham has a lot to offer. And, with a direct railway from London and Reading, you don’t need to drive to get there. Explore by train, bus, on foot or by bike and see more of the countryside along the way.
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1. How to get to Kingham without a car
Hourly GWR trains call at Kingham station, connecting it to London Paddington and Reading. In the other direction, the trains head for Malvern and Hereford. It’s a beautiful railway, passing some spectacular countryside, and sometimes referred to as The Cotswold Line.
- How do I get from Kingham railway station to Kingham village? It’s an easy mile’s walk from the station to St Andrew’s Church at the start of the village. If you’d rather avoid walking for any reason, you can book a taxi or there are a few weekday options by bus if you plan ahead. Bus V19 stops once a day (currently at 9.17am) on the road near Kingham railway station (see 2 below) and arrives at Kingham village green about half an hour later after a scenic tour of several local villages! The bus back currently leaves the green at 11.50am.
- The walk is mainly along a road, but there is a pavement all the way and pleasant surroundings. Turn left out of the station and left again along the pavement beside the B4450. Reaching a junction, turn left along the lane signed Kingham.
- At the next junction, follow the road right past the recreation ground. When the pavement ends, you can follow the tarmac path near the road or climb the stile and take a grassy footpath diagonally left across a little field and two more stiles. Both paths converge near the corner of the churchyard, where you can continue along the pavement and visit the church, village shop, and pubs, The Plough and The Wild Rabbit. Look out in the church for the carved heads and gold bosses on the ceiling and the unusual stone pews.
- Both pubs serve great food and the Big Feastival takes place near Kingham each August so Kingham is a bit of a foodie destination. And it’s also rich in history, nature and wildlife. Read on for more!
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2. Visit FarmED
Fruit, veg and wildlife coexist on this 107-acre demonstration farm not far from Kingham. FarmED is a place where people can meet and talk about sustainable methods of farming and it also has a cafe and self-guided farm walk that anyone can visit.
- How do I get to FarmED without a car? The pretty lanes around Kingham are perfect for cycling and the FarmED cafe would make a great stop on a bicycle tour of the area. But there are other car-free ways to reach it on weekdays, when it’s open, if you plan ahead.
- Bus V19 stops once a day (currently at 9.17am) on the road near Kingham railway station. This connects with the 7.50am departure from London Paddington. Simply turn left out of the station, stroll down the short lane to Station Road and stick your hand out when you see the bus. Tell the driver you’d like to visit FarmED and they will drop you near the entrance. Just opposite the road from Lyneham, where the bus turns onto the main road, you’ll see a footpath leading into FarmED. If you miss the bus or arrive on a different train, Kingham taxis could help you.
- Arriving in FarmED, head towards the buildings and you’ll find the FarmED cafe, in a glass-walled wooden building with big pizza oven, which is open Monday to Friday from 9am and serves produce grown on the farm. Don’t miss the fabulous turbo beans with greens on sourdough (see a photo in the gallery below!) They come with fresh lettuce from the farm and other ingredients grown and made locally.
- Pick up a map in the cafe for the self-guided walk around the farm, which takes you to the heritage orchard, the pond, the productive polytunnels and more. At each point, there is a post with a QR code, which you can scan to learn more about each area. It’s particularly lovely in spring, when the hundred-odd different varieties of apple tree are blossoming along with pears, plums, cherries, quince, mulberries and more!
- And when is the bus back? The bus should be turning off the main road down the long, straight road to Lyneham at around 12.15pm and, in theory, you could flag it down. But a pleasanter option than waiting on the main road would be to stroll down through fields of sheep to the pretty village of Ascott-under-Wychwood. If you head for the far-right corner of the field just above the orchard, you’ll see a sign with an arrow and can follow a path down through the fields to the lane that leads to the village. It’s just over a mile from the farm to the village, but allow at least 45 minutes for a leisurely stroll.
- Bus V19 stops in Ascott-under-Wychwood on Shipton Road by the church around midday and arrives at Kingham railway station about 20 minutes later. Bus 210 to Witney stops on the other side of the road at 1pm. At 5.51pm there is a train from Ascott back to Kingham if you want to make a day of it.
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3. Explore Shipton-under-Wychwood
Two village pubs, an ancient church, a wild garden, a monument to a maritime tragedy and lots of pretty cottages make neighbouring Shipton another fascinating place to visit.
- How do I get to Shipton without a car? Only a couple of trains a day stop at Shipton station (and none on Sundays) so you do need to plan ahead. From Kingham Station, it’s a lovely 4.5-mile walk along the Oxfordshire Way or a short bike ride (see 4 below for more details). There are currently trains from Kingham at 7.48am and 6.28pm and back from Shipton at 7.16pm. From Kingham village green, bus V19 runs to Shipton on weekdays at 11.50am (get the train or walk back).
- Bus 210 also runs to Shipton from Witney on weekdays for a morning excursion – it’s currently best to leave Witney’s Market Square (Stop D) at 09.13 and hop back on the bus opposite Shipton Post Office at 12.55pm.
- With interesting monuments and carvings, St Mary’s church in Shipton is definitely worth a look. It’s mostly thirteenth-century with some Norman capitals on the big pillars on the chancel arch and a fancy fifteenth-century pulpit that was carved from a single block of stone. Don’t miss the octagonal font with Green Man faces carved into it and a rather time-worn bear and ragged staff, emblem of the Earls of Warwick.
- Nearby, on the village green, you’ll find a sandstone obelisk with columns at the corners and a lion’s head spout. This is the Cospatrick Memorial, a Victorian fountain that commemorates parishioners who died when a ship called the Cospatrick caught fire on her way to New Zealand in 1874.
- Wychwood Wild Garden is a little further along the main road. Follow the pavement until you reach impressive wrought iron gates on both sides of the road. Turn right along the tall avenue of lime trees to reach the garden, which is free to enter. The longer Kingham to Shipton walk below (see 4) also visits the garden.
- The Crown and The Wychwood Inn are both good places to stop for refreshments. The Wychwood is about 20 minutes walk from the station so you can stop off for a drink before heading for the train – as long as you leave plenty of time to get to the station!
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4. Walk to Shipton and get the train back
Kingham makes a fabulous base for walking and cycling – here are four different ways to explore on foot or by bike. Nature-lovers and birdwatchers will enjoy any of these walks, but especially this first one – from Kingham to Shipton with the option of looping through Foxholes nature reserve, which is carpeted in bluebells and other spring flowers in April and May. The walk also passes grand manor houses, ancient churches and a farm café near the halfway point.
- Turn left out of Kingham Station and then right along the road. Keep straight for ½ mile, over the river and turn left onto the lane signed Foscot. Cross the white-railed bridge and turn left onto the well-signed Oxfordshire Way. You can follow the Oxfordshire Way 4.5 miles or so to Shipton…
- Or you can follow the 7 mile route on this map, which takes you through the nature reserve and past some of the standing stones in Milton-under-Wychwood’s Heritage Trail with lines of verse engraved near each stone. This route also takes you past Bruern Farms café, which is great for a halfway cup of tea and cake or soup and sandwich. When you get to Shipton, by whichever route, you can explore (see 3 above) and then follow the Oxfordshire Way to the station, leaving plenty of time for the train.
- Not very many trains stop at Shipton station (and none on Sundays) so do plan ahead. If you get to Shipton early, you can stop for a drink in one of the village pubs.
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5. Walk to Churchill and back
This 3.5-mile circular walk is perfect for history buffs. It passes the line of an old railway and the site of a lost village, the “new” All Saints church, built in 1826 and late eighteenth-century The Chequers pub with its wooden beams and flagstone floors.
- Start from the village green in Kingham, lined with lovely old houses, and walk beside Churchill Road leading out of the village with great views ahead. After a few minutes, you’ll come to a stile and footbridge on your right. This path can get quite boggy in winter, when you might prefer to stick to the road.
- Look out for remnants of the dismantled Banbury to Cheltenham railway, which closed in 1964. You can still find some old embankments along the way.
- With a view across the site of an old lost village, demolished by a fire in 1684, there is an amazing little museum in the old chancel of Churchill’s medieval church, open on summer weekends. The Churchill and Sarsden Heritage Centre uses interactive and digital displays to tell the story of the village. It’s open 2.30-4.30pm on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays from April to September.
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6. Walk to Daylesford and back
Here’s another great walk for food-lovers! Heading out from Kingham Station along the lane and then the Diamond Way and back across the fields, this 6.5-mile circuit passes some great pubs along the way. There’s The King’s Head in the stupendously picturesque village of Bledington and wisteria-hung The Wild Rabbit in Kingham. For a shorter walk via Bledington, try this 3.5-mile circuit.
- At the half-way point, you can find the cafe, farm shop and pizzeria at Daylesford Farm. You could eat local burgers or Cotswold salads and drink fancy cocktails or kefir made with milk from the Friesian dairy cows on Daylesford farm.
- You can find more details and another map here.
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7. Cycle tours and more
The Cotswold lanes are great for intrepid cyclists, letting you explore a wider area than you can on foot. There is lots to see along the way and plenty of places to stop for refreshments.
- You could take a self-guided route from Kingham station like this one via Bourton-on-the-Water, passing pubs, a farm park and a brewery.
- If you book ahead, Cotswold Electric Bikes also run cycle tours from Kingham station on particular days. Their 28-mile tour takes in Stow-on-the-Wold and Bourton-on-the-Water.
- Not a cyclist? Bus 802 runs from Kingham railway station forecourt to Stow-on-the-Wold, Monday to Saturday, passing through beautiful Bledington along the way…
Once you slow down and begin to discover the Cotswold countryside without a car, you’ll find all kinds of pleasures to explore: the blossom from a bus window, the lambs in the fields, a pint in a country pub on a summer walk or a bracing winter hike, or a snooze in the train on the way home.
