David Howard, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Bourton-on-the-Hill
The village that climbs the A44 west of Moreton-in-Marsh, with a Grade I church open every day, Bourton House Garden and its tithe barn of 1570, the Horse and Groom, and Sezincote and Batsford at the foot of the hill.
- Nearest station
- Moreton-in-Marsh, about 2 miles, then the Stagecoach 1 or 2 bus to St Lawrence's, or a taxi
- Parking
- On the main street, little of it, and lorries pass close. Bourton House Garden's free car park is for its visitors; Batsford's car parks are below the village
- Best time
- Late summer weekdays for Bourton House; it and Sezincote shut at weekends
- When it's busy
- The road, at any time; the village itself is never crowded
- Dogs
- Not in Bourton House Garden or Sezincote; on a short fixed lead at Batsford Arboretum
About Bourton-on-the-Hill
Bourton-on-the-Hill is the village the A44 climbs through on its way out of Moreton-in-Marsh, about 1.5 miles (2.4km) west of the town. Its houses step up the slope on either side of the road, and the road is the one honest drawback: it is the old London to Worcester road, and its traffic runs through the middle of the village. Below the hill lie two of the North Cotswolds' great estates, Sezincote and Batsford, and inside the village is a garden that opens only on weekdays.
What to see
St Lawrence's Church, Grade I, is open every day from about 9am to 5pm, kept open by volunteers, with drinks and biscuits inside. It was built by 1157, when Westminster Abbey held the manor, and its south arcade keeps late twelfth-century work. The chancel and north aisle are fourteenth century, the south aisle, clerestory and tower fifteenth. The dedication changed from St Mary to St Lawrence in the fifteenth century, and the church says the suffix "on-the-Hill", for the parish's high ground, has been used since then; it also tells the village apart from Bourton-on-the-Water. At the east end are a Winchester bushel and peck dated 1816, the standard measures of their day, and the tower holds six bells cast between 1677 and 1873, rehung in 1974 on a frame the church says is among the oldest in the country.
Bourton House Garden is a private garden of terraces and deep borders of tender perennials, with a topiary walk, a White Garden and a raised eighteenth-century walk over the hills, open from April to mid-October from Tuesday to Friday only. Beside it stands the tithe barn of 1570, listed Grade I, carrying the initials R P for Richard Palmer, and the house, rebuilt in about 1700 and listed Grade II*. A seven-acre field of specimen trees planted in 1994 and 1995 opened to visitors in 2013.
At the foot of the hill, Sezincote is the Mughal-style house of 1805 with a copper onion dome, whose water garden opens from March to November on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and bank holiday Mondays, and Batsford Arboretum, 60 acres of hillside trees on the Batsford estate, opens every day, with a café in its free visitor centre.
A day here
Make it a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday between April and October, when everything is open. Start at St Lawrence's when it opens at 9am and look for the bushel, then walk up the hill to Bourton House Garden, which opens at 10am, and take coffee in the Tithe Barn café from May to September. Lunch at the Horse and Groom. In the afternoon drive the 2 miles to Sezincote for the water garden, which opens at 11am, or walk down to Batsford for the arboretum and the free visitor centre.
Walks
No walk of ours starts in the village, but two pass below it. Blockley and Batsford Park comes over the hill from Blockley, drops to Batsford's church and crosses the park past the arboretum, 4.9 miles (7.9km) with two climbs and deep mud in winter. Moreton-in-Marsh and Batsford is the stile-free 4-mile (6.4km) loop from Moreton's war memorial along the deer park below Batsford House. The A44 has a pavement through the village but it is a road to cross with care.
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Food and drink
The Horse and Groom, an eighteenth-century inn with an ashlar front, listed Grade II, was bought by Donnington Brewery and reopened on 28 June 2024 under the chefs Nathan Eades and Liam Goff, who had run the Halfway at Kineton. It pours Donnington ales and serves pub cooking, with lunch from noon to 2.30pm Monday to Saturday (to 4.15pm on Sundays) and dinner from 5.30pm to 8.45pm Monday to Saturday (6pm to 8.30pm on Sundays). It has bedrooms upstairs that all take dogs, listed on Booking.com with check-in from 3pm and check-out by 11am, and a large garden with open and sheltered seating and views over the countryside. Bourton House's café in the Tithe Barn serves drinks, light lunches and cakes from May to September, with a pop-up café for drinks and cakes in April and October, and Batsford's Garden Terrace Café is in the arboretum's free visitor centre, open every day.
When to come
Bourton House is at its fullest in late summer, when the borders of tender perennials peak. Both close at the weekend, Bourton House from Saturday to Monday and on public holidays, Sezincote on Saturdays and Sundays for weddings, so plan a midweek day. Bourton House shuts in mid-October and Sezincote at the end of November, while Batsford, open every day, is the one for spring and autumn trees and for any weekend.
Last verified 1 November 2026 by our editors
Part of
The North Cotswolds
The high wolds between Chipping Campden and Bourton-on-the-Water: the Fosse Way towns, the Windrush villages, the Slaughters and the escarpment at Broadway.
Things to do in Bourton-on-the-Hill
Parks and gardens · Moreton-in-Marsh
Batsford Arboretum
A 60-acre arboretum on the Batsford estate near Moreton-in-Marsh, with a free visitor centre, café and garden centre, open every day and best in spring and autumn.
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Cotswold Falconry Centre
Wildlife and nature · Moreton-in-Marsh
About 150 birds of prey of more than 60 species beside Batsford Arboretum near Moreton-in-Marsh, with three flying displays a day from mid-February to mid-November.
Family-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
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Broadway Tower
Historic houses and heritage · Broadway
James Wyatt's folly of 1798 on Beacon Hill above Broadway, with a museum in the tower, a red deer park, two cafés and a Cold War nuclear bunker.
Family-friendly · Dog-friendly · Walker-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
Where to stay in Bourton-on-the-Hill
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Moreton-in-Marsh Club Campsite
Camping · Moreton-in-Marsh
The Caravan and Motorhome Club's site on Bourton Road, Moreton-in-Marsh, open all year, with 184 touring pitches, ten pods and a dog walk.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly · Walker-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
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The Swan Inn, Moreton
Inn · Moreton-in-Marsh
An inn with eight rooms in a Grade II listed nineteenth-century building on Moreton-in-Marsh's High Street, with pub food five days a week.
Verified Oct 2026
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The Manor House
Hotel · Moreton-in-Marsh
A Grade II listed hotel on Moreton-in-Marsh's High Street with 34 bedrooms, a walled garden and a two-Rosette restaurant, dogs welcome.
Dog-friendly · Car-free · Wedding venues
Verified Nov 2026
Where to eat and drink in Bourton-on-the-Hill
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The Horse and Groom
Pubs · Bourton-on-the-Hill
A Grade II listed inn at the top of Bourton-on-the-Hill, owned by Donnington Brewery and run since June 2024 by the chefs Nathan Eades and Liam Goff, with a Michelin Bib Gourmand, a large garden and dog-friendly rooms.
Dog-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
Walks in and around Bourton-on-the-Hill
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Blockley and Batsford Park
Walk · Starts in Blockley · 2 hrs, 15 mins · Circular · Dog-friendly
A 4.9-mile (7.9km) circular walk from Bell Lane in Blockley, about two and a quarter hours of moderate walking with two climbs and deep mud in winter. It goes up Pasture Lane, down to Batsford's church, through Batsford Park past the arboretum, and back over the hill.
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Blockley and Norcombe Wood
Walk · Starts in Blockley · 1 hr, 15 mins · Circular
A 3-mile (5km) circular walk from Park Road at the top of Blockley, about an hour and a quarter, moderate with one longer climb and muddy woods. It goes up beside Northwick Park into Norcombe Wood, then down the brook valley and back through the old silk-mill village.
Sights in and around Bourton-on-the-Hill
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St Mary's Church, Batsford
Sight · Church · Moreton-in-Marsh
St Mary's is the estate church of Batsford, near Moreton-in-Marsh: rebuilt in 1861 and 1862 for the Mitford family in a neo-Norman style, with a spired tower, an apsidal chancel, Kempe glass and monuments to the Freemans and Mitfords. Grade II*.
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Russell Spring, Blockley
Sight · Monument · Blockley
The Russell Spring is a small gabled niche on Blockley's High Street, inscribed "Water from the Living Rock God's Precious Gift to Man", built in the middle of the nineteenth century by men out of work in winter, in the wall below a raised walkway. Grade II; seen at any time.
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St Peter and St Paul, Blockley
Sight · Church · Blockley
St Peter and St Paul is Blockley's church by the square, founded about 800 by its own account: a late twelfth-century chancel, medieval brasses, Childe and Rushout monuments and a tower of 1725 to 1727 attributed to the Woodwards. Grade II*, open daily and Father Brown's church.
Stories about Bourton-on-the-Hill
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The Mitford sisters in the Cotswolds
Story · History · 8 minute read
Where the six Mitford sisters grew up in the Cotswolds, from Batsford to Asthall Manor and Swinbrook, the graves of Nancy, Pamela, Diana and Unity at St Mary's, the Swan, and the politics that divided the family, told plainly.
Getting to Bourton-on-the-Hill
- By bus
- Stagecoach 1, 1A, 2 and 2A (Stratford to Moreton station) stop by St Lawrence's about every two hours, every day. Pulhams 608, Thursdays only: once each way to Cheltenham or Campden.
- By train
- Moreton-in-Marsh, about 2 miles, on the Cotswold Line from London Paddington in about an hour and a half, then the bus or a taxi.
- By car
- On the A44 between Moreton-in-Marsh and Broadway. Check for closures: in October 2026 Sezincote warned that the A44 was shut at Moreton's roundabout by the Swan, with a diversion by the A429 and A424.
- Parking
- On the main street, little of it. Bourton House Garden has a free car park opposite its entrance, locked by 5pm. At Batsford, leave the lower car park by 5.15pm; the road gate locks at 5.30pm.
Access
The main street is steep and the pavements narrow. The church is open daily with a toilet; Bourton House puts its own access at 60 to 70 per cent because of steps and gravel
| Moreton-in-Marsh station | 1.8 mi |
|---|---|
| Batsford Arboretum | 1.6 mi |
| Sezincote | 2.5 mi |
| Blockley | 2.5 mi |
| Stow-on-the-Wold | 6 mi |
| Chipping Campden | 7 mi |
Places near Bourton-on-the-Hill
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Moreton-in-MarshA market town on the Fosse Way with a station on the line from London, so the easiest place to start a car-free Cotswold trip, with Batsford Arboretum close by.
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BlockleyA village of former silk mills along a brook in a steep valley near Moreton-in-Marsh, with a Norman chancel in its church, a spring under a raised pavement, two short walks from its lanes and Father Brown's Kembleford on screen.
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LongboroughA hillside village above the Evenlode valley between Stow and Moreton, with a 500-seat opera house in a garden, a Grade I church of knights and Cockerells, a Donnington pub on the green and a community shop.
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Chipping CampdenA wool town with a High Street of honey stone, a 1627 Market Hall, a great wool church and almshouses, and the start of the Cotswold Way on its doorstep.