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The River Windrush winding through reeds and meadows beside Burford in autumn

Steve Daniels, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Burford's lanes and fields

A 1.7-mile (2.7km) circular walk from Burford's free riverside car park, easy and about an hour, mostly on pavements and lanes. It climbs Witney Street and Barns Lane to a field west of the town, then comes back down Sheep Street and Priory Lane to the church.

Distance
2.7 km (1.7 mi)
Difficulty
Easy
Time
1 hr
Ascent
41 m
Circular
Circular

The route

Starts at Guildenford car park, Burford Road walkingMuddy in winter Download GPX

Map of Burford's lanes and fields: the route drawn around its start
© OpenStreetMap contributors

Elevation Highest 140 m, lowest 101 m, climb about 41 m

Burford's lanes and fields

Step by step

  1. A street of old stone houses and an inn with dormer windows

    Step 1: Witney Street and Barns Lane

    From Guildenford car park, walk up Guildenford to Witney Street, past the Great House and the Quaker meeting house, then turn up Pytt's Lane and follow Barns Lane uphill to the footpath at its end.

  2. A broad grass verge lined with lime trees in front of stone houses

    Step 2: Across the High Street

    Follow Burford footpath 7 to the top of the High Street and cross it with care; Price's Almshouses are on the far side. Carry on along footpaths 8 and 9 and then the permissive path round the playing fields to Tanners Lane.

    • Muddy in winter
  3. A quiet lane lined with a dry stone wall and autumn trees, fallen leaves along the verge

    Step 3: The fields west of the town

    From Tanners Lane take footpath 6 out across the field west of the town and round its edge, then follow the lane back to Sheep Street. Walkers report nettles and long grass here in summer and mud after rain.

    • Muddy in winter
  4. A stone cottage at the end of a lane behind a high garden wall

    Step 4: Sheep Street, Priory Lane and Church Lane

    Walk down Sheep Street past the Lamb, turn into Priory Lane past the gates of the Priory, and come out on the High Street by Falkland Hall. Cross into Church Lane, past the grammar school and the Great Almshouses, and back to Guildenford.

Sights on the way

The sights this walk passes, numbered as on the map.

  1. A long gabled Elizabethan house beyond a meadow and garden trees in spring

    Burford Priory

    Sight · Historic building · Burford

    Burford Priory is a Jacobean mansion on the site of a medieval hospital in Burford, remodelled by Speaker Lenthall in the seventeenth century, with his chapel of 1661 to 1662 beside it. Grade I; a private house, seen only from Priory Lane.

  2. A medieval stone bridge with low arches reflected in the still River Windrush

    Burford Bridge

    Sight · Bridge · Burford

    Burford Bridge carries the road over the River Windrush at the foot of Burford's High Street: four low arches with pointed cutwaters, medieval in origin and heavily remodelled in 1791. Grade II*, on the way in and out of the town.

  3. A low arched footbridge reflected in the shallow river under willows

    River Windrush

    Sight · River · The Oxfordshire Cotswolds

    The River Windrush rises on the high wolds of Gloucestershire and runs south-east through Naunton, Bourton-on-the-Water, Burford, Minster Lovell and Witney to join the Thames at Newbridge. Public footpaths follow much of it, and eight of our walks meet it.

  4. The long south side of a large stone church with an ornate porch above a churchyard of table tombs

    St John the Baptist, Burford

    Sight · Church · Burford

    St John the Baptist is Burford's great wool church by the Windrush: Norman at its core, with a fan-vaulted porch, the Tanfield and Harman monuments, and the font where a Leveller carved his name before three were shot in 1649. Grade I; open daily, free.

The walk in detail

The Burford town walk is a 1.7-mile (2.7km) circular route round Burford from the free Guildenford car park by the River Windrush. It is easy, with about 41m of climbing, mostly up Barns Lane, and takes about an hour. It passes the Great House, the Priory and the wool church, with the Lamb Inn on Sheep Street on the way.

Most of it is on pavements and lanes, with one field west of the town, so it works as a short first walk to get your bearings before a longer one.

Witney Street and the top of the town

The walk starts by climbing out of the town on Witney Street and Barns Lane. Witney Street, just above the car park, has the Great House, a town mansion of seven bays first recorded on the burgage rent roll in 1685. Its listing calls the style a subdued English Baroque, with vases and flaming urn finials below a crenellated parapet. The route passes Burford's Quaker meeting house as it turns up Pytt's Lane.

Barns Lane climbs to a footpath that crosses the top of the High Street. On the far side, Price's Almshouses are dated 1912 on the arch of the central doorway, a single-storey row built in the Cotswold style, with mullioned windows and diamond-shafted chimneys.

A row of gabled stone houses behind a grass verge and a lime tree
Sheep Street, Burford Photo: Reading Tom, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sheep Street and the Priory

After the field, the walk comes back into town on Sheep Street, past two of its inns and the Priory. The Lamb Inn has an eighteenth-century front that hides sixteenth-century features, with a mounting block beside one of its three wide entries. The Bay Tree hotel is a few doors along.

Priory Lane runs past the gates of the Priory, a Grade I house on the site of a small Augustinian hospital. Its listing traces it to about 1200 and the late sixteenth century, remodelled in the mid-seventeenth century by William Lenthall, Speaker of the House of Commons, and much reduced after 1808. His chapel of 1661 to 1662 stands beside it. The house is private; the lane gives the view.

Where Priory Lane meets the High Street, Falkland Hall is a tall town house of about 1578 with a stone oriel window on its first floor. Across the street and down the hill, the Methodist church began as a town mansion of about 1720 to 1730 for the Jordan family and became a chapel around 1849, and the Tolsey Museum, in the sixteenth-century market house, is free and opens daily from 2pm to 5pm between April and October.

Church Lane

The walk ends along Church Lane, past the grammar school and the almshouses to the church. The grammar school was rebuilt in the 1570s for Simon Wysdom, and a tablet of 1579 on the front records it. The Great Almshouses beyond were founded by Richard, Earl of Warwick, in 1457 and rebuilt in 1828, and behind them stands the church of St John the Baptist, one of the Grade I wool churches of the Cotswolds, where Leveller mutineers were held in 1649.

What walkers report

Walkers' main note on AllTrails is how much of the walk is on roads and pavements (October 2025, August 2026), and AllTrails' surface data puts about 60% of the route on paved ground and a quarter on grass, so it suits a stroll more than a country walk. Walkers found the field section muddy after rain and slippery when wet (February 2026, February 2024), with nettles and long grass in summer (August and September 2023, July 2026).

Staying and walking on

Burford has plenty of places to stay within a few minutes of the route. The car park is free, with 166 spaces split between 4-hour and 10-hour bays, and the toilets there take 20p coins. Places to stay include the Bull on the High Street, Ostlers and Cotswold Stay for self-catering; our guide to where to stay in Burford has more. For a longer walk from the same car park, Burford, Fulbrook and Widford is 6 miles out over the fields and back along the river, and Swinbrook, Fulbrook and Widford starts two miles downstream. Our guide to the Cotswolds with a dog covers more walks with dogs.

Places on the way

  • The long stone front of The Lamb Inn on Sheep Street, Burford

    The Lamb Inn

    Inn · Burford

    An inn with rooms in Burford, part of Cotswold Inns and Hotels, taking bookings for rooms and tables and welcoming dogs.

    Dog-friendly

    Verified Nov 2026

  • The Bay Tree's stone frontage seen from its garden terrace through trees

    The Bay Tree

    Hotel · Burford

    A Grade II listed hotel on Sheep Street, Burford, with 21 rooms and a walled garden, part of Cotswold Inns and Hotels, dogs welcome.

    Dog-friendly · Wedding venues

    Verified Oct 2026

  • Burford's Tudor Tolsey, black and white gables above an open arcade on the High Street

    Burford Tolsey Museum

    Museums and galleries · Burford

    Burford's small free museum in the Tolsey, the sixteenth-century market house on the High Street, run by volunteers and open on summer afternoons.

    Verified Oct 2026

  • A dark, calm bedroom with a woven headboard, a bench and soft lamplight

    Bull, Burford

    Hotel · Burford

    A coaching inn on Burford's High Street, opened in 1536 by its own account, now a hotel with 18 rooms, three restaurants and a treatment suite.

    Wedding venues

    Verified Oct 2026

  • The stone front of Ostlers, a cottage in Burford, with climbers round the windows

    Ostlers

    Self-catering · Burford

    A three-bedroom holiday cottage in Burford, let through Manor Cottages, sleeping six, with a garden, a woodburner and parking for one car; no pets.

    Family-friendly

    Verified Oct 2026

  • A two-storey Cotswold stone house with ivy by the porch and a gravel drive under a blue sky

    Cotswold Stay

    Self-catering · Burford

    A four-bedroom house in Burford that sleeps eight, let for self-catering, with no dogs.

    Family-friendly

    Verified Oct 2026

Stay near the start

Inns, cottages and hotels within a short drive of where the walk begins, so you can set off early.

Where to stay in Burford
  • A stone inn with a hanging sign and benches on a narrow sunny street

    The Angel at Burford

    Pubs · Burford

    An inn on Witney Street, Burford, run by the King family since 2011, with an AA Rosette for its cooking, a walled garden and sun terrace, three bedrooms and food from breakfast onwards.

    Verified Nov 2026

  • The Swan Inn's garden at dusk, its tree strung with lights before the old stone inn

    The Swan Inn, Swinbrook

    Inn · Burford

    An inn on the River Windrush at Swinbrook, near Burford, with bedrooms in its stables and a riverside cottage.

    Verified Oct 2026

  • The stone front of The Three Horseshoes at Asthall with its flag and climbing roses

    The Three Horseshoes, Asthall

    Inn · Burford

    An eighteenth-century pub with six rooms at Asthall, near Burford, where innkeepers have been recorded since 1726.

    Verified Oct 2026

Questions about Burford's lanes and fields

How long is the Burford town walk?

The Burford town walk is 1.7 miles (2.7km) with about 41m of climbing, and takes about an hour.

Where does the Burford town walk start, and where do you park?

The Burford town walk starts at Guildenford car park by the River Windrush, which is free, with 4-hour and 10-hour bays, and has toilets that take 20p coins.

Can you take a dog on the Burford town walk?

Yes; most of the Burford town walk is on pavements and lanes, so keep dogs on a lead by the roads. The Lamb Inn and the Bay Tree on Sheep Street both welcome dogs.

Is there a pub on the Burford town walk?

Yes. The Burford town walk passes the Lamb Inn on Sheep Street, which takes table bookings and welcomes dogs, and the Bull on the High Street is a few minutes away.

Is the Burford town walk suitable for pushchairs?

Not all of it. Most of the Burford town walk is on pavements and lanes, but about a quarter is on grass, and walkers report the field west of the town muddy and slippery after rain.

More like this

Stories on this walk

All stories
  • The great stone tower and porch of St John the Baptist, Cirencester

    The wool churches of the Cotswolds

    Story · Guides · 11 minute read

    Northleach, Chipping Campden, Cirencester, Fairford, Burford and the other Cotswold churches rebuilt on medieval wool money: how the trade paid for them, what to look for in each, when they open and a route by car or on foot.

More walks to try

All walks
  • The small church of St Oswald standing alone in a field by the Windrush at Widford

    Burford, Fulbrook and Widford

    Walk · Starts in Burford · 2 hrs, 30 mins · Circular · Dog-friendly

    A 6-mile (9.7km) circular walk from Guildenford car park in Burford, about two and a half hours of moderate walking with stiles and some road. It crosses the old bridge to Fulbrook and the fields to Widford's church, and returns along the Windrush meadows, which flood in winter.

  • The tower of St Mary's church at Swinbrook above its churchyard under a blue sky

    Swinbrook, Fulbrook and Widford

    Walk · Starts in Burford · 2 hrs · Circular · Dog-friendly

    A 4.3-mile (6.9km) easy loop of about two hours from the Swan at Swinbrook: north on a lane and west over fields to Fulbrook, back by a lane, then down a wooded valley to Widford's lone church and along the Windrush to the Mitford graves at St Mary's.

  • The roofless walls of Minster Lovell Hall under a blue sky with white clouds

    Minster Lovell, Crawley and the Windrush

    Walk · Starts in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds · 1 hr, 30 mins · Circular · Dog-friendly

    A 3.7-mile (6km) circular walk from the bridge at Minster Lovell, easy and about an hour and a half: over the fields to Crawley, back along the River Windrush to the ruins of Minster Lovell Hall, its dovecote and St Kenelm's church. Wet in winter.

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