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Castle Combe
A small Wiltshire village running down a single street from a medieval market cross to a bridge over the By Brook. Park at the top, walk down, and come early.
- Nearest station
- Chippenham, then the 95 or 95A bus, Monday to Saturday
- Parking
- The pay and display car park on Dunns Lane in Upper Castle Combe, 50p for an hour to £6.60 all day; do not drive down into the village
- Best time
- A weekday, early morning or late afternoon, or any day in winter
- When it's busy
- Summer, and bank holidays, when the car park is likely to fill
- Toilets
- Public toilets just south of the bridge, run by Wiltshire Council and open in daytime hours; the disabled toilet is on the RADAR key
- Dogs
- Under control, and on a lead where signs ask, especially where sheep are grazing
About Castle Combe
Castle Combe is a small village in the By Brook valley, on the southern edge of the Cotswolds in Wiltshire. Its one street runs downhill from a medieval market cross past stone cottages to a three-arched bridge over the brook. Only about 50 people live in the centre, and the parish council says the average visit lasts just over an hour. By the council's reckoning, around half the visitors come from overseas.
Arriving
The visitor car park is at the top of the hill, on Dunns Lane in Upper Castle Combe, with bays for coaches. The parish council asks everyone to park there and walk down, and it means it: more than 350 cars were booked for parking illegally in the village over the summer of 2025, mostly at weekends and bank holidays. The car park charges every day from 7am to 7pm, including bank holidays, from 50p for an hour to £6.60 all day, by card or coin at the machine or on the MiPermit app. The walk is downhill on the way in and uphill on the way back.
The market cross and the street
The market cross, at the top of the street, is fourteenth century: a stone pedestal under a stone-tiled roof on four piers, and a scheduled monument. Below it the street runs down to the bridge, which is early nineteenth century, with three low arches and grooves in its buttresses where iron screens once held livestock in.
St Andrew's church
St Andrew's church is listed Grade I. Its tower was begun in 1434, partly paid for under the will of Sir John Fastolf, though much of the church was rebuilt in the 1850s. Inside is the monument to Sir Walter de Dunstanville, who died in 1270, and a faceless clock, believed to have been made by a local blacksmith in the 1380s and among the oldest working clocks in the country. The church is open every day of the year in daylight.
A walk in the By Brook valley
The Cotswold Voluntary Wardens' 4-mile (6.4km) circular walk, last led on 4 October 2026, starts at the Upper Castle Combe car park and goes by the Macmillan Way through the woods to Long Dean and Ford, then back along the other bank of the By Brook. It takes about two and a half hours and has no stiles, though it may have steep, narrow or muddy sections. Walkers' reports on AllTrails for the loop from Ford describe mud after rain and sheep in some fields, so keep dogs on leads there.
Where to eat and stay
Bybrook, the restaurant at the Manor House hotel, kept its Michelin star in the 2026 guide. The Castle Inn has 12 rooms, and the White Hart, a Wadworth pub, welcomes dogs. Our guide to food and drink in the Cotswolds has more of the region's restaurants and pubs. The Castle Inn and the Manor House are about 5.5 miles (9km) by road from Badminton, for the Badminton Horse Trials in early May.
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When to come
On a weekday, early in the morning or late in the afternoon, or at any time in winter. The parish council says the village is busiest in summer and on bank holidays, when the car park is likely to be full. In 2025 residents put up signs asking people not to fly drones over the village. Our guide to the Cotswolds without the crowds suggests quieter villages nearby, such as Biddestone. Our South Cotswolds weekend arrives at 9am on the Sunday, before Biddestone and Lacock. Under a mile from the village by road, Castle Combe Circuit has held motor races since 1950, with race days and track days from spring to November.
Last verified 1 November 2026 by our editors
Part of
The South Cotswolds
The southern wolds as they fall towards Bath and Wiltshire: Tetbury's Market House, Castle Combe's street by the By Brook, Malmesbury's abbey and Lacock beyond the edge.
Things to do in Castle Combe
Sport and activity · Castle Combe
Castle Combe Circuit
A 1.85-mile motor racing circuit half a mile from Castle Combe, racing since 1950, with race days, action days, track days and driving experiences from spring to November.
Where to stay in Castle Combe
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The Castle Inn
Inn · Castle Combe
An inn with 12 rooms on West Street, Castle Combe, part of the Exclusive Collection, with a menu holding two AA rosettes.
Dog-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
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The Manor House
Hotel · Castle Combe
A hotel in a manor house of seventeenth-century origins at Castle Combe, part of the Exclusive Collection, with the Bybrook restaurant.
Dog-friendly · Wedding venues · EV charging
Verified Oct 2026
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Fosse Farmhouse
B&B · Castle Combe
A farmhouse bed and breakfast full of vintage finds on the Fosse Way at Nettleton Shrub, a mile or so from Castle Combe, with three dog-friendly holiday cottages in its old farm buildings.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Where to eat and drink in Castle Combe
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The White Hart, Castle Combe
Pubs · Castle Combe
A Grade II listed Wadworth pub on The Street in Castle Combe, open from 9am with pastries, with a courtyard garden, and dog friendly.
Dog-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Walks in and around Castle Combe
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Biddestone heritage trail
Walk · Starts in Biddestone · 2 hrs, 30 mins · Circular
A 6.5-mile (10.5km) circular walk from Biddestone village hall, two to two and a half hours, moderate with stiles and short steep climbs. It goes round the green, over the fields to Slaughterford's paper mill and the White Hart at Ford, and back down the By Brook.
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Cotswold Way: Tormarton to Cold Ashton
Walk · Starts in the South Cotswolds · 3 hrs, 45 mins · Dog-friendly
A 6.6-mile (10.6km) one-way walk on the fourteenth section of the Cotswold Way, moderate and about three and three quarter hours: from Tormarton over the M4, round the wall of Dyrham Park, through Dyrham village and up through Dyrham Woods to Cold Ashton.
Sights in and around Castle Combe
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By Brook
Sight · River · Castle Combe
The By Brook is the wooded valley stream that runs through Castle Combe and south by Long Dean, Ford and Slaughterford, in north-west Wiltshire. It once had some twenty watermill sites, for corn, cloth and paper, and public footpaths follow much of it.
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Market Cross, Castle Combe
Sight · Monument · Castle Combe
Castle Combe's medieval market cross, a stone-tiled roof on four corner posts over a central pedestal, stands where the village street begins, beside St Andrew's church. It is a scheduled monument, free to see at any time.
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St Andrew's Church, Castle Combe
Sight · Church · Castle Combe
Castle Combe's Grade I parish church, open every day in daylight: a fifteenth-century tower begun in 1434 with help from Sir John Fastolf's will, a medieval clock with no face, and the crossed-legged effigy of Sir Walter de Dunstanville.
Stories about Castle Combe
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Pride and Prejudice at Lacock: Meryton on the High Street
Story · Guides · 6 minute read
Lacock played Meryton in the BBC's 1995 Pride and Prejudice, with the Red Lion as the assembly rooms: what you can see, the other dramas filmed in the village, and how to visit.
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The best pubs in the Cotswolds
Story · Guides · 11 minute read
The best pubs in the Cotswolds: village pubs on the green at Biddestone and Guiting Power, medieval inns at Castle Combe and Lacock, riverside pubs at Lechlade and Swinbrook, pubs with rooms round Kingham, and the pubs at the end of our walks.
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The best villages in the Cotswolds
Story · Guides · 13 minute read
The best villages in the Cotswolds, from Bibury, Castle Combe and the Slaughters to quieter Naunton, Eastleach and Biddestone: what to see in each, a walk from the green and a pub or tearoom.
Quieter places near Castle Combe
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Biddestone
Village · The South Cotswolds
A Wiltshire village round a large green and a duck pond of 1661, with a Norman church, an eighteenth-century pub, a manor garden that opens for charity and far fewer visitors than Castle Combe, 3 miles away.
Getting to Castle Combe
- By bus
- Faresaver's 95 and 95A run from Chippenham a few times a day, Monday to Saturday. There is no Sunday bus.
- By train
- Chippenham, on the line from London Paddington to Bath and Bristol, is the nearest station.
- By car
- Follow the B4039 to Upper Castle Combe and park on Dunns Lane. Coaches cannot enter the village.
Access
The car park is at the top of the hill and the street runs downhill to the bridge, so the walk back is uphill all the way.
| Chippenham | 6.2 mi |
|---|---|
| Biddestone | 3.1 mi |
| Bath | 14.3 mi |
Places near Castle Combe
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BiddestoneA Wiltshire village round a large green and a duck pond of 1661, with a Norman church, an eighteenth-century pub, a manor garden that opens for charity and far fewer visitors than Castle Combe, 3 miles away.
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LacockA Wiltshire village mostly owned by the National Trust, with an abbey made from a medieval nunnery, where Fox Talbot made the earliest surviving negative in 1835.
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Chipping SodburyA planned medieval market town below the southern Cotswold edge, with a long, wide market street, a Grade I church and a mop fair twice a year, near Bristol.
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MalmesburyA hilltop town almost ringed by the Avon, with the great Norman nave of its abbey, King Athelstan's empty tomb, a flying monk and a market cross built for shelter.