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A timber-gabled stone building at the corner of a small market square

Oswald Bertram, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Fairford

A small town on the River Coln with the only complete set of late medieval glass in an English parish church, and the home of the Royal International Air Tattoo.

Nearest station
Kemble or Swindon, about 15 miles, then a taxi
Best time
Any day for the church; mid-July in years when the Air Tattoo is held
Toilets
High Street, 50p, 8am to 8pm in summer and 8am to 6pm in winter, with an accessible toilet and baby change

About Fairford

Fairford is a small town on the River Coln, about 9 miles east of Cirencester, with about 4,200 people. Most visitors come for one thing, the stained glass in St Mary's church, and once a year for the planes at RAF Fairford.

St Mary's and its glass

St Mary's was rebuilt almost entirely by the wool merchant John Tame and his son Edmund from about 1480, and John Tame's tomb is inside. The church is listed Grade I. Its windows were glazed around 1500, largely by Barnard Flower, Henry VII's master glass painter, and tell the stories of the Old and New Testaments across 28 windows. The parish calls it the only complete set of late medieval glass in a parish church in the country.

The glass has survived a great deal: a storm in 1703 badly damaged the west windows, and in the Second World War it was taken out and stored for safety. The church opens daily from 10am to 5pm in summer and 10am to 4pm in winter. A steward is usually on hand, with guidebooks, audio guides and binoculars for the high windows; groups of more than five, and anyone wanting a guide, book through the parish office on 01285 712611. It is one of the wool churches of the Cotswolds. A few minutes away at 2 High Street, Lynwood & Co serves coffee and food from 8am every day, until 4pm (2pm on Sundays).

Rows of medieval stained-glass figures in deep reds, blues and golds in a church window
Medieval glass in St Mary's, Fairford Photo: Jules & Jenny, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Air Tattoo

RAF Fairford, built in 1944, hosts the Royal International Air Tattoo in July. The 2026 show was cancelled in May over uncertainty about access to the base; the next is planned for 16 to 18 July 2027.

Crowds and rows of military aircraft spread across a wide airfield on show day
The Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford

Walking by the Coln

The Fairford River Walk is a circular route of 5.75 miles that starts at the Keepers Arms in Quenington and follows the Coln down to Fairford and back, two and a half to three hours, with several stiles. A permissive section is closed on Tuesdays. It links Fairford with Coln St Aldwyns and Quenington.

A clear river curving between grassy banks and trees under a summer sky
The Coln at Fairford Photo: Philip Halling, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Food and drink

Fairford's cafés are a few minutes from the Market Place. 7a Coffee Shop on London Street has a walled garden behind and bakes its brownies each evening, and the Coffee Post on the Market Place makes cakes to order. Both close in the early afternoon and on Sundays, and 7a on Mondays too. Arkell's has two pubs in the town: the Plough Inn on London Street, refurbished in 2024 and a place for a pint, and the Eight Bells on East End, with a dining room and dogs welcome. The Plough opens from midday every day except Tuesday, when it opens at 3pm; the Eight Bells opens at 3pm on weekdays and midday at the weekend, and stays open late. Neither publishes kitchen hours, so ring ahead for food.

Every place to eat in the town, with what each suits, is on our page of places to eat in Fairford.

Last verified 1 November 2026 by our editors

A still river under a weeping willow with stone cottages on the far bank

Part of

Cirencester and the Coln Valley

Cirencester, the Roman town of Corinium, and the River Coln running past Bibury, Coln St Aldwyns and Fairford to meet the Thames by Lechlade.

  • A street of stone town houses and shops with flags under a blue sky
  • A stone mill house beyond a millpond with reeds and a swan
  • A church tower rising over trees and a garden wall on a sunny lane
  • A long terrace of stone cottages along a sunny street
  • Three tall lights of medieval stained glass with saints in red and blue robes

Things to do in Fairford

A marquee and tables beside rows of vines in evening sun

Tours and experiences · Ampney Crucis

Poulton Hill Estate

A small family vineyard at Poulton, between Cirencester and Fairford, planted in 2010, with summer vineyard tours, winter tastings and a cellar door shop.

  • Stone farm buildings and trees reflected in a still trout pond at Bibury

    Bibury Trout Farm

    Family days out · Bibury

    A working trout farm on the River Coln at Bibury, founded in 1902, with a café, a shop, catch-your-own fishing and its own pay car park.

    Family-friendly · Dog-friendly

    Verified Oct 2026

  • A Thames Path fingerpost by the river with moored boats and a stone house beyond

    Cotswold Boat Hire, Buscot Lock

    Parks and gardens · Lechlade-on-Thames

    Self-drive boat hire on the upper Thames from Buscot Lock near Lechlade: small electric boats by the hour and cruisers by the half day or day, April to October.

    Dog-friendly · Family-friendly

    Verified Nov 2026

  • Kayakers paddling on a lake towards a low evening sun

    ROX, South Cerney Outdoor

    Sport and activity · Cirencester

    The Real Outdoor Xperience, formerly South Cerney Outdoor: a 47-acre lake in the Cotswold Lakes with paddleboarding, kayaking, sailing, open-water swimming and high ropes.

    Family-friendly

    Verified Nov 2026

Where to stay in Fairford

  • A two-storey timber and glass house on the edge of a lake, with a deck, a jetty and kayaks

    The Lakes by YOO

    Self-catering · Lechlade-on-Thames

    An 850-acre lakeside estate at Coln Park, west of Lechlade, with rooms, apartments, cabins and houses sleeping up to 14, a spa with a 17-metre pool, and a lakeside bar and kitchen.

    Family-friendly · Hot tubs

    Verified Nov 2026

Where to eat and drink in Fairford

Fairford: eat and drink
  • A stone shopfront with a grey awning and tables outside on a sunny street

    Lynwood & Co, Fairford

    Cafes and tearooms · Fairford

    An Australian-style café at 2 High Street, Fairford, a few minutes from St Mary's and its medieval glass, open from 8am every day for breakfast, coffee and lunch.

    Verified Nov 2026

  • A stone shop front with orange 7a Coffee Shop signs and red window blinds on a street of stone cottages under blue sky

    7a Coffee Shop, Fairford

    Cafes and tearooms · Fairford

    An independent coffee shop on London Street, Fairford, since 2004, known for brownies baked on site, with a walled garden behind where dogs are welcome.

    Dog-friendly

    Verified Oct 2026

  • Gift boxes stacked by a red pillar box at a stone shop door with hanging flowers

    The Coffee Post, Fairford

    Cafes and tearooms · Fairford

    A small coffee shop and custom cake maker on Fairford's Market Place, open weekday mornings and Saturday mornings, that also sends boxes of its cakes by post.

    Verified Oct 2026

Walks in and around Fairford

All walks starting here
  • A wide village green with a bench under trees

    Quenington to Fairford

    Walk · Starts in Coln St Aldwyns · 3 hrs · Circular

    A 5.75-mile (9.25km) circular walk from the Keepers Arms in Quenington, moderate with several stiles, in two and a half to three hours: down the river valley and through a permitted wood to Fairford's Mill Bridge and church, and back. The permitted path is closed on Tuesdays.

  • The church of St Michael and St Martin seen across the River Leach at Eastleach

    Eastleach and the River Leach

    Walk · Starts in Cirencester and the Coln Valley · 1 hr, 45 mins · Circular · Dog-friendly

    A 4.4-mile (7.1km) circular walk from Eastleach, an hour and a half to two hours with about 70m of climbing and plenty of mud: past two Norman churches and over the Leach, up the quiet valley to the Roman Akeman Street, and back down the other side to the Victoria Inn.

  • Boats moored on a still blue river in front of willows and a cottage

    Lechlade, Buscot and the Thames

    Walk · Starts in Lechlade-on-Thames · Circular

    A level 4.5-mile (7.2km) circular walk from Halfpenny Bridge, Lechlade, with three stiles and no time given: by the Thames Path meadows to Inglesham church, over to Buscot by lanes and fields, across Buscot Weir and Lock, and back by St John's Lock and the Trout Inn.

Sights in and around Fairford

All sights
  • A small gabled stone church with a bellcote in a sunny garden-like churchyard

    St Swithin's Church, Quenington

    Sight · Church · Cirencester and the Coln Valley

    Quenington's Norman parish church in the Coln valley, recorded by 1100, with two richly carved Norman doorways: the Harrowing of Hell over the north door and, over the south, what may be the earliest carving of the Coronation of the Virgin. Grade I.

  • A medieval stone gatehouse with a wide arch over a lane between stone walls

    Knights Hospitallers' Gateway, Quenington

    Sight · Historic building · Cirencester and the Coln Valley

    The fourteenth-century gatehouse of the preceptory the Knights Hospitallers founded at Quenington in about 1193, partly rebuilt in the early sixteenth century, beside St Swithin's church. Grade I; on private land, seen from Church Road.

  • A stone church with a pinnacled tower in a green churchyard on a bright sunny day

    St John the Baptist, Coln St Aldwyns

    Sight · Church · Coln St Aldwyns

    Coln St Aldwyns' parish church: a late Norman doorway of chevrons, a demon carved over a blocked window, a two-tier chandelier of about 1767, and windows remembering the two John Kebles, father and son, who served here. Grade II*.

Stories about Fairford

All stories
  • Rows of purple lavender running toward green hills and woods

    The Cotswolds in July

    Story · Guides · 8 minute read

    The Cotswolds in July: the warmest and sunniest month, the lavender at its peak, the air tattoo, the Cotswold Show and four music festivals, the gardens and houses that open only in summer, cool walks for hot days, and the day the schools break up.

  • 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.

History of Fairford

Fairford received a royal market grant in the twelfth century and grew as a market town on the Coln. Its church owes its present form to John Tame, a wool merchant who died in 1500, and his son Edmund, who rebuilt it and commissioned its glass. The airfield came in 1944.

Questions about Fairford

What is special about Fairford church?

Its stained glass, made around 1500 and largely by Barnard Flower, Henry VII's glass painter. The parish describes it as the only complete set of late medieval glass in a parish church in the country.

Is Fairford church open?

Yes, daily from 10am to 5pm in summer and 10am to 4pm in winter, unless a service is on. Groups and anyone wanting a guide book through the parish office.

When is the Royal International Air Tattoo?

The 2026 show was cancelled. The next is planned for 16 to 18 July 2027 at RAF Fairford.

Getting to Fairford

By bus
The 77 runs between Cirencester, Fairford, Lechlade and Highworth four times a day each way, Monday to Saturday, about 25 minutes from Cirencester. There is no Sunday bus.
By train
Kemble and Swindon stations are each about 15 miles away; take a taxi, or a bus to Cirencester and the 77.
Distances from Fairford
Lechlade-on-Thames4.3 mi
Cirencester8.7 mi
Swindon station15.5 mi
Map of Fairford
© OpenStreetMap contributors

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