Philip Halling, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Great Tew
On many a Cotswolds list, though it is more than 3 miles outside the National Landscape and built of ironstone, not Cotswold limestone. Worth two or three hours by car from Chipping Norton or Charlbury, for estate walks and the Falkland Arms. Soho Farmhouse is members only.
- Nearest station
- Banbury, about 8 miles, or Charlbury, about 6 miles. Take a taxi: there is no daily bus
- Parking
- The estate's walks map marks a car park just north of the Falkland Arms. We found no published charge or time limit
- Best time
- A weekday morning, walking first and eating at the Falkland Arms from noon
- Dogs
- The Falkland Arms calls itself fully dog friendly, rooms included. Watch for livestock on the estate walks
About Great Tew
Great Tew appears on plenty of Cotswolds lists, and those lists are loose with the map. This estate village of thatch and rust-brown ironstone stands more than 3 miles outside the National Landscape, 7 miles by road from Chipping Norton. Come for the look of it, a walk across the estate and lunch at the Falkland Arms, and allow two or three hours.
Why it is not officially Cotswold, and why that helps you
We tested the boundary on Natural England's data in November 2026, and Great Tew misses the National Landscape by more than 3 miles. The official line takes in Chipping Norton and leaves Great Tew out. The estate and many guides still talk of Cotswold country, which is fair as a description of the hills and wrong as a designation.
The stone tells the same story. By the Victoria County History, the parish divides in two. Its southern half lies on Great Oolite limestone, the rock of the Cotswolds, and the cottages come from the ironstone of the north. So if you have come to see honey-coloured villages, this is not one. If you have seen Bibury and the Slaughters and want to see a village built in another stone, it is worth the drive.
Great Tew against the villages you may have come for
Bibury is the obvious comparison, because both are small places of cottages that people photograph and live in. Bibury has no council car park, and press reports put visitors there at up to 20,000 on a peak weekend. Great Tew has a car park marked on the estate's map, and a set of free walks from the green. We have no visitor counts for it, and we can't promise you will have it to yourself, so come on a weekday and judge for yourself.
Daylesford is the other useful comparison. Both are estate places with a famous name attached. Daylesford's farm shop is open to anyone, seven days a week. Soho Farmhouse, at the southern end of the Great Tew estate, is not. A day visit needs a Soho House member, by the company's own guide, and each member can bring three guests at most. Its pages disagree on overnight stays, so treat it as members only, and ring 01608 691000 if you hope otherwise. The village is separate and open to anyone, and the Falkland Arms takes no membership card.
Fitting it in from Kingham, Daylesford or Stow
You need a car or a taxi. Distances here are by road and the times are routing estimates, so allow more in summer.
- Chipping Norton and Charlbury: each about 7 miles and 15 minutes. These are the sensible starting points.
- Kingham station and Daylesford: 12 and 13 miles, each about 25 minutes.
- Stow-on-the-Wold, Moreton-in-Marsh and Burford: all about 16 miles and 30 minutes. It is a long way to come just for lunch, so join it to something else.
- The Rollright Stones and Diddly Squat Farm Shop: each about 9 miles, about 15 to 20 minutes. Either fills the afternoon. Diddly Squat opens Tuesday to Sunday and its car parks close at 5pm. In past years it has shut for January and February, so check before a winter visit.
Coming by train, Charlbury is the nearest Cotswold Line station. Book a taxi both ways, because the only bus is OurBus Bartons service 5, on Wednesdays, and it is timed for people going to Chipping Norton in the morning rather than for visitors.
What to see and do
These cottages are homes, let by the estate with preference for local families and workers. See them from the road and stay out of the gardens. Expect thatch or stone slate overhead and box hedging along many of the front gardens. Much of what looks seventeenth-century is nineteenth-century renovation in the traditional style, and the county history singles out a datestone of 1680 on a cottage in the Square as authentic.
The church of St Michael and All Angels is a walk out along New Road, away from the houses. It is Grade I, with work from the late twelfth to the fifteenth century, restored by Thomas Rickman in 1827. We found no opening hours, so treat the inside as a bonus.
Download the estate's three walks (opens in a new tab) before you set out. They are free and start by the green. The Great Tew Park Walk is the shortest, and the natural loop before lunch. The Golden Valley Walk goes through the fields north-east of the village, and the Little Tew Walk heads south-west and turns back just north of Soho Farmhouse. The maps give no distances, stiles or surfaces, so allow time and wear boots, and watch for livestock if you have a dog.
Lunch and a room
The Falkland Arms on The Green is a Wadworth pub in a Grade II building, with seven dog-friendly rooms. Food stops between 2.30pm and 5.30pm on weekdays, on the hours it gave in November 2026. The kitchen opens at noon and closes at 8.30pm on weekdays, 9pm on Saturdays and 7.30pm on Sundays, with the last table seated 15 minutes before. It is a place to eat on the way through. If you want a Cotswolds base with rooms and a train, Kingham has more choice.
A few doors along, in the Old Post Office, the Quince and Clover café does food through the day and makes ice cream. It publishes no hours, so don't count on it early.
The Cotswolds Info newsletter
Events, new places and the best of the season, about once a month. Unsubscribe at any time.
When to come
Nothing here flowers to a date, so the season matters less than the kitchen's hours. Pick a weekday if you can, as people live and work on the estate. On a long weekend in the north Cotswolds, it suits the day you have a car and have already seen the market towns.
Last verified 11 November 2026 by our editors
Things to do in Great Tew
Farm shops and delis · Charlbury
Diddly Squat Farm Shop
Jeremy Clarkson's farm shop on the Chipping Norton road near Chadlington, opened in 2020 and made famous by Clarkson's Farm, open Tuesday to Sunday outside its winter break, with a café and lambing barn seating.
Getting to Great Tew
- By car
- Just off the B4022, north of Enstone. Banbury is about 8 miles to the north-east and Chipping Norton about 5 miles to the west.
- By bus
- OurBus Bartons service 5 runs on Wednesdays only: 9.25am to Chipping Norton, back at 12.19pm (timetable for November 2026). It stops at the primary school.
- By train
- Banbury is about 8 miles away and Charlbury about 6. Neither has a bus that connects, so book a taxi.
- Parking
- The estate's walks map marks a car park just north of the Falkland Arms. Do not park on the verges or in front of the cottages.
Places near Great Tew
-
Hook NortonAbout a mile outside the Cotswolds National Landscape, and we say so: an ironstone village with the Victorian tower brewery behind the Hooky you meet in Cotswold pubs. Half a day from Chipping Norton or Moreton, for the tour, a Norman font and railway piers.
-
Chipping NortonA working hill town inside the Cotswolds National Landscape, 5 miles from Kingham station, with free parking, a Grade I wool church, a Victorian tweed mill and the 801 and X9 buses. A half day between Stow, Daylesford and the Rollright Stones rather than a base.