Kelmscott

What to see

Kelmscott Manor is a farmhouse of about 1600, built for Thomas Turner and called Lower Farm until the family bought the lordship of the manor in 1864. Morris took it on a joint lease with Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1871; his daughter May lived there from 1923 until her death in 1938, and since 1962 it has belonged to the Society of Antiquaries of London, which is why National Trust cards are no use here. It opens from April to the end of October, Thursday to Saturday only, with the house seen by timed ticket every 15 minutes from 10.30am and last entry at 3.30pm. An adult ticket was £15.50 in 2026, a child's £10.50 and a family's £36, and half the tickets are kept back for the day. The gardens, meadows, tearoom and shop are free.

St George's church, next to the visitors' car park, is listed Grade II*: a late twelfth-century church with a fifteenth-century porch and later alterations. The doorway is late twelfth century, the transepts are of about 1260, and the north transept keeps wall paintings of the early fourteenth century: the Massacre of the Innocents, the Presentation in the Temple and the story of Cain and Abel, revealed when the church was repaired in 1888 and 1889, work Morris took an interest in. Outside, about 20m south-east of the chancel, is the Morris tomb, a low ridge of limestone like a house roof, designed by his friend Philip Webb and dated 1896. It names William, Jane and their daughters Jenny and May, and is listed in its own right.

Between the manor and the church are three buildings the family left behind. The Memorial Cottages of 1902, designed by Webb for Jane Morris in her husband's memory, carry a carved panel of Morris seated with his hat, satchel and stick, trees and farm buildings behind him, cut by George Jack from Webb's drawing; they are listed Grade II*. Next to them, 1 and 4 Manor Cottages of 1914 were Ernest Gimson's design for May Morris in memory of her mother. The village hall, dated 1934, was built to Gimson's drawings fifteen years after his death, for Morris's centenary and largely on May's fundraising; George Bernard Shaw opened it, with Ramsay MacDonald in the audience. All three are private or in village use, so look from the lane.

An afternoon here

Book a house slot for early afternoon, park by the church and walk the lane down through the village, past the Plough and the Memorial Cottages, to the manor: 10 to 12 minutes, and the brown signs do the navigating. Eat first in the tearoom, which serves lunch from midday to 2pm, take your slot in the house, and finish in the garden and the back meadow, where picnics are allowed. Walk back up to the church for the paintings and the grave, and end at the Plough. A small electric shuttle runs from the car park for anyone who cannot manage the lane.

Walks

The Thames Path runs along the southern edge of the parish, and the manor has its own mooring, so the best way to arrive is on foot from Lechlade, about 3 miles (5km) of level riverside by way of St John's Lock, with the Father Thames statue at the lock on the way. Our Lechlade, Buscot and the Thames walk covers the river either side of the town and comes back by St John's Lock; from the lock, keep east on the path for Kelmscott. The meadows flood in winter, so check the river before you set out. Cotswold Canoe Hire in Lechlade also runs a paddle to the manor along the Thames.

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Food and drink

The Plough Inn is the village pub, and the place to eat when the manor is shut. Its cottage end is dated 1690 and the inn range was added in the eighteenth century; a beer seller is recorded here from 1847. In 2026 it opens from 8am to 10pm every day, with the kitchen serving from midday to 2.30pm and 6pm to 9pm from Monday to Wednesday, all afternoon from midday to 9pm on Thursday to Saturday, and from midday to 6pm on Sunday. It has eight en-suite bedrooms, with king and twin rooms listed on its own site; Manor Farm, a B&B on a working farm, also has rooms in the village. The manor's tearoom does lunch and cakes on open days only.

When to come

Come on an open day, Thursday to Saturday from April to the end of October; the manor closes for the winter on 31 October 2026 and reopens in April 2027. Outside those days the village is a lane, the church and the pub. Coach parties are only taken on Wednesdays, by booking, so Saturdays belong to families and walkers. In winter the river meadows are often under water and the Thames Path from Lechlade can be impassable.