Colin Park, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Saintbury
A hamlet on the scarp slope between Broadway and Chipping Campden, with a Grade I church under a broach spire, a medieval cross by the main road and the Cotswold Way on the hill above. Robert Dover of the Olimpicks lived here.
- Nearest station
- Honeybourne, 3.2 miles, as the church's trust gives it, then a taxi; Evesham is 5.6 miles
- Parking
- We found no public car park. Park with care in the lane below the church without blocking gateways
- Best time
- A clear day in any season, in daylight, when the church is open
- When it's busy
- Saintbury draws no crowds. Broadway, 4 miles away, takes the visitors on summer weekends
- Toilets
- None. The church has no toilets or running water. The nearest public toilets are in Broadway's car parks
About Saintbury
Saintbury is a hamlet of stone houses climbing a lane up the north-west slope of the Cotswold escarpment, between Broadway and Chipping Campden. At the top of the lane is a church whose slender spire is a landmark for miles around, and on the ridge above it runs the Cotswold Way. There is no shop and no pub: you come for the church, and the view out over the vale.
What to see
St Nicholas's church is the reason to stop, and it is open every day in daylight. Historic England lists it Grade I: Norman doorways in the nave, a tower and broach spire of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, a fourteenth-century chancel and a low fifteenth-century nave roof. Over the blocked south doorway is a sundial carved in low relief, which the Churches Conservation Trust (opens in a new tab), who care for the church, think is eleventh-century, older than anything else here.
Inside are box pews, which the trust dates to the eighteenth century, fifteenth-century benches in the north transept, an early eighteenth-century screen and early post-medieval wall paintings in the chancel. The Arts and Crafts makers of Campden left their mark too: a screen of about 1904 by Ernest Gimson and a reredos of about 1920 by Alec Miller in the north chapel. C R Ashbee's chandelier of 1911, made for the church, now hangs in the Court Barn Museum in Campden.
Down at the crossroads on the B4632 is Saintbury Cross, a listed medieval cross. Historic England dates its shaft and top step to the fourteenth century; the lower steps, the sundial and the cross on top are later.
An hour in Saintbury
Start at the cross by the main road, where the bus stops, and walk up the lane to the church. It is uphill all the way. Give the church half an hour, then combine Saintbury with Willersey, 1.5 miles west, or with Campden, 4 miles east, for lunch.
Walks
No walk of ours starts in Saintbury, but the Cotswold Way runs along the top of the hill about a mile above the church. The Cotswold Way from Chipping Campden to Broadway, 6 miles, follows the edge past the Kiftsgate Stone and over Fish Hill, and our loop from Campden to Dover's Hill stays on the hill nearer the town. Both look down on Saintbury's spire.
Food and drink
Saintbury has nowhere to eat or drink. The nearest pub is the New Inn at Willersey, 1.5 miles away, which opens only from the afternoon on weekdays and asks visitors to ring ahead in winter, and Broadway and Campden have the cafés and inns.
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When to come
Any time of year, in daylight, when the church is open. The church has no heating, so it is cold in winter. On the Friday evening after the late May bank holiday, the Cotswold Olimpick Games fill Dover's Hill above Campden, the games Robert Dover is credited with starting while he lived here.
Last verified 27 October 2026 by our editors
Part of
The North Cotswolds
The high wolds between Chipping Campden and Bourton-on-the-Water: the Fosse Way towns, the Windrush villages, the Slaughters and the escarpment at Broadway.
Things to do in Saintbury
Museums and galleries · Broadway
Broadway Museum and Art Gallery
A museum and gallery in Broadway's Tudor House on the High Street, with John Singer Sargent's portrait of Elizabeth Eberstadt among its paintings, free for under-16s.
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Gordon Russell Design Museum
Museums and galleries · Broadway
A museum of the furniture designer Gordon Russell in one of his former workshops on Russell Square, Broadway, open Tuesday to Sunday, with a ticket that lasts a year.
Rainy days
Verified Nov 2026
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Broadway Tower
Historic houses and heritage · Broadway
James Wyatt's folly of 1798 on Beacon Hill above Broadway, with a museum in the tower, a red deer park, two cafés and a Cold War nuclear bunker.
Family-friendly · Dog-friendly · Walker-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
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Court Barn Museum
Museums and galleries · Chipping Campden
Chipping Campden's museum of craft and design, telling the story of Ashbee's Guild of Handicraft and the makers who followed, with half price for bus passengers.
Rainy days · Car-free
Verified Oct 2026
Where to stay in Saintbury
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Foxhill Manor
Hotel · Broadway
An eight-bedroom house on the Farncombe estate above Broadway, run as a small hotel where meals and drinks are included, with the spa at Dormy House and dogs welcome.
Dog-friendly · Hot tubs · Wedding venues
Verified Oct 2026
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Dormy House
Hotel · Broadway
A hotel and spa on Willersey Hill above Broadway, on the 500-acre Farncombe estate it shares with the Fish and Foxhill Manor, with a pool, hot tub suites and dogs in set rooms.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly · Hot tubs
Verified Nov 2026
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The Fish Hotel
Hotel · Broadway
Rooms, suites, huts and three treehouses on a hillside of the Farncombe estate above Broadway, with Hook restaurant by Martin Burge and dogs welcome in set rooms.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Where to eat and drink in Saintbury
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House of George
Restaurants · Broadway
A restored seventeenth-century house on Broadway's High Street with ten bedrooms, a relaxed lunch from Wednesday to Sunday and Moda, its fine-dining restaurant, from Wednesday to Saturday evenings.
Verified Oct 2026
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Broadway Deli
Cafes and tearooms · Broadway
An independent delicatessen and café on Broadway High Street, opposite the Lygon Arms, open since 2002, serving brunch all day with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free choices.
Verified Oct 2026
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Michael's Mediterranean
Restaurants · Chipping Campden
A Greek and Mediterranean restaurant in Woolmarket House on Chipping Campden's High Street, serving brunch, lunch and dinner, with open fires in winter and a terrace in summer.
Verified Nov 2026
Walks in and around Saintbury
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Chipping Campden and Dover's Hill
Walk · Starts in Chipping Campden · 3 hrs, 30 mins · Circular
A 4.5-mile (7.2km) circular walk from the Market Hall in Chipping Campden, two and a half to three and a half hours, moderate with steep sections. It climbs the Cotswold Way to Dover's Hill, home of the Olimpicks, and drops through Lynches Wood; a 3-mile version skips the climbs.
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Broadway and Broadway Tower
Walk · Starts in Broadway · 3 hrs · Circular
A 4-mile (6.5km) circular walk from the war memorial in Broadway, two and a half to three hours, moderate with steep sections and no stiles. It passes St Eadburgha's, climbs Coneygree Lane to Broadway Tower and comes back down the Cotswold Way.
Sights in and around Saintbury
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Kiftsgate Stone
Sight · Monument · Chipping Campden
A small holed standing stone on the Cotswold edge west of Chipping Campden, the meeting place of the hundred of Kiftsgate, where the proclamations of new monarchs were read up to William IV in 1830. A scheduled monument about 30m from the Cotswold Way.
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Market Hall, Chipping Campden
Sight · Historic building · Chipping Campden
The open arcade of 1627 in the middle of Chipping Campden's High Street, built by Sir Baptist Hicks as a sheltered market for butter, cheese and poultry, saved from sale to America in the 1940s and now the National Trust's. Grade I; the Cotswold Way starts beside it.
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Grevel's House, Chipping Campden
Sight · Historic building · Chipping Campden
A medieval house on Chipping Campden's High Street with a two-storey Perpendicular bay window under gargoyles, named after William Grevel, perhaps the richest Cotswold wool merchant of his day, who died in 1401. Grade I; a private house seen from the street.
Getting to Saintbury
- By bus
- Pulhams 606 (Cheltenham, Broadway, Chipping Campden) stops at Saintbury Cross on the B4632, Monday to Saturday; Stagecoach's 1 from Stratford also calls there.
- By car
- Turn off the B4632 between Weston-sub-Edge and Willersey. The church is up the lane on the right, as its trust directs.
- By train
- Honeybourne, 3.2 miles, and Evesham, 5.6 miles, are on the Cotswold Line from London Paddington. Take a taxi from either.
- Parking
- We found no public car park. Park with care in the lane without blocking gateways, or come by bus to the cross.
Access
The path up to the church is stepped and sloped, and inside there is a small step in the nave and a step down into the south transept, as the Churches Conservation Trust describes it.
| Willersey | 1.2 mi |
|---|---|
| Honeybourne station | 3.7 mi |
| Broadway | 4.3 mi |
| Chipping Campden | 4.3 mi |
| Evesham station | 7.5 mi |
Places near Saintbury
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WillerseyA village round a long green and a duck pond at the foot of Willersey Hill, 2 miles from Broadway, with a Grade I church, a Donnington pub and the weekday bus from Evesham. The quieter base for Broadway.
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BroadwayA Worcestershire village below the escarpment, an old coaching stop with a long High Street, two museums, an artists' history and Broadway Tower on the hill.
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Chipping CampdenA wool town with a High Street of honey stone, a 1627 Market Hall, a great wool church and almshouses, and the start of the Cotswold Way on its doorstep.
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MickletonThe big village at the foot of the Cotswold edge, 3 miles north of Chipping Campden, with Hidcote and Kiftsgate on the hill above it, a Grade I church and the home of the Pudding Club.