Trevor Harris, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Stretton-on-Fosse
A Warwickshire village just off the Fosse Way between Moreton-in-Marsh and Shipston-on-Stour, with stone and thatched cottages on looping lanes, a church rebuilt in 1841, a seventeenth-century pub and a brewery on a farm nearby.
- Nearest station
- Moreton-in-Marsh, about 4.5 miles (7km); the 51 and 51A buses take about 10 minutes
- Parking
- No public car park. Park with care on the village lanes, away from gateways and the village hall's entrance
- Best time
- Late August for the village show; spring and autumn for the parish walks
- When it's busy
- Never busy. The A429 beside the village is fast, so take care crossing it on foot
- Toilets
- None in the village that we know of; the nearest public toilets are on Moreton-in-Marsh High Street, 50p
- Dogs
- Dogs are welcome in parts of the Plough Inn, which keeps water bowls and treats, its own website says
About Stretton-on-Fosse
Stretton-on-Fosse is a village in the far south of Warwickshire, just west of the Fosse Way, about 4.5 miles by road north of Moreton-in-Marsh station and 3.5 miles south of Shipston-on-Stour. Its houses stand on a set of loop roads south and south-west of the church, built of local stone, several thatched and at least six with their old mullioned windows, as the Victoria County History found them. It has a pub, a church and a village hall, and a brewery down the road.
What to see
There is no single sight here; the village is the thing to see, on foot round its loops. St Peter's church was rebuilt and enlarged in 1841 by Thomas Johnson, in the Gothic Revival style, with an octagonal bell stage and a small spire on its tower, a west gallery and a hammer-beam roof inside. It is listed Grade II, with two groups of chest tombs in the churchyard listed too. Services are held on the first Sunday of the month at 9.30am, its own page says. Its future has been uncertain: in February 2020 its church council warned it was likely to run out of money in the next 6 to 18 months and set out three options, closure, a festival church or buying the building. We have not found what was decided, but its monthly service was still listed in 2026.
Across the village the Rectory, listed Grade II*, keeps fifteenth-century window heads in its porch and an inscription of 1690, and a house at the crossroads has a tablet dated 1698. The Fosse Way itself, the Roman road from Exeter to Lincoln and now the A429, runs past the east side of the village and gave it its name. The village's own history records Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon graves found when sand was dug here.
A morning or an afternoon here
Walk the loops of the village, past the thatch and round to the church, then out on one of the parish's paths. Have lunch at the Plough, and on a weekday drive the 2 miles to North Cotswold Brewery at Ditchford Farm, whose shop and bar open from 10am to 5pm on weekdays and 11am to 2pm on Saturdays, to take beer home. Ditchford was once a parish of its own, Ditchford Frary, whose chapel of St Giles stood about a mile south-east of the church.
Walks
None of our walks starts here yet. The village website publishes five walks round Stretton (opens in a new tab), compiled by its biodiversity group, as leaflets to download. The Diamond Way, the Ramblers' 60-mile circuit of the north Cotswolds, passes through Aston Magna, 3 miles to the south-west.
Food and drink
The Plough Inn on Tankards Hill is the village pub, a seventeenth-century house which its page on the village website calls independent and locally run. It opens from midday every day, to 11pm from Monday to Saturday and 10.30pm on Sunday, and serves food from midday to 9pm, Monday to Saturday, and until 4pm on Sunday, when it is known for its roast; dogs are welcome in parts of the pub, and the village website mentions a heated dining pavilion outside for walkers. It seats about 40, its own website says, so book a table. Its cask ales include beers from North Cotswold Brewery, which brews Windrush Ale and the porter Hung Drawn 'n' Portered among others, and from Uley.
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When to come
Late August, for the village show: in 2026 it was on Saturday 22 August, with the garden show and cream teas in the village hall, and the village website lists more cream teas through the summer. The 2027 date was not announced when we checked. In early September the Moreton Show fills the showground on the Batsford Estate, next on Saturday 4 September 2027. The rest of the year the village is quiet, and the pub is the reason to come.
Last verified 1 November 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 Stretton-on-Fosse
Parks and gardens · Chipping Campden
Hidcote
Lawrence Johnston's Arts and Crafts garden near Chipping Campden, a series of garden rooms begun in 1907 and owned by the National Trust since 1948.
Where to stay in Stretton-on-Fosse
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The George Townhouse
Pubs · Shipston-on-Stour
A Grade II listed coaching inn on the High Street in Shipston-on-Stour, now a pub, restaurant and 15-bedroom hotel serving breakfast from 8am and an all-day menu, with Brakspear ales.
Dog-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
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The Bower House
Inn · Shipston-on-Stour
A restaurant with five bedrooms in a Grade II listed Georgian townhouse on Market Place, Shipston-on-Stour, with a family suite that has a bunk room for two children.
Family-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
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Old Farm, Dorn
Self-catering · Moreton-in-Marsh
A working regenerative farm at Dorn, about a mile from Moreton-in-Marsh, with a holiday let in its shearing shed, a studio and a ten-pitch campsite.
Verified Oct 2026
Where to eat and drink in Stretton-on-Fosse
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The Ebrington Arms
Pubs · Chipping Campden
A village pub in Ebrington, about 3 miles by road from Chipping Campden, with a landscaped terrace and garden, food every day and five rooms.
Verified Oct 2026
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Mrs Browns Tea Rooms
Cafes and tearooms · Shipston-on-Stour
Tea rooms on the High Street in Shipston-on-Stour, open every day, with occasional bistro evenings that must be booked.
Verified Oct 2026
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The White Bear
Pubs · Shipston-on-Stour
Donnington Brewery's eighteenth-century coaching inn on the square in Shipston-on-Stour, with two bars, pub classics from Wednesday to Sunday, Aunt Sally in the garden and rooms.
Dog-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
Walks in and around Stretton-on-Fosse
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Ilmington, Ebrington Hill and Hidcote
Walk · Starts in Shipston-on-Stour · 2 hrs, 45 mins · Circular
A 5.9-mile (9.5km) circular walk from Ilmington, moderate and about two and three quarter hours: out by Park Lane and a busy stretch of lane, across the fields up to Hidcote, then east along the ridge over Ebrington Hill, past the masts and steeply down into Ilmington.
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Moreton-in-Marsh and Batsford
Walk · Starts in Moreton-in-Marsh · 2 hrs · Circular
A 4-mile (6.4km) circular walk from Moreton-in-Marsh's war memorial, easy, stile-free and about two hours: west through field gates to Batsford, along the deer park below Batsford House, east on the watershed lane to Dorn and back past the mound of a Roman fort.
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Chipping Campden from Broad Campden
Walk · Starts in Chipping Campden · 1 hr, 15 mins · Circular · Dog-friendly
A 3.3-mile (5.3km) circular walk from St Michael's church in Broad Campden, easy and mostly level, in about an hour and a quarter. It draws a figure of eight over the fields to Lady Juliana's Gateway, along Chipping Campden's High Street, by St James's and back.
Sights in and around Stretton-on-Fosse
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St Edmund's Church, Shipston-on-Stour
Sight · Church · Shipston-on-Stour
St Edmund's is the parish church of Shipston-on-Stour, on Church Street: a fifteenth-century west tower with the rest rebuilt by G E Street in 1855. Inside are a sedilia, a stone pulpit and a bust of John Hart, a promoter of the town's trade. Grade II*; open through the week.
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St Martin's Church, Barcheston
Sight · Church · Shipston-on-Stour
St Martin's Church in Barcheston, half a mile south-east of Shipston-on-Stour, is a small stone church of about 1200 with a leaning medieval tower, a Norman south doorway and the alabaster tomb of William Willington, wool merchant, and his wife Anne. Grade II*.
Getting to Stretton-on-Fosse
- By bus
- Stagecoach's 51 and 51A (Stratford, Shipston, Moreton-in-Marsh station) call four or five times a day each way on weekdays, four on Saturdays, none on Sundays; about 10 minutes to Moreton.
- By train
- Moreton-in-Marsh, on GWR's Cotswold Line from London Paddington, is about 4.5 miles (7km) away by road.
- By car
- On the A429 Fosse Way between Moreton-in-Marsh and Halford; the village lies just west of the road. There is no public car park.
| North Cotswold Brewery | 2.5 mi |
|---|---|
| Shipston-on-Stour | 3.1 mi |
| Aston Magna | 3.1 mi |
| Moreton-in-Marsh station | 4.3 mi |
| Chipping Campden | 5 mi |
| Stratford-upon-Avon | 13.7 mi |
Places near Stretton-on-Fosse
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Moreton-in-MarshA market town on the Fosse Way with a station on the line from London, so the easiest place to start a car-free Cotswold trip, with Batsford Arboretum close by.
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Shipston-on-StourA small Warwickshire market town on the Stour, named after a sheep wash, with Georgian inns round its square, a church rebuilt by G. E. Street, three free car parks, a level walk to Burmington and buses to Stratford and Moreton.
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Aston MagnaA hamlet in Blockley parish north of Moreton-in-Marsh, cut in two by the Cotswold Line, with a twelfth-century chapel turned cottage, a church of 1846 now a private house, and a Roman small town in the fields towards Moreton.
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IlmingtonA Warwickshire village of ironstone houses under the Ilmington Downs, at the northern tip of the Cotswolds, with eleven carved mice in its Norman church, a morris tradition going back centuries and two pubs on its greens.