Nine miles north of Lechlade you get your first real taste of the Cotswolds at BURFORD , where the magnificent High Street, which slopes down to the bridge over the River Windrush , holds every variety of golden Cotswold stone. Try to avoid visiting the town in summer, when cars and tourists battle for space, though the huge parish church , originally Norman but remodelled in the fifteenth century, is a delight at any time. An unusual monument to Henry VIII's barber, Edmund Harman, shows four Amazonian Indians, said to be the first representation of native Americans in Britain.

Spare a morning to follow the footpath along the Windrush through WIDBROOK , a hamlet with an idyllic medieval chapel built in the middle of a field on the site of a Roman villa, and on to SWINBROOK , just under three miles east of Burford. The church in this immaculate village contains a monument showing six members of the Fettiplace family reclining comically on their elbows: the Tudor effigies rigid and stony-faced, their Stuart counterparts stylish and rather camp. The best place for lunch or a drink in Swinbrook is the Swan Inn .

Burford straddles several main Cotswold routes. Buses along the A40 between Oxford and Cheltenham stop several times a day; buses along other routes are mostly once-a-week market-day services. The tourist office is situated in Sheep Street (April-Sept Mon-Sat 9.30am-5.30pm, Sun 10am-3pm; Oct-March Mon-Sat 10am-4.30pm; tel 01993/823558). There are several B&Bs , including the discreetly signed Tudor Cottage at 40 Witney St, off the main High Street, beautifully furnished with antiques (tel 01993/823251, bunkered@compuserve.com ; £50-60), or try the Highway Hotel at 117 High St (tel 01993/822136, £40-50). For good food the Angel Brasserie at 14 Witney St, should satisfy; there are three themed bedrooms as well (tel 01993/822714; £70-90).

Motorists heading to Cirencester, ten miles southwest, should take the B4425 via BIBURY : this village is completely overrun with visitors, but anyone interested in the early industrial age should make a point of going to the seventeenth-century Arlington Mill , for a close-up demonstration of the workings of water power (daily: Easter-Oct 10am-6pm; Nov-Easter 10am-5pm; £2).