Fairford

The town sits on a lovely stretch of the River Coln and owes its fortune to its location - an important coaching town on the old London to Gloucester route. Some of the inns and hotels are reminders of this. As with so many villages, its great glory is the parish church, St Mary's , which is a fine 'wool church' with a complete set of 28 medieval stained glass windows, that tell the story of the Bible, recently loaned to the V&A for an exhibition and now safely back in place. The Coln is a slow and lazy river, offering delightful walks in quiet countryside.