Castle Combe, England

Castle Combe

One of the Most Beautiful Villages in England

When we first decided to plan a one-week road trip through England, the whole idea was to spend the majority of our time in cozy inns and pubs in picturesque villages in the countryside. So when we started doing our research to try to track down the perfect candidates, one name in particular consistently came up: Castle Combe. It only took a quick Google image search to convince us that this village in the southernmost reaches of the Cotswolds should somehow make its way into our itinerary. Luckily, the village is conveniently located directly between Bath and Thornbury Castle, both of which were places we had already decided to visit. The drive from Bath to Castle Combe took about 30 minutes and it was every bit as scenic as it was stressful. The biggest challenge of driving in the English countryside has nothing to do with driving on the left side of the road; rather, the roads are barely wide enough for two sheep to walk side by side without brushing shoulders, let alone two automobiles.

Location

Castle Combe sits tucked into a sheltered valley in Wiltshire, on the southern fringe of the Cotswolds in southwest England. About twelve miles northeast of Bath and five miles northwest of Chippenham, it nestles in the valley of the By Brook river, surrounded by wooded hills that give it a wonderfully hidden, away-from-it-all feeling. It lies just close enough to major roads and cities to be easily visited, yet feels entirely removed from the modern world.

Once we started our final approach into the village, it started to feel like we were entering a mystical domain. First of all, there were no other cars in sight and the only street sign we saw told us that the narrow road on which we were driving was called “The Street”. That’s it. Just “The Street”. We figured we just misread the sign, but Google Maps later confirmed that the street that leads to Castle Combe from the south is in fact called “The Street”. The road (or should I say the street), began running parallel to a small swan-filled stream crossed by a few small foot bridges. Luckily someone had posted a very helpful sign warning us to reduce our speed due to the presence of ducks. Thank goodness I saw the sign and slowed my speed from 10 mph to 5 mph or some innocent duck could have been seriously injured.

As we continued driving we entered the center of the village after crossing over a small bridge and passing a row of typical Cotswold-style houses with smoke billowing from the chimneys. The most iconic view comes just before crossing this bridge, and with the fog rolling through, it really felt like we were in a postcard.

To be honest, there really isn’t much to do in Castle Combe per se. There are a couple inns, a pub, a coffee shop, a church…and that’s just about it. The village isn’t exactly known for its nightlife, but the fact that there were so few people and basically no activity (we were there during the winter) added to the bucolic charm of the village. We spent some time just walking up the main street and popped into the bar at the Castle Inn Hotel briefly for a hot chocolate. Even just a quick stop in Castle Combe was well worth it. We passed through a few other Cotswold towns along our route, but Castle Combe was far and away the most beautiful. It comes as no surprise that the village has been used numerous times as a filming location for movies such as Dr. Doolittle (the one from 1967 not the one with Eddie Murphy), War Horse, and Downton Abbey. If there is a more picturesque village anywhere in England, I would love someone to show me.

Brief History of Castle Combe

Castle Combe’s story stretches back to a Roman settlement along the Fosse Way, later fortified by the Normans into the 12th-century motte-and-bailey castle that gave the village its name. It flourished in the medieval period as a thriving centre of the wool and cloth trade, producing a distinctive red-and-white fabric sold as far away as London and exported abroad, with the Market Cross and St Andrew’s Church standing as enduring monuments to that prosperity. When the By Brook dropped in level and could no longer power the mills, the cloth industry departed and the village fell quiet — but in doing so was perfectly preserved, with no new buildings added to its centre since the 1600s. A wartime RAF airfield on its outskirts later became the Castle Combe racing circuit, and the village itself has charmed filmmakers and visitors ever since, remaining one of England’s most cherished and unspoilt corners.