TRAIN: Cotswold Line, Oxfordshire/Gloucestershire
Sleepy Cotswolds by rail
There’s no better way to relish the dreamy days of late summer than with an evocative scenic journey through the hills of the Cotswolds, hopping from one honey-stoned village to the next, says Ben Lerwill
It doesn’t take long for the Cotswold Line to start showing off. Snaking north from its starting point of central Oxford, the line soon passes the wildlife-rich expanse of Port Meadow – an area of common land said to have been unploughed since the days of the Domesday Book. It then delves into the green crinkles of the Evenlode Valley, where rising fields and hawk-flown woods furl out on both sides of the track.
The line runs to Worcester and beyond, but here we’re focusing on the initial stretch between Oxford and Moreton-in-Marsh.
BUSES, BRUNEL AND BEER
Hanborough is the first stop. Disembark to visit the brilliant Oxford Bus Museum, a nostalgia-heavy collection of restored charabancs and buses set in warehouses in the station’s old goods yard.
It’s run by volunteers and could easily absorb you for a couple of hours.
The line then winds through a couple of little-used village stops before reaching the more substantial station at pretty Charlbury, designed by Brunel and these days frequented by well-heeled visitors to the nearby chic hotel, Soho Farmhouse. From this point, the landscapes widen and the views expand, as the Cotswolds appear in all their sheepy finery. Expect vast oaks standing solo in grass meadows, hamlets glimpsed beyond farm gates, and errant Labradors sniffing happily down country lanes. More tiny stations whizz by – there goes Ascott-under-Wychwood, now Shipton – before a stop at foodie favourite Kingham.
POETIC LANDS
As the train continues north, it then passes the site of the now-defunct Adlestrop Station, preserved in Edward Thomas’ evocative 1917 poem: Yes. I remember Adlestrop – The name, because one afternoon /Of heat the express-train drew up there/ Unwontedly. It was late June.
For the cherry on your Cotswolds cake, journey’s end is the honeyed town of Moreton-in-Marsh, where the high street is laden with large lime trees and a range of tearooms in which to refuel.
Route details: Cotswold Line
Trains depart Oxford to Moreton-in-Marsh at least once an hour. Buy the Cotswolds Discoverer One-Day Pass for £10.50.
Ben Lerwill is a travel writer and children’s author based in Oxfordshire.