Villages: Over Norton – Churchill – Bledington – Kingham – Cornwell – Salford – Old Chalford – Great & Little Rollright – Lyneham – Bruern – Pudlicote – Chadlington – Dean – Lidstone – Charlbury – Cornbury – Enstone – Heathrop – Great & Little Tew – Sandford St Martin – Hook Norton – Swerford – Woodstock – Bladon.
There’s no escaping it when talking about Chippy, so if you’re wondering what the Chipping Norton Set is – it’s not a collection of teacups, it’s this and if that’s your thing – this is place for you. But joking aside, it’s not hard to see why the town and its surrounding villages are so popular. It feels elevated and it feels distinctly Oxfordshire, having arrived from Gloucestershire on the A44 from Stow. The Cotswold stone is often of a paler variety or it is the much yellower – almost rustier – Hornton stone, infused as it is with more iron.
From a shopping point of view, the first thing that hits the traveller from the west is the WHSmiths in the middle – handier than you’d think! And then the sheer array of helpful, useful shops, interspersed with the more frivolous. It has a useful feel about it, and – like Moreton and Stow, it has the traffic running through its centre, which breeds an innate sense of busy-ness and bustle.
The surrounding villages are undeniably beautiful and, depending on which route out of the town you take, surprisingly different in character from one another. Head north west on the A3400 through Long and Little Compton and Oxfordshire meets Warwickshire with a blend of ancient thatches, grey lias, red brick and limestone. South from Chippy (not to be confused which is very much ‘Campden’ amongst its inhabitants) to Churchill and the stone is a more uniform, pleasing light grey, and much of the property there is Victorian and Edwardian. These elements give the Oxfordshire Cotswolds its distinct feel from the other Cotswold counties which lie to the west.
It has to be said, if you like eating out – and you like Instagram this is the part of the world for you. But it’s also a laidback, friendly place to be, and the town of Chippy is very much somewhere you could live and love, every day. Chipping Norton secondary school is at the heart of the town, and there’s even a theatre. Chipping Norton is misunderstood by those who haven’t been, for those that do, they almost never leave!
Places to Eat and Drink if you’re moving to Chipping Norton
The Chequers – https://www.chequerschippingnorton.co.uk/
The Blue Boar – https://www.blueboarpub.co.uk/
The Fox – https://foxchippingnorton.com/
Alberto’s Italian – https://albertospantry.co.uk/
Bitter & Twisted – https://www.bitterandtwistedchippingnorton.co.uk/
And if you’re after some Cotswold Chic here’s what’s on offer within a short drive
Soho Farmhouse – https://www.sohohouse.com/en-us/houses/soho-farmhouse
Daylesford Organic – https://www.daylesford.com/
Estelle Manor – https://estellemanor.com/
Le Manoir – https://www.belmond.com/hotels/europe/uk/oxfordshire/belmond-le-manoir-aux-quat-saisons/
The Kingham Plough – https://thekinghamplough.co.uk/
The Wild Rabbit – https://thewildrabbit.co.uk/
The Chequers at Churchill – https://lionhearth.co.uk/the-chequers/
The Chequers at Sarsden – https://churchillsarsden.com/our-village/the-chequers-pub/
Cornbury Festival –https://www.cornburypark.co.uk/the-wilderness-festival.html
The Big Feastival – https://thebigfeastival.com/
Sports & Activities for people moving to Chipping Norton
The Chipping Norton Theatre – https://www.chippingnortontheatre.com/
Chipping Norton Swifts FC – https://www.chippingnortonswifts.co.uk/
Chipping Norton CC – https://chipnorton.play-cricket.com/home
Chipping Norton Leisure Centre – https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/west-oxfordshire/chipping-norton-leisure-centre
Chipping Norton Museum – http://www.chippingnortonmuseum.co.uk/
