EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

CHIPPING CAMPDEN , six miles northwest of Moreton-in-Marsh, gives a better idea than anywhere else in the Cotswolds as to what a prosperous wool town might have looked like in the Middle Ages. The houses have undulating, weather-beaten roofs and many retain their original mullioned windows, while the fine Perpendicular church dates from the fifteenth century, the zenith of the town's wool-trading days. Inside, an ostentatious monument commemorates the family of Sir Baptist Hicks, a local benefactor who built the nearby almshouses and the market hall in the High Street. His own home was burnt down during the Civil War, but you can glimpse the ruins over the wall beside the church.

A fine panoramic view rewards those who make the short but severe hike up the Cotswold Way northwest to Dover's Hill (follow Hoo Lane north off the High Street). Since 1610 this natural amphitheatre has been the stage for an Olympics of rural sports, though the event was suspended last century when games such as shin-kicking became little more than licensed thuggery. A more civilized version, the Cotswold Olimpick Games , has been staged each June since 1951: no shin-kicking, but still the odd bit of hammer-throwing and tug-of-war pulling.

Such a museum-piece as Chipping Campden must inevitably cope with a bevy of visitors in summer. Try to stay overnight and explore in the evening or at dawn, when the streets are empty and the golden hues of the stone at their richest. Public transport to the area is good, with frequent bus services to Moreton, Evesham and Stratford. You can't move for guest houses along the High Street, most of which can be booked through the tourist office (daily 10am-5.30pm; tel 01386/841206, ). Distinguished by its blue door, Mrs Benfield's on Lower High Street (tel 01386/840163; £40-50) has fewer lacy trimmings than most (with correspondingly low prices), as does the Volunteer Inn on Park Road, a few doors up on the opposite side of the road (tel 01386/840688; £50-60). The standard of pubs is good, but the Eight Bells Inn , around the corner from the church, is particularly cosy, and it serves top food. There's a window in the floor showing the passage once used by Catholic priests escaping from the church.