Bourton-on-the-Water

People have lived around Bourton for a very long time. Neolithic pottery dated to about 4000 BC was found in the Slaughter Bridge gravels, and excavations at nearby Salmonsbury Camp show almost continuous habitation through the Neolithic and Bronze Age and into the Roman period. The Roman Fosse Way runs past the village, and Icknield Street, also called Ryknild Street, branched off it here and ran north to South Yorkshire; Roman pottery and coins found in the village point to a long Roman occupation.

A Saxon timber church stood in the village from about 708, said to be on the site of a Roman temple, and by the 11th century a Norman church had been built and the village had grown along the Windrush much as it is today. The present church of St Lawrence keeps some 14th-century work but is mostly from later centuries, and the five low bridges over the river date from 1654 to 1953. Almost all the houses and shops are of the yellow ashlar limestone characteristic of the Cotswolds, with stone mullions, gables and hoodmoulds over the doors.

A railway reached the village in 1862 and closed to passengers in 1962. Tourism became important only in the 1920s and 1930s, and the model village opened in 1937; the population rose sharply between 1931 and 1951. Scenes from the James Bond film Die Another Day were shot in the village car park in 2002. In 2025 Hartwells, an ironmonger's that had traded for 220 years and was the oldest shop in Gloucestershire, closed its doors.

Bourton is known as the "Venice of the Cotswolds" for its low bridges over the Windrush, and its look is protected: the historic core is a conservation area, and 114 buildings in the village are listed. The model village, itself listed in 2013 for the precision of its details and its use of real building materials, is a celebration of that look in miniature, complete with a model of the model village inside it.

Local custom has a playful streak. In summer a game of football is played with goalposts standing in the River Windrush, the teams trying to score as many goals as possible and soak everyone else while crowds watch from the banks. The Cotswold Motoring Museum is home to Brum, the little car from the children's television series, which leaves the museum in the programme's opening title sequence. Oasis recorded the video for "I'm Outta Time" here, with Liam Gallagher walking through the village and the model village.

The village has three churches — Roman Catholic, Baptist and the Church of England church of St Lawrence — and its own non-league football club, Bourton Rovers, who play in the Hellenic League. Walkers are part of the scene too: the Heart of England Way ends here and the Oxfordshire Way begins here.

The village had 3,296 people at the 2011 census and an estimated 3,482 in mid-2016, so about 3,500 live here, while some 300,000 visitors arrive each year and in the peak season visitors often outnumber residents. Much of the local economy is built on that flow: tea rooms, gift shops, pubs and the paying attractions along the High Street and the river.

Life beyond the tourist core is that of a large Cotswold village. Bourton has a primary school and the Cotswold School, a comprehensive opened in 1988, which was found during building work to stand on a Roman cemetery with Iron Age roundhouses. The nearest railway station is at Moreton-in-Marsh, and buses link the village with the surrounding market towns and Cheltenham, so most households rely on cars.

The rhythm of the year is set by the visitor season. Summer days bring coaches, full car parks and crowded greens, while winter evenings are quiet and the village returns to its residents. The farmers' market on the fourth Sunday of each month is a regular fixture for locals and visitors alike.

Gloucestershire's best-known food is its cheese. Gloucester cheese, a traditional semi-hard cheese made in the county since the 16th century, comes in two varieties, Single and Double, both traditionally made from the milk of Gloucester cattle. Both have a natural rind and a hard texture; Single Gloucester is more crumbly, lighter and lower in fat, while Double Gloucester is aged for longer and has a stronger, more savoury flavour.

The cream tea is the day visitor's treat in the tea rooms along the High Street and the river: tea with scones, clotted cream or, less authentically, whipped cream, and jam. Cream teas are sold in tea rooms throughout England, and those in a stone-built village beside the Windrush are part of the experience of a visit.

The village pubs, in old Cotswold-stone buildings, serve food and drink, and more pubs lie in the hamlets around. The monthly farmers' market, held on the fourth Sunday, brings local producers into the village.