THE COTSWOLDS TOWN WITH THE 'EXQUISITE' HIGH STREET NAMED ONE OF THE BEST PLACES TO LIVE IN THE SOUTH WEST

Chipping Campden in Gloucestershire has been ranked as one of the best places to live in the South West. It made the The Sunday Times Best Places to Live 2025 list.

Judges said: "The community spirit in this pretty town of golden stone properties with a splash of thatch and a dash of timber is both charitable and seriously fun. This is where you’ll find one of the jolliest spectacles the English countryside has to offer: the annual Cotswold Olimpicks, a raucous day of sports, games and entertainment that started in the early 1600s.

"There’s also a literary festival and a highbrow music festival in the stately setting of St James’ Church. Add to that a good high street, two excellent primary schools, and a popular comprehensive, also home to a leisure centre, and it makes Chipping Campden the most liveable of the Cotswold towns."

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Back in 2023, we visited the town and here's what we found. The article has been edited

Spending an afternoon visiting one of the Cotswolds' many picturesque villages is one of our county's favourite ways to while away a weekend, whether it's taking a trip to stroll along Bourton-on-the-Water's stunning stone footbridges, or to browse through any one of Stow-on-the-Wold's charming boutique shops. But, is there any one place in particular that deserves to be the crown of the Cotswolds?

Unlike many other parts of the Cotswolds, 'Campden' is not so easy to get to from a main road as places like nearby Broadway. It doesn't have a coach park to accommodate hundreds of tourists, many of whom end up in that nearby town anyway. High street aside, if you are feeling a bit tourist-phobic and want to avoid the crowds, it's a good place to start.

Saying a Cotswolds town is lined with yellow stone is like saying a dog has four legs, but is often about as far as most descriptions go of many of our region's gorgeous towns. Chipping Campden is built of that same stone, but has that sense of being ancient and lived in.

As you amble down the town's high street you can see the impressions in the stone from where many thousands have gone before you, for more than 700 years. When you pass the old marketplace, where animals and goods were bought and sold for much of the town's history, you can see the wear and tear left from generations of the town's farmers, traders, and wool merchants.

That craft and trade history has nevery truly left the area, but changed as times have. Now, the former houses and buildings of the wool merchants form most of Chipping Campden's "exquisite" high street, where producers and craftspeople ply their trade.

One such staple in the town is Mayhew's Delicatessen, which is stocked floor to ceiling with preserves, chutneys, jams, and marmalades, many of which are either made locally or directly for the deli which has stood in the town's centre for 35 years. This small craft contrasts sweetly with the town's other end, where the Robert Welch showroom displays the gorgeous homeware designed by the nationally-popular Cotswolds firm.

Now, I come from a deprived rural community where the typical high street is a hairdresser, a pasty shop, and a pub that's permanently just about to close, so perhaps my standards are lower than that of London-based writers, but these quirks, foibles, and craft are what make all of the towns in the Cotswolds so fantastic to visit.

It is hard to pinpoint a Cotswold town or village that does not have some fantastic feature, or great selection of shops, or high class eateries. Chipping Campden is a gorgeous and less-visited example of what makes all of the Cotswolds such a draw for the rich, famous, and people with nothing to do on a Saturday.

2025-03-22T06:14:54Z