Paxford

The Churchill Arms after the fire

The Churchill Arms, the village's only pub, has been closed since a fire tore through the early-18th-century inn in March 2022. Restoration is under way, with six en-suite bedrooms planned, but a new tenant was still being sought in the summer of 2026, and Paxford does not expect it to reopen until well into 2027.

That matters, because the Churchill Arms was a food-led pub in a plain stone building — ashlar walls, mullioned windows, a large fireplace, chamfered beams — and it made no attempt at polished-Cotswold gloss. Reviewing it before the fire, Food and Travel wrote that "with its ramshackle interiors and noisy regulars, The Churchill Arms bucks the trend." The kitchen sent out chicken livers on toast with sage, lobster mac 'n' cheese and homemade chocolate truffles, and poured a house ale called Winston, brewed by the North Cotswold Brewery. None of that is on offer now, and it is worth checking whether the doors have reopened before you plan an evening around them.

Thomas Sharp and everyday supplies

The pub took its name in 1956 from Captain Spencer Churchill, a cousin of Winston and a benefactor of Blockley parish. Long before that, its site belonged to Thomas Sharp, born in Paxford in the late 18th century, who built and repaired farm buildings, made elaborate clock cases and sold cider from his orchard. That orchard is now the village recreation ground.

For everyday supplies you will need to leave the village. The nearest farm shop is Vegetable Matters, over at Ebrington, run by Pete and Amanda Drinkwater since 2017 and stocked with fruit and vegetables from Drinkwater Farm, bread, eggs, jams and Cotswold Gold oil. Chipping Campden, the nearest market town, is two miles west.

Stone, memory and village life

Paxford is small, about three hundred people, and built predominantly of the same plain local stone, set on the lower slopes of the Blockley valley in open farming country. It grew as a farming settlement rather than a mill one, which is why it feels quieter and less worked-over than Blockley up the hill. The B4479 runs through the middle, past a stone war-memorial obelisk that names eleven village men killed in the First World War. Behind it stands the former Mission Church, built in 1866 as an infant school for a hundred children and licensed for Sunday worship within the year. Services ended in 2016, and it is now a holiday let, its bell-cote, clock and patterned tile floor still in place.

The village hall opened in 1910 as a Working Men's Institute and remains the centre of things, with a walking group, a book group and life-drawing and mixed-media art groups meeting through the year.

Walks, gardens and transport

The best walking starts from the door. A circular route of just under seven miles links Paxford with Broad Campden and Northwick Park, with two long climbs to earn the views; a slightly longer loop takes in Chipping Campden as well, crossing mostly farmland with the odd patch of wood. Further out are Hidcote — Major Lawrence Johnston's Arts and Crafts garden of contrasting outdoor rooms, and the National Trust's first garden-only property — and Batsford Arboretum near Moreton-in-Marsh, sixty acres of rare trees, shrubs and bamboos with a café at the gate.

The nearest station is Moreton-in-Marsh, about five miles away on the GWR line, with a car park, taxis and step-free access to the platforms. Public transport into the village itself is thin: the volunteer-run Hedgehog H7 calls on Fridays only, stopping at the church, the village hall and Brookside on its way between Mickleton and Moreton-in-Marsh.

The older county lingers

Paxford stayed in Worcestershire until 1931, part of the Bishop of Worcester's manor of Blockley, and something of the older county lingers. On a Friday you might catch the Hedgehog pulling away from the church, and after it has gone the road is quiet again.