There is a ford here. Shill Brook runs across the road at the middle of the village, shallow at the crossing, and an arched stone footbridge crosses the ford for anyone who would rather keep their feet dry. A pond sits alongside, and beyond it Delia's Field, a stretch of green the village has formally set aside. There is no conventional street lighting here, which you notice most after dark, when the only thing to see by is whatever the sky is offering.
Most of what you will do in Shilton happens within a few hundred yards of that crossing. The Rose & Crown is a 17th-century Cotswold-stone inn, Grade II listed, with original beams, log fires and a large beer garden that catches the sun. Two cask ales change on the bar. The kitchen keeps its menu deliberately loose, but a recent one ran to Suffolk Red Poll sirloin with 30-month-aged Parmesan, a shepherd's pie of slowly cooked Cornish lamb shoulder, Cotswold sausages with mash and gravy, and a Blythburgh pork chop with hispi, mustard and cider. Dayboat haddock goujons come with frites and tartare, there is a mushroom risotto Milanese, and afterwards you might have apple, summer berries and cinnamon crumble with Madagascan vanilla ice cream, or Baron Bigod with fruit-and-nut biscuits. It is family-friendly.
Bring what you need, or top up in Burford, two miles north, or Carterton, about the same distance the other way. Between the pub and the village hall, the village keeps its social life going on two buildings. The hall stands opposite the church and used to be the school; it has toilets, a kitchen, a bar and step-free access, and reserves weekdays for village community events.
The church is the Holy Rood, and it is the older anchor. The nave and south aisle are 12th century, the chancel 13th, and the crenellated two-stage west tower 15th; G. E. Street restored the whole thing from 1884. Inside there is a good deal to slow you down: painted decoration across the plain arcades, labels ending in carved head and dragon stops, medieval glass that includes a 15th-century sun and moon, and a square 15th-century font carved with Crucifixion reliefs. A parish chest is dated 1634. The altar is a medieval mensa marked with five consecration crosses, which the Victorian restorers found still in place.
For walking, the churchyard gives long views towards Alvescot and the Ridgeway, Ladburn Lane opens over farmland towards Burford, and the meadow shows itself from Packhorse Bridge. The Cotswold Voluntary Wardens run a circular of about 9.5 miles that starts in Burford and takes in Shilton, Asthall, Swinbrook and Widford; it wants moderate fitness and has some steep ground.
The older history is Cistercian. King John granted the manor of Faringdon, Shilton included, to the monks of Beaulieu in 1205, and a farming grange grew up around what is now the Old Manor, with a stewpond, dovecote, the Conyger and a water meadow still traceable nearby. Part of the tithe barn survives inside Headford House; the larger barn burned down in the 1960s or 70s. The monks probably never lived here, leaving a reeve and lay brothers to run the land. The Beaulieu accounts for 1270 record twenty oxen on the farm, one of which had died of murrain. Most of the parish was a detached part of Berkshire until 1844, when it was moved to Oxfordshire.
Three-quarters of a mile west, the Cotswold Wildlife Park at Bradwell Grove keeps Asiatic lions, rhinos, lemurs, red pandas and a raised walkway level with the giraffes. The nearest station is Shipton, about six miles off, though Charlbury or Kingham run more often; for buses through the village, check the current timetable before you rely on one.
Come back down to the ford in the evening. The meadows run right into the centre of the village, and with no conventional street lighting, the sky is what lights it after dark.
