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A thatched stone cottage beside a village pond and green under fresh spring leaves

Ian Rob, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sibford Gower and Sibford Ferris

Two ironstone villages and the hamlet of Burdrop on either side of a steep valley, 7 miles west of Banbury. Quaker since the 1660s, with a meeting house, a Quaker school, thatched seventeenth-century houses and a two-mile heritage trail of their own.

Nearest station
Banbury, about 7 miles, then the Stagecoach 75, Monday to Saturday, or a taxi
Parking
We found no public car park. Park with care on the village streets, and not at the school gates at the start or end of the day

About Sibford Gower and Sibford Ferris

The Sibfords are two villages facing each other across a steep valley about 7 miles west of Banbury, close to the Warwickshire border. Sibford Gower runs along the west side near the crest of the hill, Sibford Ferris lines a winding street on the other, and Burdrop sits on the hilltop between them. They have more life than their size suggests: a primary school, a Quaker school and a long Quaker history. For a visitor they are a place to walk, with a pub at the end.

What to see in the Sibfords

Sibford Gower has the most to look at. Its long east to west street has many two-storey seventeenth-century houses of coursed stone and thatch, among them Court House, Buttslade House, Temple Close and Crossways, which has a reused window in the fourteenth-century style. Farms and cottages gather round a pond and a small green at the west end. The so-called Manor House was made by joining and extending old cottages, and its square tower was built about 1908. All of these are private homes.

In Sibford Ferris, look for the date-stones: 'J. C. 1691', 'L.J.S. 1711' and 'E.I.R. 1782' on cottages along the street. Burdrop has a small triangular green and a house inscribed 'R.L. 1640', though the county history notes the stone was reset when it was rebuilt. Home Close, built in 1911 to designs by H. Baillie Scott, is the Arts and Crafts footnote.

A long thatched ironstone house with leaded windows at a road junction, flowers along its foot
A thatched house on Main Street, Sibford Gower Photo: Michael Dibb, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Quakers in Sibford

This is the thread that sets the Sibfords apart. The villages' website quotes George Fox recording a meeting of hundreds in Gilkes Barn in 'Sibberd' in 1668, and there has been a meeting house here since 1678, when the first was built or acquired. The present one replaced it in the 1860s. Meeting for worship is on Sunday mornings from 10.30 to 11.30am, and the villages' website says the meeting house takes overnight stays through Champing, from £55 an adult when we checked.

Sibford School, the Quaker school in Sibford Ferris, opened in 1842, when the old manor house of the village was sold to the Society of Friends. The parish church is younger than the meeting house: Holy Trinity in Sibford Gower was designed by H. J. Underwood of Oxford and built in 1839 to 1840, in the Early English style, with a clock and one bell in its west turret.

Walks from the Sibfords

The villages publish their own Sibfords historic village trail , a leaflet for a 2-mile (3km) circuit of about 90 minutes, and the obvious way to see all three places. The Sibford Walkers' page also maps many of the group's past outings, without distances. We have not walked any of them.

A morning in the Sibfords

Come on the morning bus or park with care, walk the trail, and finish at the Wykham Arms for lunch. On a summer Sunday afternoon, go about a mile and a half east to Swalcliffe for its medieval barn, which opens from 2pm.

Food and drink

The Wykham Arms on Temple Mill Road in Sibford Gower is a seventeenth-century thatched inn, listed Grade II, first recorded as a pub in 1793. Its own site offers coffee, lunch, Sunday lunch and outdoor tables in good weather, but gives no dates. Its winter times, when we checked, were closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, open from noon to 3pm and 6 to 11pm from Wednesday to Saturday, and from noon to 10.30pm on Sundays, with no food on Sunday evenings; CAMRA's guide also lists Tuesdays. Its lease was advertised for sale in July 2026, so ring 01295 788808 before you set out. The villages' website lists no shop or café.

When to come

Any dry day for the trail, and from Wednesday to Saturday if you want the pub at lunchtime (ring first). The villages' website keeps a calendar of talks, exhibitions and services. There is no bus on Sundays.

Last verified 11 November 2026 by our editors

  • A kissing gate opening onto a field path, walkers crossing towards a village on the far slope
  • An ironstone church with a bellcote and clock above the porch, headstones in front
  • A stone-edged pond below a garden bank with a large redwood tree
  • A village street with stone houses and walls, autumn trees on the bank
  • A tall three-storey ironstone house behind a garden wall, trees beside the road

Things to do in Sibford Gower and Sibford Ferris

See all
The wooden mash tun with its copper hood and rakes on the Victorian brewing floor

Tours and experiences · Hook Norton

Hook Norton Brewery

A family brewery in a Victorian tower at Hook Norton, with a steam engine of 1899, Shire horses that still deliver to two village pubs, and tours at £25. The climb is over 100 open steps, and there is a gentler monthly option. Shop and kitchen open daily.

  • The gatehouse and front of Broughton Castle mirrored in its moat in evening light

    Broughton Castle

    Historic houses and heritage · Broughton

    A moated medieval manor house near Banbury, turned into an Elizabethan mansion by the Fiennes family, tied to the opposition to Charles I and seen in Shakespeare in Love and Wolf Hall. Open on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons, April to September.

    Dog-friendly · Walker-friendly

    Verified Nov 2026

  • Herbaceous borders and clipped hedges reflected in the still water of the mirror pool at Upton House

    Upton House and Gardens

    Historic houses and heritage

    A National Trust house on the Edge Hill ridge, remodelled in the 1920s for the oil magnate Lord Bearsted to show his paintings by Bosch, El Greco, Stubbs and Hogarth, above terraced gardens that drop 30m to a Mirror Pool.

    Family-friendly · Dog-friendly · Rainy days

    Verified Nov 2026

Where to eat and drink in Sibford Gower and Sibford Ferris

See all
  • A stone inn and white cottages on a road junction, an old steam engine parked at one end under a blue sky

    The Gate Hangs High, Hook Norton

    Pubs · Hook Norton

    A country pub on the Whichford road outside Hook Norton, with local ales, an open fire, freshly cooked food from Wednesday to Sunday, rooms and a large camping field with electric hook-ups.

    Dog-friendly

    Verified Nov 2026

  • A long wooden table and chairs running to an arched iron window in a red-brick room, wall lights either side

    The Malthouse Kitchen, Hook Norton

    Cafes and tearooms · Hook Norton

    The brewery's own restaurant at Hook Norton, in the restored maltings beside the Victorian tower brewery, serving seasonal breakfasts until 11.30am and lunches until mid afternoon, indoors or in the beer garden.

    Family-friendly

    Verified Nov 2026

  • A long ironstone inn with dormers under a mossy roof, climbing plants at one end, cars along the road

    The George at Brailes

    Pubs

    A village inn on the high street at Lower Brailes, part of the Freespirit Pub Company, open seven days for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with local ales, a garden, first-floor bedrooms and a full calendar.

    Dog-friendly · Walker-friendly

    Verified Nov 2026

Walks in and around Sibford Gower and Sibford Ferris

All walks starting here
  • A tall ironstone manor house with leaded windows and a projecting porch beside the lane, under a clear blue sky

    North Newington and Wroxton Circular

    Walk · Starts in North Newington · 2 hrs · Circular

    A 3.3-mile (5.3km) circular walk from Main Street, North Newington, taking about two hours of moderate walking. It follows field paths to the Sor Brook, climbs past the Wroxton Obelisk into Wroxton and returns over the fields.

  • A stone arched bridge over the running Sor Brook, a track climbing the green field beyond towards a clump of trees

    Broughton Road to Wroxton Obelisk Circular

    Walk · Starts in Broughton · 2 hrs · Circular

    A 4.5-mile (7.3km) circular walk from the car park on Broughton Road, about two hours of moderate walking on field paths. It crosses the Sor Brook, climbs to the Wroxton Obelisk and returns by the other bank. It does not go through Broughton or past the castle.

Sights in and around Sibford Gower and Sibford Ferris

All sights
  • The long ironstone side of Swalcliffe Barn under its stone-slate roof, a bench by a door and clover in the grass

    Swalcliffe Barn

    Sight · Historic building

    A ten-bay medieval barn of ironstone, built for New College, Oxford, in about 1401, with its medieval timber roof. Grade I and a scheduled monument, six miles west of Banbury, and open free on summer Sunday afternoons.

  • A stone church with a pinnacled tower above a rubble wall, bare trees alongside in evening light

    St Peter's Church, Hook Norton

    Sight · Church · Hook Norton

    Hook Norton's Grade I church, with a Norman font carved with Adam and Eve and signs of the zodiac, a Romanesque chancel and medieval wall paintings. In the middle of the village, open every day, says the benefice.

History of Sibford Gower and Sibford Ferris

The Sibfords were part of the ancient parish of Swalcliffe, built on a hillside full of springs, with local stone used consistently into the twentieth century. In 1782 the King's Arms was the only licensed alehouse; the Wykham Arms is first recorded in 1793, and the Bishop Blaize at Burdrop in 1816, named after the patron saint of wool combers.

Methodists built a chapel in Sibford Gower in 1827, so the two villages held a parish church, a Quaker meeting and a chapel within a short walk. Cherwell District Council appraised the conservation areas of the three settlements together in April 2012.

Questions about Sibford Gower and Sibford Ferris

Is there a pub in the Sibfords?

Yes, the Wykham Arms in Sibford Gower, a thatched Grade II inn. Its own winter times have it closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and serving lunch and dinner on other days, except Sunday evening. Ring first, as its lease was advertised for sale in July 2026.

Is there a walk round the Sibfords?

Yes. The villages' website has a leaflet for the Sibfords historic village trail, 2 miles in about 90 minutes, on its Sibford Walkers page. Expect steep slopes into and out of the valley.

Are the Sibfords in the Cotswolds?

No, but nearly. Natural England's boundary of the Cotswolds National Landscape passes between 1 and 2km from the villages. They are built of the local ironstone of the Banbury country.

Can you get to Sibford by bus?

Yes, on the Stagecoach 75 and 75A from Banbury bus station, bay 8, Monday to Saturday. In November 2026 buses left Banbury at 6.50am, 11.40am, 2.30pm and 6pm, and came back from Sibford Ferris at 6.21, 8.38 and 11.09am and 1.34 and 5.35pm. There is no Sunday service.

Getting to Sibford Gower and Sibford Ferris

By bus
Stagecoach 75 and 75A between Banbury and Stratford, Monday to Saturday: five buses to Banbury and four back, and none on Sundays (timetable of 12 November 2026).
By train
Banbury station is about 7 miles away. Take the 75 from Banbury bus station, bay 8, or a taxi.
By car
About 7.5 miles from Banbury Cross, 17 minutes, by the B4035 Shipston road through Swalcliffe.
Parking
No public car park that we found. Park considerately on the streets.
Access
The villages sit on opposite sides of a steep valley, with Burdrop on the hilltop between, so any walk between them involves steep slopes.
Map of Sibford Gower and Sibford Ferris
© OpenStreetMap contributors

Places near Sibford Gower and Sibford Ferris

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