Idbury and Fifield

The two villages of Idbury and Fifield are high on the ridge overlooking the broad Evenlode valley very close to the county border with Gloucestershire. They are about 5 miles north of Burford a little to the east of the A424 Burford to Stow on the Wold road.

The village church in Idbury is the church of St. Nicholas, which was originally built in the twelfth century. Some additions were made in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, and the interior was substantially modified in the nineteenth century. The most important interior feature of the church is the fifteenth-century stone font.

The manor house in Idbury dates from 1570. In the 1920s it was bought by the journalist and rural reformer J. W. Robertson Scott, who founded The Countryman magazine.

Nearby is a hill fort known as Idbury Camp.

The name Idbury is Saxon, meaning a fortified settlement of one hide of land whereas Fifield, the larger of the two villages, means an estate of five hides.

Fifield's two principle roads run down the hill and are lined with pretty cottages. The church in Fifield is the 13th century Church of St. John the Baptist, which has an Early English chancel.