UK's 'most beautiful village' is prettiest in winter when you can dodge crowds
A picturesque village that has helped bring several charming British films to life is arguably at its most beautiful in the winter.
In a country of 10,000 villages crammed full of charming old pubs, thatched Tudor houses and cricket greens, it is difficult to say which is the most beguiling of them all. While there is no accounting for taste, Castle Coombe in Wiltshire has as decent a claim on being the prettiest.
Originally, the village was a British hill fort which became occupied by the Romans due to its proximity to The Fosse Way. After the Romans came the Normans, who built the fort up into a Castle. During the Middle Ages, the village, along with much of the Cotswolds, enjoyed prosperity due to the growth of a thriving wool industry. Numerous weavers’ cottages were erected from local stone, and these ancient honey-hued buildings remain one of the village’s standout features today.
The village's biggest export is a particular type of red and white cloth known as ‘Castlecombe’, which was sold in markets in Bristol, Cirencester, London and even occasionally abroad. In 1440 King Henry VI granted Castle Combe the right to hold a weekly market, leading to the erection of an unmistakable Market Cross monument that still stands today.
Castle Combe was used as a location for several films (Getty Images)What makes the village so charming is how intact and well preserved its buildings are. More than 100 in the parish have listed status which means they rarely get tampered with. There is a strict, settlement wide ban on modern attachments such as TV dishes and external wires to the exterior of its houses.
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As a result, the appearance of the village remains close to what it would've been when its houses were first built. Squint and remove your Apple Watch, and you could be forgiven for forgetting which century you're in during a trip to Castle Combe.
Because of its untampered with look the village has become a popular location for film crews, with productions including the 1967 filmed musical Doctor Dolittle, Stardust and The Wolf Man. It was also a key filming location for Stephen Spielberg’s War Horse.
In order to transport the feeling of the village even further back into the past, its tarmac through-road was closed and covered with a temporary muddy surface, while modern street lamps, signage and post boxes were either covered or removed altogether. Once the shoot had finished it took dozens of workers to return Castle Combe to its former state.
According to property firm Fine and Country, the village is the most beautiful in the land when visited in the winter. With a dusting of snow on the ground and a layer of ice floating atop the river, the untouched nature of Castle Combe is even more pronounced.
After a few warming beers in the local 12th century Manor House pub, with snowflakes beginning to gently fall around you, you may well wonder if you've walked out of modern day Britain and onto a film set.
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