Farmcote is steeped in history and is mentioned in Doomsday Book, 1086, as ‘Ferncot’.
St Faiths church, Farmcote, a Saxon/early Norman church around 1000 years old. The font is twelfth century, and the stone ‘mensa’ alter, with consecration crosses to each corner, probably thirteenth century. The Communion rail, pulpit with sounding board, pews and clerk’s desk all about seventeenth century.
To the outside walls can be seen small square holes called ‘lepper’s squints’, and just to the left of the door is a ‘Mass dial’. In the churchyard is a ‘plague burial ground’ where 500 people are believed to be buried.
Beckbury Camp, An iron age hill Fort half mile along escarpment occupied 1-2,000 BC.
Great views across to Welsh Mountains 50 miles away. Today the ‘Strip Lynches’ or terraces , created by hundreds of years ploughing with oxen, can easily be identified.
Winchcombe, 3.5 miles away, prominent Mercian town 7-800 AD, a kingdom extending to Northern England.
Hailes Abbey, ½ mile distant, now a ruin, was built approximately 1220 by Henry III’s brother as a ‘thank you’ for surviving a ship wreck!
Sudley Castle near Winchcombe, burial place of Catherine Parr, Henry VIII’s last surviving wife, Castle badly damaged in the Civil War but later restored in nineteenth century by wealthy Dent family of glove making fame.
Great Farmcote our neighbour; Owned by the Stratford family 1350 to 1750 whose estates covered 128sq miles at their height! In the Civil War they raised their own army of 1000 men and then afterwards grew tobacco in the Cotswolds.
Walking
Farmcote is well situated for walking with numerous footpaths in the area and the Cotswold Way crossing the farm. The aforementioned historic sites can all be walked and take in a pub or two for refreshment!.
Other places of interest nearby
- Snowshill Manor
- Snowshill Lavender farm
- Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Steam Railway at Toddington
- Prescott Hill Climb for Motoring enthusiasts
- Stanway House, medieval flour mill and fountain
- Cheltenham Race Course famed for March Festival
- Farmcote Herbs right here! www.farmcote.co.uk
- Riding at Wood Stanway
- The Half Way House Pub , Kineton Tel No. 07425 970507
Cotswold Villages
Broadway, Chipping Campden, Stow-on-the-Wold and Cheltenham are all within half an hour’s drive, with Stratford, Oxford and Bath only an hour away.
Also in the region
Cheltenham, Winchcombe, Hailes Abbey, Stanway, Broadway, Snowshill, Cutsdean, Ford, Temple Guiting, Guiting Power, Stow on the Wold, Stanton, Bourton on the water.
If you would prefer a self contained holiday cottage for 2, try www.littlebarnfield.co.uk
David Eayrs North Farmcote Winchcombe Glos GL54 5AU
Tel: +44 (0) 1242 602304 Mobile: 077923 28274
E-mail: davideayrs@yahoo.co.uk