Winchcombe

This terrific little town with Saxon origins is graced by Jacobean mansions, an ancient church with striking gargoyles, charming Victorian almshouses and an intriguing Folk and Police Museum (01242 609151). This is walking country, too. The town is crossed by five major trails (the Cotswold Way and Winchcombe Way among them). From the town centre there’s a well-marked route to the amazingly chambered Neolithic tomb of Belas Knap a few miles away.