Ilmington

Where the Cotswolds make their last northern stand, Ilmington gathers in a hollow of orchard-clad hills: honey-coloured stone and deep thatch, two good pubs, and a Norman church reached beneath an avenue of limes. Look closely at the oak pews of St Mary's and you will find eleven carved mice, the signature of Yorkshire furniture-maker Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson. The village has kept its own morris dancing tradition alive for generations, and its old apple orchards are still celebrated each autumn. Climb the lane onto Ilmington Downs, the highest ground in Warwickshire, and the whole county unrolls below — yet the village itself stays remarkably untroubled by the Cotswold crowds a few miles south.

A genuinely beautiful Cotswold-stone village with living traditions — morris dancing, orchards, Mouseman mice in the church — that most Cotswold visitors never reach.

• Peace & Quiet
• Walkers
• History Lovers
• Photographers