The tiny village of Ilmington in Warwickshire enjoys all the charms of the Cotswolds’ other idyllic settlements, but as one of its lesser known lights visitors generally enjoy the pick of the quaint amenities the place has to offer.
The Cotswolds region as a whole sees around 38 million visitors a year, meaning some towns and villages like Cirencester or Chipping Campden are awash with tourists clogging up the cobbled streets and filling the cosy pubs.
However, Ilmington, which is home to around 730 people, experiences no such stampede.
Situated eight miles to the south of Stratford-upon-Avon, birthplace of William Shakespeare, and around 15 miles from Chipping Norton, Ilmington is isolated and frequently skipped over by visitors touring the region.
Despite not being a tourist hotspot, Ilmington boasts all of the rural charm that attracts the crowds to other areas of the Cotwolds.
Thatched-roofed houses built with honeycomb bricks, two exceptional pubs, homely hotels and B&Bs, the Norman church of St Mary and easy access to Ilmington Downs – the village has everything you need for a quintessentially British summer jaunt.
And if you’d rather raise your heartrate than relax, Ilmington even has its own tennis club which welcomes visiting players.
A trip to Ilmington would not be complete without a wander up the Ilmington Downs – the highest point in Warwickshire.
There are plenty of routes you can take up the hill, which has unspoilt 360 degree views from the summit.
One of the village’s traditions is to observe Apple Days, by going on walks via the orchards the place is renowned for.
The village, being small as it is, has few notable former residents.
One of them was essayist and poet Sir Thomas Overbury, who wrote A Wife, and who was murdered in the Tower of London.
The other notable former resident was Dorothy Hodgkin, a Nobel Prize winning British chemist that taught Margaret Thatcher at Oxford University. Her image was hung in the former Prime Minister’s office, despite her being a lifelong Labour supporter. In 1987, she was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize by the Soviet Union.
