Once called Rissington Basset, the Gloucester village of Little Rissington sits on a brook called the Dikler, which eventually feeds the Windrush, of which we have spoken so often.

It is remarkably rural, unspoiled and quiet, considering it is within a stone’s throw of the newest village in the Cotswolds, Upper Rissington. Upper Rissington has sprung up within the last few decades on the site of little Rissington airfield, built in the 1930s, just before the second world war, which used to be home to the Royal Airforce’s Central Flying School.

Walking down the lane that runs through Little Rissington it feels as though nothing much has changed for centuries. Lovely local stone cottages with stone slate rooves, it’s everything you would expect from a Cotswold village.

On a couple of the lanes you will pass lovely well-heads, dated 1874 and 1875, and it is on record that despite the proximity, or maybe because of the proximity of several natural springs, there was no adequate supply of piped water in the village in the early 1940s. It wasn’t until 1954 that mains water and drainage arrived in the village, by which time even electricity had been available from 1939.

At the bottom of the street two lovely cottages Porch Cottage, (whose porch was sadly destroyed in 1950s) and Wysteria Cottage flank a converted 17th century dovecot, where you can still see the ledges for the birds.

On this corner is the old rectory, a substantial house, enlarged in 1812 when it was given a castellated wing which can be seen from the church.