The villages sit at the side of a clear shallow Cotswold stream, which gushes from the rocks by the side of the road near South Farm and flows through the villages on its way to the River Colne near Frogmill, of which more later. There are two splashes or fords where the village lanes cross the stream without superfluous bridges. Only in exceptional times is the water too deep for vehicles to cross. One of these splashes is on Bee Lane, named after a local man, Farmer Bee, and the other lower in the valley at Kilham Lane. I can’t deny I took childish pleasure in driving through these splashes in my lovely new car and it was a joy to see several horse riders clopping and splashing through them during our visit.

The streets, if such a word is appropriate, have changed little over the last century, and the great manor houses remain splendid; grand but still somehow inextricably linked to the landscape in which they sit.

The little church of St Mary’s in Shipton Solers was originally supposed to be the mother church when these two small parishes were joined together by the Bishop of Gloucester in 1776. However, the bishop’s decision was out of date even by the time he made it, as Shipton Oliffe started to outgrow Shipton Solers, and by the 19th century St Marys was disused and pretty much derelict.

In the mid 20th century, a few parishioners remembered it as being used as a farm store and shelter for wandering chickens who laid eggs amongst the piles of stuff, easily to be stolen by local children. In 1884 it was restored to some kind of respectability, but once again fell into disrepair, until, in 1930, the Lord of the Manor of the time, one Mr E Fieldhouse, decided fully to restore the church in memory of his parents, using the highly respected young architect William Ellery Anderson. He did a brilliant job.