Faringdon & Stanford

Faringdon is a market town in the Vale of White Horse with a compact centre of shops, a weekly market and a town hall. Folly Hill rises above the town and is topped by the Folly Tower added by Lord Berners in the 1930s; the hill gives views across the surrounding vale and figures in local walks. The town has links to a history of local government and transport, and the house at the edge of town once hosted eccentric entertainments and a pet zebra that was once walked through the streets, a story still told in local accounts.

Stanford in the Vale lies a few miles from Faringdon and is a village clustered around its parish church of St Denys. The village sits among arable fields and hedgerows, with lanes that connect to neighbouring farms and hamlets. Community life centres on the village green, church activities and a handful of local pubs and clubs. Patterns of agriculture and small-scale rural enterprise shape the landscape, and long-established footpaths link the two settlements across the Vale of White Horse.