Minster Mill: a riverside break in Oxfordshire

Enjoy walks, fishing, horse riding – and learn how to throw an axe. Matthew Partridge reports

Minster Mill, Oxfordshire
Minster Mill and The Swan: a great base for walking in the countryside
(Image credit: © Minster Mill )

Oxfordshire is home to several charming market towns that are full of character and history. Perhaps the most distinctive is Witney. It lies on the edge of the Cotswolds, only eight miles from the village of Charlbury, and 12 from Oxford, both of which have trains to London. For hundreds of years Witney took advantage of its position on the River Windrush (from which the SS Empire Windrush took its name) to become famous for its wool industry, especially its blankets and mops. Indeed, during the 18th and 19th centuries nearly every ship in the Royal Navy contained a mop made there.

The prosperity that the wool trade brought to the town funded Witney’s distinctive architecture, as well as the Witney Blanket Hall, one of the key tourist attractions. Built in 1721, the hall originally functioned as both a weighing centre and a place for important public meetings. Today, it doubles as a fascinating industrial museum and a shop selling locally made woollen goods, ciders and pies. The museum Cogges Manor Farm, which appeared in the hit television series Downton Abbey as Yew Tree Farm, is only a ten-minute walk away.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri