On Sunday mornings, there is something deeply comforting about pointing the car towards the Cotswolds without too much of a plan. The hedgerows are still bare at this time of year, the light sits low across the fields, and the villages feel suspended somewhere between television set and real life. We didn't go farther than about 35 minutes outside of Oxford to find Bampton with its honeyed stone cottages, instantly recognisable thanks to its starring role in Downton Abbey.
