If you have even the faintest weakness for old leather, polished wood or the quiet thrill of a well-made thing, set aside an hour for Manfred Schotten's shop on Burford's High Street. It is part museum, part treasure hunt, and entirely impossible to leave empty-handed.
The shop occupies a handsome stone building halfway down Burford's famously steep High Street, and stepping inside feels like entering a very particular collector's private library. Vintage rowing oars lean against the walls. Leather cricket bags sit next to brass telescopes, croquet sets, and globes that have clearly seen some weather. Manfred specialises in sporting and library antiques: things made to be used hard and age beautifully. The quality is remarkable, and the range shifts with every visit, so you never quite know what you'll find.
It is the kind of place where you walk in thinking you'll just browse and walk out carrying a pair of Edwardian ice skates you didn't know you needed. Prices span a wide range, from modest curiosities you could tuck under your arm to serious pieces of furniture. Even if you buy nothing, the shop is a pleasure to wander. Burford itself is worth the trip (the high street, the church, a good lunch at The Angel), and Manfred Schotten gives you the perfect excuse to make a morning of it. The drive from Well Cottage takes around twenty minutes through some of the prettiest lanes in Oxfordshire.
“I've never managed a quick visit. You go in for five minutes and come out an hour later with something wonderful you can't quite explain to anyone at home.”
All of this on the doorstep, and your own thatched cottage to come home to. Sleeps seven, less than a mile from Soho Farmhouse.