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Picture of the day
In the Sibfords today…
Wednesday 13 May 2026Partly cloudy with rain
Temperature in Sibford at 9.10am: 9°
Private event
Sibford Striders
We leave the Village Hall car park on foot or by car at 9.30am sharp…
We leave the Village Hall car park on foot or by car at 9.30am sharp to do a circuit of approximately two hours. You are advised, therefore, to get to the village hall by 9.25am latest. We aim to be back at the Village Hall by noon.
Dogs are welcome provided that they are put on a lead when requested. Walking boots (or wellies in wet weather) are recommended but not compulsory. Walking poles may also be beneficial. Some routes include stiles.
If you are leaving your car at the village hall to complete the walk, please park it on the road outside rather than in the car park.
For further information, contact Christopher on christophersteane
Artweeks – Nigel Fletcher
Local artist Nigel Fletcher's Spring Exhibition runs from 9th to 25th May this year, part …
Local artist Nigel Fletcher's Spring Exhibition runs from 9th to 25th May this year, part of Oxfordshire Artweeks.
Nigel writes: This year I've been experimenting from time to time with abstract or semi - abstract painting, I can't say I'm an expert at it but really enjoy the process, working with saturated colour and in a completely different way than I'm used to has been fun, frustrating and when it goes well - very exciting! and so I'll be framing 22 and looking forward to showing them to you.
And of course there will be plenty of new figurative paintings of local scenery and painting trips to the Norfolk coast etc.
Artweeks
Come and visit a beautiful eco studio located in a pretty, village garden which houses …
Come and visit a beautiful eco studio located in a pretty, village garden which houses a jeweller, potter, a mixed media artist and a blacksmith who forges metal garden sculptures. Here you will see a huge variety of professionally made items covering all price points. This venue is part of the NGS (National Garden Scheme) so definitely worth coming to see.
Exhibiting artists: Nicola Durrant, Elly Dunford Wood, David Turner, Maya Callen-Franklin
Artweeks – Phyu Gordon & Rhiannon Evans
Phyu Gordon and Rhiannon Evans met whilst sharing the unique studio space of The Old …
Phyu Gordon and Rhiannon Evans met whilst sharing the unique studio space of The Old Mission Hall, Sibford Gower, Banbury, Oxfordshire, a building long associated with the local Society of Friends community. Their common concerns are the natural world, local and global culture, heritage and memory.
Phyu Gordon
Phyu is originally from Burma and her practice focuses on portrait paintings especially in water colour and the specialist technique of lacquer painting which she learnt in Vietnam. She will also be showing this process of making. She paints local landscape, natural images and still life in oil and acrylic as well.
Over the past 20 years she has lived in different countries and created paintings that reflect her experiences of people and cultures.
Rhiannon Evans
Rhiannon’s practice involves remediation of pre-existing imagery to make paintings and drawings on semi-transparent
materials. Her work takes on varying forms; from loose, unbound, unframed leaves, 3 – dimensional collaged sculptures and dynamic triptychs and references diverse historical traditions, archival methods and materials.
Her recent works engage with ideas of choice, possibility and the blurring of boundaries between technology, the natural world and community. Her aims is to encourage reflection on contemporary themes where she senses confusion and conflict in everyday life.
Sibford Lunch Club
Private event
Horti Show – Entry night
Here is the Schedule for the Horti Spring Show, with all you need to know …
Here is the Schedule for the Horti Spring Show, with all you need to know to enter your produce, photos, handicrafts, cakes, etc.
Click to download: Horti Schedule Spring 26
…and tomorrow
Partly cloudy with rain
Artweeks – Nigel Fletcher
Local artist Nigel Fletcher's Spring Exhibition runs from 9th to 25th May this year, part …
Local artist Nigel Fletcher's Spring Exhibition runs from 9th to 25th May this year, part of Oxfordshire Artweeks.
Nigel writes: This year I've been experimenting from time to time with abstract or semi - abstract painting, I can't say I'm an expert at it but really enjoy the process, working with saturated colour and in a completely different way than I'm used to has been fun, frustrating and when it goes well - very exciting! and so I'll be framing 22 and looking forward to showing them to you.
And of course there will be plenty of new figurative paintings of local scenery and painting trips to the Norfolk coast etc.
Artweeks
Come and visit a beautiful eco studio located in a pretty, village garden which houses …
Come and visit a beautiful eco studio located in a pretty, village garden which houses a jeweller, potter, a mixed media artist and a blacksmith who forges metal garden sculptures. Here you will see a huge variety of professionally made items covering all price points. This venue is part of the NGS (National Garden Scheme) so definitely worth coming to see.
Exhibiting artists: Nicola Durrant, Elly Dunford Wood, David Turner, Maya Callen-Franklin
Artweeks – Phyu Gordon & Rhiannon Evans
Phyu Gordon and Rhiannon Evans met whilst sharing the unique studio space of The Old …
Phyu Gordon and Rhiannon Evans met whilst sharing the unique studio space of The Old Mission Hall, Sibford Gower, Banbury, Oxfordshire, a building long associated with the local Society of Friends community. Their common concerns are the natural world, local and global culture, heritage and memory.
Phyu Gordon
Phyu is originally from Burma and her practice focuses on portrait paintings especially in water colour and the specialist technique of lacquer painting which she learnt in Vietnam. She will also be showing this process of making. She paints local landscape, natural images and still life in oil and acrylic as well.
Over the past 20 years she has lived in different countries and created paintings that reflect her experiences of people and cultures.
Rhiannon Evans
Rhiannon’s practice involves remediation of pre-existing imagery to make paintings and drawings on semi-transparent
materials. Her work takes on varying forms; from loose, unbound, unframed leaves, 3 – dimensional collaged sculptures and dynamic triptychs and references diverse historical traditions, archival methods and materials.
Her recent works engage with ideas of choice, possibility and the blurring of boundaries between technology, the natural world and community. Her aims is to encourage reflection on contemporary themes where she senses confusion and conflict in everyday life.
Community Café
Free to attend as kindly sponsored by the Town Estate Charity Refreshments available as well …
Free to attend as kindly sponsored by the Town Estate Charity
Refreshments available as well as games, crafts, books, puzzles.
Come and socialise and keep warm in the small hall.
Contact Ginny on 01295 780 373 or ginnybennett
All welcome!
…and after that
Don't miss...
Sibford Striders
We leave the Village Hall car park on foot or by car at 9.30am sharp…read more
Artweeks – Nigel Fletcher
Local artist Nigel Fletcher's Spring Exhibition runs from 9th to 25th May this year, part …read more
Artweeks
Come and visit a beautiful eco studio located in a pretty, village garden which houses …read more
Artweeks – Phyu Gordon & Rhiannon Evans
Phyu Gordon and Rhiannon Evans met whilst sharing the unique studio space of The Old …read more
Horti Show – Entry night
Here is the Schedule for the Horti Spring Show, with all you need to know …read more
Artweeks – Nigel Fletcher
Artweeks
Artweeks – Phyu Gordon & Rhiannon Evans
Artweeks – Nigel Fletcher
Artweeks
…more events
News & Notices
Shrubfest 2026
OK guys, tickets are now available to purchase for this family event supporting the Brain Tumour Charity.
Contact Nicola Durrrant at nic
Tickets are £8 …read more
Horti visit to Rodmarton Manor
The Horti has secured a private visit, on Thursday 18th June, to this renowned Arts and Crafts house and garden; this is a unique opportunity to visit without the …read more
Sibford Gower Annual Parish Meeting
Please see below the agenda for the Sibford Gower Annual Parish Meeting.
Sibford in the news
Cherwell local election results 2026 in full - Manchester Evening News
Council election results for the areas of Adderbury, Banbury, Bicester, Deddington and Kidlington.
The swifts are in!
The swifts are arriving a bit later than usual this year. There have been sightings over the Sibfords in the last few days, but our first swift of the …read more
District Council Election results
Nicola Borkmann, the Liberal Democrat candidate, has been elected to Cherwell District Council for the Cropredy, Sibfords & Wroxton Ward, replacing long-serving Phil Chapman.
The full results are on …read more
Sean Woodcock MP April Update
Please see below a summary from Sean Woodcock MP on his work through April 2026.
Cerys Upstone
Policy and Communications Officer for Sean Woodcock MP
Email: cerys.upstone
Between the end …read more
Horti Spring Show – Schedule
Here is the Schedule for the Horti Spring Show, with all you need to know to enter your produce, photos, handicrafts, cakes, etc. Entry night is Wednesday 13th May.…read more
The Great Wall of China Trek
This is a fund raising challenge for Katharine House Hospice - a week in China, walking sections of the wall.
I worked at Katharine House for about 8 years and …read more
International Space Station
ISS over Sibford tonight - rising in the W at 10:19pm, up to 81º at 10:23pm.
Weather forecast is "few clouds", cloud cover 14%.
Notes:
- The "up to" figure is …read more
…earlier news
Voices from the past
21 years ago
the Sibford Scene in April 2005
A short account of Farming in and around Sibford in the 1930s by Charles J. Lamb: [glossary_exclude]An account of the farmers, farm buildings and farming of the depression years of the 1930s, and later as observed …
A short account of Farming in and around Sibford in the 1930s by Charles J. Lamb
An account of the farmers, farm buildings and farming of the depression years of the 1930s, and later as observed by C.J. Lamb, who was born in Sibford Gower in 1924 of a widespread farming family, most of whom were at that time struggling for a precarious living because of the disastrous agricultural policies of a Society to which industrial export and a need for cheap food for industrial workers was the only consideration.
The parishes of Sibford Gower, with Burdrop and Sibford Ferris, are each roughly triangular in shape, together forming a rectangle with the largest area of the Gower lying to the North of the compass and the Ferris largely to the South. The two parishes are each bounded by the infant River Stour to the South and by a tributary of the Sor Brook to the North, with the parishes of Hook Norton as neighbour to the South and Epwell and Shutford to the North.
Sibford Gower’s Western boundary with Brailes, which is also the Oxon Warwickshire County boundary, is formed by a centuries old British road known as Ditchedge, which follows the escarpment from Rollright to Edgehill. Sibford Ferris has as its Eastern boundary with Swalcliffe parts of two small streams running to North and South over the watershed between Severn and Thames, but drawn largely in a more or less straight line, not dictated by any natural feature. The boundary between the two Sibfords, however, is almost completely formed by a tributary to the River Stour and another to the Sor Brook, separated only by a few hundred yards over the watershed at Tyne Hill.
The configuration of the land extends from 400 ft above sea level at Temple Mill Sibford Ferris to 750 ft at Heath Farm Sibford Gower. Sibford Gower will be described commencing from the River Stour to the South following the long spur of ground to Sibford Heath over the watershed to Blenheim Farm and returning on the shorter spur to Sibford Gower Village.
Approximately 30 acres of land, mainly of limestone, Bunkers Hill, Bunkers Ground, Traitorsford Meadow and Lady Bell Hangings, was fanned by Will Tustain, a wealthy bachelor grazier of Milcombe, who also owned Hook Norton Leys Farm adjaceent across the River Stour. Another 30 acres of pasture opposite the Colony brought this man’s local holding to approximately 260 acres, which was run by only one man, George Waterman, who lived in Sibford Gower, walked to and from his work, and by hard work and exposure to the elements was crippled with rheumatism at early middle age and yet continued to carry out his duties.
The standard of farming, of course, was appalling. The land, entirely pasture, was covered with thorn bushes, rushes, thistles, etc, but it was probably one of the few holdings producing more than a bare living. Hook Norton Leys Farm and the Bunkers Hill land had, within the memory of an old friend of mine, Fred K. Dyer, who worked there as a young man, “Been entirely under arable crops except the hangings of the tanks”.
College Barn and New Barn together about 100 acres was farmed by Lewis Poulton, Master Builder of Burdrop, where he also farmed the Park and Burdrop and Wheathills Farms. All these farms, predominantly arable and probably well farmed in the more profitable past, had degenerated by the 1930s to growing crops more remarkable for its content of poppies, moon daisies and couch grass than grain. This holding decreased in the 30s when J. Salmon Pettipher purchased College Barn and Lewis Poulton‘s son, Will, purchased Burdrop Farm.
Haynes Barn Farm was farmed by Joseph Sabin of Temple Mill together with other land near College Barn, approximately 15 acres known as Shaws and Whitemoor. Ryehill Farm of 50 acres was in the occupation of Walter Davies, who after years of hard work was unfortunately to have to admit defeat just before the outbreak of the 1939 war, which would no doubt have enabled him to continue farming.
Stickleys Farm, approximately 35 acres stretching from Sibford Gower to Ryehill, was owned by my mother, who came of a farming family, the Bishops of Whichford, and farmed by my father, who was hard put to provide a living for his wife and four children from this acreage.
He kept a large number of poultry on the farm, was a member of the Scientific Poultry Breeders Association and produced sex linked Rhode island Red and Light Sussex chicks for sale, but unfortunately, in company with many others, the then prevalent diseases of fowl paralysis and Bacterial White Diarrhoea, combined with undue competition from other returned service men to defeat this enterprise. He turned his attention then to part time house thatching, which enabled him to survive until the outbreak of war when he was able to increase his holding of land by renting College Barn and Gautherns Farm, Sibford Ferris, from J.S. Pettipher, who was retiring mainly because he hated to see pasture, however worn out, broken up for arable farming.
(To be continued in a future issue)
153 years ago
Reverend Stevens's diary for Wednesday 16 April 1873
Went to Footscray with Louie and Lottie in Mountain's carriage and pair. Received from Longmans on account of G.L.B. £100.
Went to Footscray with Louie and Lottie in Mountain’s carriage and pair.
Received from Longmans on account of G.L.B. £100.
Local picture of the day

1/118 Outside Richard Walker's forge. Sally Walker sold sweets and tuck here; Sally's daughter Ursula married Johnny Scrubie. Occupied by Dame Ann Stephens in the late 1900s.

1/118 Outside Richard Walker's forge. Sally Walker sold sweets and tuck here; Sally's daughter Ursula married Johnny Scrubie. Occupied by Dame Ann Stephens in the late 1900s.


