<![CDATA[
Welcome to our website, set up in 2004 as part of the Vital Villages project. You may be an outsider, wanting to know more about the village with the weirdest name in South Oxfordshire, or you may be a resident. In either case, we hope you will find something here to interest you.
</P><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">
Brightwell-cum-Sotwell is a village of picture postcard prettiness. Nestling in a hollow below Wittenham Clumps, it has at its heart the Red Lion pub, miraculously restored after a near-disastrous fire. Dotted along the narrow village streets are picturesque black and white thatched cottages.
</P><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">
In estate agents' jargon, this is a sought after village, but it is much more than a pretty face. People have lived and worked here for over a thousand years. Where our forebears tilled the land, we are now more likely to toil over computers. However, farming still has an important part to play in shaping the landscape, and we remain firmly in touch with our rural roots.
</P><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">
This is an area that has attracted artists, musicians, scientists and visionaries. Visitors come from all over the world to Mount Vernon, home of the celebrated Bach Flower Remedies. Wild flowers grown in the garden of Mount Vernon are still used to make the mother tincture of these homeopathic treatments, and their creator, Dr Edward Bach, is buried in St James's churchyard in Sotwell.
</P>
<P>
<A HREF="vlife.htm">Village Life</A>
<A HREF="aleisure.htm">Community and Leisure - Alphabetic</A>
<A HREF="cleisure.htm">Community and Leisure - Classified</A>
<A HREF="abusiness.htm">Business and Commercial - Alphabetic</A>
<A HREF="cbusiness.htm">Business and Commercial - Classified</A>
<A HREF="calendar.htm">Calendar</A>
<A HREF="links.htm">Links</A>
<A HREF="contact.htm">Contact</A>
<A HREF="vltoday.htm">Village Life Today</A>
<A HREF="vlhistory.htm">Village History</A>
<A HREF="maps.htm">maps</A>
<A HREF="vltour.htm">Virtual Tour</A>
<A HREF="action.htm">2004 Action Plan</A>
</P>
]]>