The streets of Chipping Campden are not paved with gold, but the buildings are. Cotswold limestone varies greatly in colour from one region to another, from weathered greys to those pretentiously titled off-whites listed in paint manufacturers' catalogues. In Chipping Campden the stone used in buildings is every kind of golden yellow and honey brown, and in sunlight the town glows like Eldorado. It makes more sense to visit the Louvre wearing dark sunglasses than it does to visit Chipping Campden in the rain. When the sun shines the streets seem to be suffused with the essence of a summer's day, and one can almost smell honey and beeswax.

It is difficult to point to any one thing about Chipping Campden, to any particular building that is so exceptional that it stands out from the others. The architecture is absolutely characteristic of the Cotswolds, and similar buildings, even finer individual buildings, can be found elsewhere. The place is a gestalt, a totality that is greater than any one of its parts. When the sun shines, it really is a very exceptional and unexpectedly beautiful place.

This view is not universal. In 1836 a Cotswold parson wrote "Campden is a dull, clean, disused market town". Perhaps it was raining as he passed through. Perhaps he had a headache. Like many of the Cotswold wool towns Chipping Campden has had periods of great prosperity and periods of deep decline, and the early 19th.C when he wrote was a difficult time all over the Cotswolds, so it is likely that his description was accurate.

On the other hand, when the town was rich, it was exceedingly rich. One building which does stand out is the house of William Grevel, built about 1380, possibly later. Grevel was a wool merchant at a time when wool was the major English export to Europe and English wool, and in particular Cotswold wool, was considered among the very finest. Grevel is credited with much of the rebuilding to the church of St. James, although detailed study shows that the work was done either when he was a young man, or years after his death! There is no doubt about his importance to the town however, as there is a large brass of Grevel and his wife Marion set into the floor of the Chancel of St. James. The inscription on the brass says "Here lies William Grevel of Campden, formerly a citizen of London and flower of the wool merchants of all England, who died on the first day of October Anno Domini 1401".