Great Rissington

Details of the village were recorded as far back as 1086, and detailed records of the population and farmland have been kept ever since. Although the largest houses were rebuilt typically in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, they are rebuilt on much older sites. Parts of the village church, of St John the Baptist are 12th century, the windows are 13th century, and there are three coffin lids dating from Norman times. The village lies between 400 and 600 feet, and most of the houses carry names rather than road numbers as only the modern roads have been given names. The population numbers a few hundred only. The village is the starting and finishing point of a number of walks and provides views across the Cotswolds due to its elevation.

Within the village there are only three larger roads and a few smaller ones. The road that Easterleigh Cottage lies on is a dead end to the church, so there is no through traffic, a frequent problem with older villages where cottages were built along the through roads in the days before cars. The noisiest feature is the odd wild pheasant that appears in the garden. As with the other old roads in the village, the road has no name, it is simply "the road between the village green down to the church". Some of the neighbours were born in the village and have lived in the same house throughout their lives.