Streatley is a riverside village of smart houses on the west bank of the River Thames in the picturesque Goring Gap, linked to the Oxfordshire village of Goring by Goring Bridge. From the river the Berkshire Downs rise steeply and the village nestles on the lower slopes. Above the village there is a golf course and the National Trust beauty spots of Lardon Chase, the Holies and Lough Down.

The village is at the crossroads of the Roman road from Dorchester-on-Thames to Silchester and the possible route of the Icknield Way, and there was a small Roman settlement in the village. The Icknield Way ran along the bottom of the Wessex Downs escarpment and on to Norfolk. Travellers along the Icknield Way formerly crossed the river by means of a raised causeway, traces of which are still visible, and subsequently by a ferry which was owned by the Prioress of Goring. The Ridgeway, an ancient route along the top of the Downs from Wiltshire to Streatley, also crosses the river at Streatley.

The parish church is St. Mary's, which stands on the site of a former Saxon church between the village and the river.

In 1932 human bones, a blood-stained tooth, an iron spearhead and knife, and buckle were discovered by a local resident. The warrior's bones were reburied in the churchyard where a memorial stonemarks the spot. The iron spearhead, knife, and buckle are kept safely elsewhere. The warrior is believed to have fought for the West Saxons against the Danes in the Battle of Ashdown where Alfred had a famous victory over the Danes.

At the crossroads is The Bull at Streatley which was mentioned in Three men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome. It was a former post house on the turnpike road to Reading. Next to the bridge with a fine river frontage is The Swan at Streatley which was at one time owned by Danny la Rue.

Near the church Childe Court was an old half-timbered farm building which was adapted as a parish reading room in 1898.

Streatley is on the A329 Wallingford to Reading road about 8 miles north-west of Reading.