Winterbourne is an extremely pretty rural village situated on the gently rolling chalk hills just south of the M4 motorway in the south of the Berkshire Downs. Winterbourne is also the name of the stream, a tributary of the river Lambourn, which runs through the village. It is a winterbourne, i.e. it runs in winter, not summer.

Development in the village has been positively controlled with a number of post-war houses filling in the gaps between extended older houses to create a pleasing environment.

The parish church, dedicated to St. James, was completely redeveloped in the 18th and 19t centuries. Adjacent to the church is Winterbourne Manor. The manor and church are about a third of a mile to the west of the main village.

Winterbourne is four miles north-west of Newbury and two and a half miles south-west of Chieveley.