The Cotswolds
An Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty Of Rolling Hills And Honey Coloured Limestone Villages, Built On The Wool Trade. Bibury, Bourton On The Water And Chipping Campden Are The Best Known, Linked By Lanes And Footpaths Such As The Cotswold Way. Gorgeous And Very Busy At Weekends In Summer, A Place Best Done By Car Or On Foot · Bourton-on-the-Water, England
The Cotswolds is a range of low limestone hills in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, about 150 km west of London, dotted with villages built from honey-coloured stone. The wool trade made the area rich from the Middle Ages, and the wealth went into wool churches, merchants' houses and market halls that still stand. The names that draw visitors are Bibury with its Arlington Row cottages, Bourton-on-the-Water with its shallow river and little bridges, Stow-on-the-Wold, Chipping Campden, Broadway with its hilltop tower, and Castle Combe. The Cotswold Way runs along the escarpment for long walks. A car is nearly essential, because buses are sparse and the lanes are narrow. Bibury and Bourton are small and badly overcrowded on summer weekends, and the villages are lived in, so keep to the paths, stay out of gardens and keep your voice down. Oxford and Bath sit at the edges but are separate trips.
Villages across Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire including Bourton-on-the-Water, Bibury, Broadway and Chipping Campden, about 150 km west of London, Bourton-on-the-Water, England, United Kingdom
The villages and lanes are open all day and all year, and strolling through them is FREE. Shops and tea rooms commonly open mid-morning and close by late afternoon, and many shut early or on one weekday in winter. Pubs usually serve lunch and dinner, with a quiet gap in the afternoon. Village churches are often open in daylight but close to visitors during services; Sunday mornings are the busiest worship time. Broadway Tower, the model village and the museums charge entry and are CLOSED outside their season or on set days, often in winter - confirm before driving. Private homes, including the cottages of Arlington Row, are never open inside. Car parks are pay-and-display and usually fill by late morning in summer.