The Cotswolds
Honey-colored stone and green lanes, ninety minutes and a world away from London.
England · 3–4 nights
The Cotswolds are close enough to London to look like a day trip and are wasted as one. The villages people come for are ten minutes apart down lanes that are too narrow to hurry on, and the whole appeal is the pace those lanes force on you.
Base in one village and drive out from it. Touring four villages in a day is the standard mistake; it turns the most restful part of an England trip into the one where you spent the afternoon parking.
Good for
- Slowing a trip down after London
- Walking, gardens and pubs
- Couples and small groups
- Anyone who liked the idea of the countryside
Suggested stay: 3–4 nights
Before you book
What people get wrong about The Cotswolds.
The practical things that change a trip, rather than a list of sights you can find anywhere.
You need a car, and the first day is the hard one
Driving on the left down single-track lanes with stone walls on both sides is tiring before it is fun. Make the first countryside day a short drive and an early dinner.
Stay in a village, not a town
Broadway, Bibury, Chipping Campden and Stow all work. Waking up in one is most of the point, and the villages empty out completely after about five.
The good small hotels book first
There are not many rooms in the places worth staying, and they go months ahead for spring and early autumn.
Sunday lunch is an institution, and it is booked
The pub everyone recommends will be full on a Sunday. Reserve it before you leave home.
From the road
The Cotswolds, as I found it.
Photographs from my own time in The Cotswolds. No stock, no borrowed shots.
What it pairs with
London, ninety minutes east, and Bath, an hour south. London plus the Cotswolds is the eight-night England trip that almost always works.
Questions
The Cotswolds, answered.
How many days do you need in the Cotswolds?
Three nights, which gives you two full days without a drive on either end. Four if you want to add Bath or Blenheim without making it a long day.
Can you visit the Cotswolds without a car?
You can reach the larger towns by train and taxi, but the villages that make the region worth visiting are not on public transport. A car for two or three days, or a private driver-guide, is the practical answer.
Which Cotswolds village should you stay in?
Broadway and Chipping Campden for the prettiest high streets and good food; Bibury for the picture everyone has seen; Stow-on-the-Wold for a central base. Any one of them beats moving between two.
Also worth your nights
Where else to look.
Thinking about The Cotswolds?
Tell me what you're picturing. I'll tell you honestly whether it works, and what I'd change.
30-minute consultation, no charge, no obligation.