Looking for Perfect English Villages in the Cotswolds

In 2019, we made a 2-day stopover in the Cotswolds as part of a weeklong trip to England that included London, Oxford and Bath. After all the museums in London and Oxford, this was Michelle’s part of the trip to relax in the English countryside amid the region’s charming villages and people.

Truth be told, I considered myself as just being along for the ride. I was excited to visit, but it didn’t hold any particular appeal for me beyond being a place to rest with an ale in an English pub. After a few hours during our first morning, I would become a convert among the many who consider the Cotswolds to be quintessential England.

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Orientation to the Cotswolds

The Cotswolds is a large rural region in the south of England comprised of a number of charming English villages and natural areas. While most of the villages themselves are perfectly small in scale, the region has an area of 787 square miles making it the largest Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England.

The Cotswolds claim to fame is its sublime Cotswold stone mined throughout the region. Most of the buildings in the Cotswolds use this stone in their design to great effect. It’s hard not to be enamored with the stone’s delicate honey-colored tones. They vary from light brown to golden hues depending on the region of the Cotswolds you’re in and the angle of the sun, but regardless of the exact hue, it’s easy to feel like you’ve been transported into a Jane Austen novel when walking through these villages.

Another highlight of the Cotswolds is the 102-miles-long Cotswolds Way. This trail takes you from Chipping Campden on the eastern edge of the Cotswolds all the way to Bath on its western edge. Along the way, you’ll hike through villages, pastures, meadows and woodlands.

Between the stunning Cotswold stone buildings and the idyllic rural landscapes, each of the villages you visit will feel like you’ve found perfection!

Sadly, we took this trip to the Cotswolds before I started getting into photography and while I still had an older iPhone. As a result, I don’t have as many high-quality photos as I typically have. Sorry!

Minster Lovell Hall Ruins

We drove through Minster Lovell to see these manor house ruins on our way to Chipping Campden. These ruins are a small gem if you’re willing to drive a bit out of the way to see them.

The Minster Lovell Hall ruins are free to enter and take about 20 minutes to explore fully. Because this former manor house is out of the way and relatively insignificant, it’s possible you’ll be the only person visiting. That was the case when we were there which was nice because we could wander about at our own leisure.

Don’t expect any spectacular sights. Rather, the experience and evocative setting are the reasons for visiting. The manor home was built next to the River Windrush and the noise of the bubbling water while walking through the ruins is quite pleasant. While we didn’t do this, bringing a picnic lunch here would be a great addition to a visit.

Minster Lovell Hall has a couple signs that briefly describe what you’re looking at, but there wasn’t much in terms of historical information. In short, this manor home was mostly built in the 1430s by the Baron of Lovell and Holand, expanding on a former manor house from the 12th century. The estate eventually passed to the Crown and then the Coke family in 1602. It was abandoned by the Cokes in favor of their other home in Norfolk and then gradually dismantled throughout the 18th century.

We visited Minster Lovell directly from Oxford after spending a few hours there first. Read more about our short visit to Oxford here!

Chipping Campden

Chipping Campden was our home base during our two days in the Cotswolds. There are several attractions to see here, but like much of the Cotswolds, the appeal is in the town itself. Of the towns we visited, Chipping Campden was the coziest while also feeling the most lived-in.

The main street through town is relatively small compared to the more touristy towns of Broadway and Bourton-on-the-Water. It still has the boutique shops and pubs, but it definitely has a local flair that gives you a sense of what it’s like to live in the region.

The Noel Arms Hotel

We stayed at the Noel Arms Hotel during our two nights in the Cotswolds. The Noel Arms was one of the best parts of our whole time in the region.

The Noel Arms Hotel is spread over several narrow halls that make the hotel seem larger than it actually is. Our room was comfy with a TV to watch late-night British television (a favorite of ours during our trip) and a decently sized bathroom.

In addition to the room, the Noel Arms Hotel has a lovely dining room and a perfectly English pub. The dining room is headed by Sri Lankan chef Indunil Upatissa, a former winner of Best Curry Chef three different times by the Great British Pub Awards. They’re open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We only had breakfast here, but the traditional Sri Lankan breakfast I had was amazing!

The pub was great, too. It has large comfortable chairs, soft lighting, a fireplace and dark wood trim everywhere you look. We spent much of our time in Chipping Campden just relaxing in this snug pub.

Parking is provided for people staying at the hotel. If you are not staying here, there is a large public parking lot across the road.

Dinner at The Maharaja

We ate several Indian meals during our time in England, and this unassuming restaurant on Chipping Campden’s main road was by far the best. In fact, it’s the best Indian food we’ve had to date.

The Maharaja has an extensive menu covering several styles of Indian cuisine with reasonable prices. We had several different things as we wanted to try as much as we could. Unfortunately, because we had so much and their menu is so large, I can’t remember what we had. Needless to say, it was all amazing!

Market Hall

The 400-year-old Market Hall sits across from the Noel Arms Hotel. It’s an open-air wooden structure that was built in 1627 to provide shelter for people selling their goods at market.

It’s a very quick visit and worth a few minutes of your time. You can walk along the worn stone floor viewing the exposed rafters and imagine what it was like to be here in the 17th century strolling through the market. It’s small but a poignant reminder of the Cotswolds’ past.

Dover’s Hill

Early on our second day in the Cotwolds, I headed out for a jog to Dover’s Hill. Dover’s Hill is the site of the Cotswold Olimpick Games.

The Olimpicks began in 1622 and included various events including shin kicking (yes, shin kicking), horse racing, sword fights, morris dancing and tug-of-war. Today, sword fights and horse racing have been replaced with running races and various other athletic endeavors.

To get to Dover’s Hill, take the Cotswolds Way trail a short way till you reach this large expanse of land. There were no Olimpicks when I visited, but it was still a pretty view out on the surrounding countryside.

The trailhead for the Cotswolds Way is a little difficult to find. It’s hidden on a small footpath between two houses. There’s a sign for the Cotswolds Way, but it’s on the opposite side of the road. I passed it twice before finally finding it.

If you’re feeling spunky, you can go farther along the Cotswolds Way through several adorable kissing gates and a farm with horses, sheep and cattle.

I wrote more about my experience jogging along the Cotswolds Way near Chipping Campden and some of my other experiences running during my travels previously. Click here to read more about this magical trail!

Other Things to do in Chipping Campden

Court Barn Museum

Celebrating the north Cotswolds heritage of artisans and craftspeople, the Court Barn Museum contains objects telling their story and exhibiting their handiwork. The museum contains items dating back to the early 1900s. There are several permanent exhibitions as well as rotating exhibits during the year.

Hidcote Manor Garden

A short drive away from the main part of Chipping Campden is Hidcote Manor Garden. These gardens cover 10.5 acres and include a variety of spaces including more secluded gardens and more natural green spaces as you get farther from the manor house.

Silk Mill

The Silk Mill is an old building in Chipping Campden that used to house a silk mill in the 18th century. Today, it’s an art gallery featuring a number of local artisans. You can find various arts and crafts ranging from ceramics to sculptures to glassware and everything in between.

Broadway

Known as the Jewel of the Cotswolds, Broadway is one of the more popular towns in the region. It’s highlighted by several tourist sights, a main street lined with boutique shops, and perfectly manicured homes wherever you go.

The main thing we did was the hike to Broadway Tower. Besides that, we spent the rest of our time in Broadway wandering along High Street exploring some of the shops and admiring the gorgeous buildings.

There are a few parking areas in Broadway. We parked in the lot off of Leamington Road near the east end of High Street. This lot is convenient for the hike to Broadway Tower detailed below if you plan on including that in your itinerary.

Hike to Broadway Tower

Broadway Tower is one of the top things to do in this part of the Cotswolds. Sitting atop the second highest point in the Cotswolds, this medieval-looking tower was built in 1798 and has served various functions over the years. Today, it’s a tourist attraction with a small museum detailing its history and a stairway leading to the roof for spectacular views.

The hike goes along the Cotswolds Way from High Street to the tower. To find the trailhead, head up High Street past Leamington Road. The trailhead is down an alleyway on the right side of the road. There is a sign for the Cotswolds Way, but you need to be looking out for it as it can be easily missed.

Once you start, it’s a lovely yet strenuous 1-mile climb uphill to Broadway Tower. Along the way, you’ll come across romantic English countryside scenes including many sheep, hand-placed rock walls, views of Broadway and a deer park. The ground is fairly even despite being on grassy terrain, but it is steep in parts. Take advantage of the couple spots with benches to rest your legs and admire the views!

At the top of the hill is the tower you climbed to see. Tickets are required to visit the museum and climb to the top. You can purchase these ahead of time to reserve a time or at the tower itself. There are various ticket options. I recommend the £12 tower and grounds ticket; the views from the top of the tower are worth it!

If you want to see Broadway Tower without hiking, there is parking for £3. There is also a longer circular hike you can take that includes the Cotswolds Way but has you go out via a trail connecting with Snowshill Road.

Tisane’s Tea Room

Shortly after our hike, we walked by Tisane’s Tea Room off of High Street. Between its inviting exterior and Michelle and I both needing a rest and some food, we gave Tisane’s a try, and thus my love affair with tea began.

I had had tea before, including some in London just a couple days earlier, but this was my first experience in a true tea shop with high-quality loose-leaf tea. Since then, I’ve been a tea fiend, trying new shops in every place I visit.

Tisane’s Tea Room certainly isn’t the best tea shop I’ve ever been in, yet it’s relaxed atmosphere and friendly service make it worth visiting. The inside is filled with various retail items and a counter to place your order. Once you order, you can sit inside or in their backyard garden. It’s relatively no frills which isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you are looking for a reprieve from the touristed streets of Broadway.

If you like black teas, their lapsang souchong is the best I’ve had of this particular blend!

Other Things to do in Broadway

Gordon Russell Design Museum

The Gordon Russell Design Museum celebrates the life of famed furniture designer Gordon Russell. Contained in the museum are an assortment of objects demonstrating his works and designs. There are also collections including original sketches and interviews.

Broadway Museum and Art Gallery

The Broadway Museum and Art Gallery opened in 2013 in affiliation with the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. This museum is housed in the former Angel Inn, a 17th century coaching inn, making it one of the few buildings dating from this era open to visitors.

The collection contained within the museum includes a variety of artifacts including fossils, objects from the wool trade, and items related to coach travel. There are also rotating exhibits made up of items on loan from the Ashmolean Museum.

Here is my guide to my favorite London museums if you’ll be heading that way after the Cotswolds!

Snowshill Manor and Gardens

About 15 minutes away from Broadway is Snowshill Manor and Gardens. The manor used to belong to Charles Wade who used the home to collect unique pieces of art and other objects including suits of armor and musical instruments. Now, tourists can come to see Wade’s eccentric collection and wander about in the garden.

Bourton-on-the-Water

Bourton-on-the-Water is famed for the idyllic River Windrush flowing along its main street with two green spaces along either side of it. Connecting the two sides of High Street are five arched stone bridges. This serene setting earned Bourton-on-the-Water the apt nickname of the Venice of the Cotswolds.

Like Broadway, there are several tourist attractions and many shops in Bourton-on-the-Water, but unlike Broadway, we did none of them. The highlight of Bourton-on-the-Water is finding a place to sit while you take in the picturesque views of High Street and the River Windrush.

Cotswolds Distillery

If you’re a whisky or gin drinker, a stop in Cotswolds Distillery is a must. I had already seen their popular gin in a couple pubs in the area, but I hadn’t tasted any yet.

They have small tastings with a fee which I highly recommend. Their flagship gin and single malt whisky are as near to perfect as spirits can get. I particularly enjoyed the whisky. It tastes a bit like bourbon except exceedingly smooth. It quickly became my favorite whisky!

The dry gin was no slouch, either. After a tasting here, all my gin and tonics throughout the rest of our trip included this gin if it was available.

Kingsbridge Inn

There are several pubs along High Street to grab a drink for you to enjoy while admiring the scenery. We stopped at Kingsbridge Inn because of its inviting beer garden overlooking the road and river.

The beer garden is definitely the best part. We ended up staying for a couple drinks because of how nice it was to be able to sit here and still see everything going on along High Street. Other than that, it was a fairly standard pub with typical pub fare.

Other Things to do in Bourton-on-the-Water

Birdland Park and Gardens

Spread over 9 acres in Bourton-on-the-Water’s southeastern edge is Birdland Park and Gardens. This aviary has various exhibits featuring many different species of birds among gardens and woodlands. Among the many birds you can see are England’s only group of king penguins.

If visiting with kids, they may also be excited to see the park’s collection of life-size dinosaurs throughout the gardens! It seems a bit odd to me, but it could be a good way to keep the littles one happy.

Cotswold Motoring Museum and Toy Collection

Across the road from Cotswolds Distillery is the Cotswold Motoring Museum. This museum features collections of antique motor vehicles from the 20th century. There are cars, motorcycles, carvans and motoring memorabilia from across the years. It has also has an antique toy collection featuring more vehicle-related items as well as some other odds and ends.

The Model Village

The Model Village is a 1:9 scale replica village of Bourton-on-the-Water complete with Cotswold stone. There’s even a model village within The Model Village (which makes me wonder, is there a model village within The Model Village’s model village…?)

There’s a small parking lot right next to The Model Village you can use during your visit to Bourton-on-the-Water. This lot is nice because it’s just a short few minutes walk to the main part of town.

Lower Slaughter

Lower Slaughter is widely regarded as one of the prettiest villages in all of the Cotswolds. After walking around a bit, it’s easy to see why!

Visiting Lower Slaughter was a bit of an afterthought after spending most of the day in Broadway and Bourton-on-the-Water. There’s not much to do here, but with it being just a few minutes up the road from Bourton-on-the-Water, I figured we might as well visit.

In fact, the lack of highlights is one of the things that makes Lower Slaughter unique. It’s just a residential village unlike some of the other Cotswolds locations that cater towards tourists.

The homes and buildings throughout the village are all immaculately kept and pristine. You’d be hard pressed to find a more perfect English village than Lower Slaughter.

We walked around nowhere in particular for about 15 minutes admiring the lovely homes all made with that essential Cotswold stone. At one point I remember joking to Michelle about buying a home here, to which an elderly British man walking by remarked in a perfectly English sardonic tone “Sure, as long as you have about a million pounds lying around.” Be that as it may, we can still visit and pretend!

Be mindful that most of the buildings here are peoples’ homes. Be considerate with your photography and limit your walking to obvious footpaths.

The Slaughters Country Inn

Besides walking around somewhat aimlessly, having a couple drinks in The Slaughters Country Inn was the only thing we did in Lower Slaughter.

This classy hotel has a pub on its ground floor with a lovely outdoor seating area. It’s a delightful spot for a gin and tonic where you can admire some more Cotswold stone architecture while listening to the River Eye churn along its course. If you’re lucky like we were, there’ll also be a local with their dog playing fetch to add to the rustic charm.

The inside of the pub was a little bare bones. It’s filled with wooden notes from the old-fashioned chairs to the more modern-looking bar. There’s a single cabinet that acts as a library if you’re looking for something to read. It gets the job done if the weather isn’t cooperating.

The Slaughters Country Inn also has a lunch and dinner menu if you’re ready for a meal.

Other Things to do in Lower Slaughter

The Old Mill

This is the only true tourist attraction in Lower Slaughter. A mill has existed in this location as far as back as 1086 when it was recorded in the Domesday Book.

Today, people can visit The Old Mill to see a small museum on the history of the mill and breadmaking. There’s also a craft store and a homemade ice cream shop.

The Old Mill is currently closed, but there are plans to reopen at some point in the future.

St Mary’s Church

St Mary’s Church is one of the first things we saw as we entered Lower Slaughter. It’s a picturesque small church with an old cemetery sitting in its front yard. You can visit the inside if there are no events happening.

Getting Around the Cotswolds

If you’re going to be traveling to some of the smaller villages in the Cotswolds, renting a car is a must. You can take a train to one of the larger cities (Oxford, Bath, Cheltenham, Gloucester, and a couple others) and then pick up a car rental to begin your time seeing the region.

We took a train from London to Oxford. Oxford is a great town to visit for its museums and various colleges. It’s also on the eastern edge of the Cotswolds. These two things combine to make it a perfect spot to visit first if coming from London before traveling farther into the Cotswolds. Keep in mind, if renting a car from Enterprise, the office is about a 20-minute Uber or taxi from the main part of Oxford, so factor that in if you are on a time crunch.

Once you have a car, it’s easy enough to get around. Most locations are fairly close to one another as long as you plan smartly, and there is ample parking in the towns we visited.

Other Popular Towns to Visit in the Cotswolds

The towns described above are just a small sampling of what the Cotswolds has to offer. Here are some of the other popular towns to visit with more time or depending on what part of the Cotswolds you are in.

• Stow-on-the-Wold
• Oxford
• Bath
• Cheltenham
• Burford
• Bibury
• Cirencester

More Posts to Plan Your Trip to England

Here are my other guides to places we visited in England!

• London Museums
• Oxford

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