10 Things Not to Miss in the Cotswolds

What is Chipping Campden?

The quintessential Cotswolds village, which ticks every box for architecture, history and natural beauty.

Why Should You Visit Chipping Campden

In the northern fringes of the Cotswolds, Chipping Campden beautifully captures what it was to be a prosperous wool town in the 17th century. With well-preserved architecture and an elegant high street surrounded by honey-stone houses with Jacobean gables, twisted beams and mullioned windows, it wears its history well. The fact that it is set attractively against a backdrop of forested hills helps. At the same time, the lively local community provides an atmosphere and plenty of contemporary character. The charming village of Chipping Camden more than deserves a place on any list of things not to miss in the Cotswolds.

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What is Bibury?

The classic Cotswolds image; a row of traditional houses made of warm Cotswold stone.

Why Should You Visit Bibury?

Put yourself in the picture (postcard) by seeking out one of rural England’s iconic images and stroll the line of medieval weavers’ cottages on Arlington Row in Bibury. Dubbed ‘the most beautiful village in England’ by Victorian designer William Morris, this romantic row of one-time homes for workers at the nearby mill draws plenty of people keen to see the street. Hound-tooth gables, warm yellow stone and wonky windows perfectly epitomise the traditional Cotswold village. Once you’ve snapped a photo, there’s little else in the one-street riverside village aside from a pleasant pub – a scenic 11-mile loop covers the ground between Bibury and Barnsley if you’re looking to work up a thirst.

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What is Cheltenham?

An engaging, self-styled capital of the Cotswolds, full of Georgian architecture and Roman history.

Why Should You Visit Cheltenham?

Cheltenham, gateway to the western Cotswolds, was a modest town until the discovery of a spring in the early 18th century turned it into a popular spa town, drawing a crowd comprising royalty and nobility who came to take the waters. Today a smart set still resides here. Visit some of England’s best-preserved Regency architecture, a great museum, innumerable quality contemporary restaurants and fine-design hotels. There’s a good quality, regular farmers’ market and several excellent arts festivals. If horse racing is your thing, the Cheltenham racecourse is Britain’s leading venue for steeplechasing, where riders compete for the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

What is the Painswick Rococo Garden?

England’s only complete and surviving example of Rococo garden design.

Why Should You Visit the Painswick Rococo Garden?

Close to the congenial old wool town of Painswick – itself a beautiful example of a Cotswold country village – is the privately-owned 18th century Painswick House. The Rococo Garden here is a genuine one-off and something to seek out in a region full of formal and landscaped gardens worth visiting. Established in the 1730s but abandoned and allowed to become overgrown, it was restored in the 1970s based on a painting of the house. The result is a careful recreation of the formal geometric shapes and naturalistic curving lines that typified this short-lived fashion. Statues and follies lie scattered among the plants. The gardens have year-round appeal, with the vast banks of snowdrops in March especially pretty.

What Are the Rollright Stones?

An enigmatic megalithic monument stood among silent fields.

Why Should You Visit the Rollright Stones?

The Cotswolds is an ancient landscape with many historical sites to search out. The Rollright Stones west of Chipping Norton comprise three sites of large natural stones moved here, along with burial chambers and barrows. No one is quite sure why they were created, which adds to the mystique, and legends abound about the largest site, the King’s Men. This site, where seventy irregularly spaced stones form a circle about 100 feet in diameter, is considered one of the most important monuments of its kind in England. For more insight into the Cotswolds’ past, explore Belas Knap on the ridge of Cleeve Hill, a 5,000-year-old Neolithic long barrow among England’s best-preserved burial chambers.

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