Pre-Trip Service
the content of the communication was wonderful but I wasn't sure when to expect to get information. As the trip time approached and i hadn't gotten the final itinerary I was a little nervous. I did, however, receive it in plenty of time.
Trip Comments
The walk through the Cotswolds was incredibly beautiful. We weren't through all kinds of terrain and land uses. Everyone was super friendly and helpful. it helped that the weather was perfect the entire time. We had walked the West Highland Way in Scotland some years ago and we felt this was a little harder just because it was hillier.
Accommodation & Food
the places were really wonderful but i'm a bit of a foody and three of the places we stayed were owned by the same company so the menus were identical. Since the menus aren't that big to begin with it got a bit boring. I don't think there are a lot of choices other than these place though. Also we got to our place in Stanton on a Monday night only to find out NOTHING is open in Stanton on Monday. Fortunately, we managed to get a taxi back to Broadway (we had just walked from) and had dinner. Had we known we would have picked up food as we walked through Broadway. The Royal Crescent at the end in Bath was really wonderful!
Your Guide
We self guided and as i said earlier it was a very hilly trip. It would have been very muddy had it rained but we were fortunately. It would have been good to have some notes on what we saw along the way (monuments etc) but I found a good blog and read that. There were a lot of historic buildings, monuments, gardens etc. We missed the cheese rolling contest at Coopers Hill by only 2 days but it was cool seeing the area. Also the wild flowers along the way were incredible as well as the garden flowers. Gorgeous scenery.
The Bottom Line
This was our second self guided hiking trip. The first was in Scotland with Wilderness Scotland and was beautiful because of the stark nature of the countryside. Hiking the Cotswold Way was very different, the incredible views of the sheep dotted countryside, fields filled with wildflowers and forests with huge trees was awe inspiring. The people we met along the way were very friendly and helpful. We stayed in small village inns for the most part and they were clean, and comfortable. Wilderness England did a fantastic job setting us up for a trip of a lifetime.