Places to Visit in the Cotswolds
Bibury 
Bibury is a charming, typically Cotswold, village just a short drive from "The Capital of the Cotswold’s", Cirencester. Bibury was once described by William Morris (1834-96) as "the most beautiful village in England". The area is actually made up of two villages, Arlington on one side of the River Coln and Bibury on the other. It is one of the "must see" destinations in the Cotswold’s, and has a place on the itinerary of most tourists visiting the Cotswold’s. Attractions in Bibury include Arlington Row, a row of weavers cottages built of local stone next to the River Coln, the Bibury Trout Farm and the Saxon Church, the Church of St Mary.
Burford
Burford, one of England's prettiest small medieval towns is a busy community of about 1,000 people. The town merchants were granted a charter to hold their own markets over 900 years ago, and the current business people, who have developed this site, continue the long tradition of good service and the supply of excellent luxury and essential goods to both residents and visitors.
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Bourton on the Water
Regularly voted one of the prettiest villages in England, Bourton-on-the-Water has more than its share of Cotswold houses and cottages, many of them three hundred years old, some dating back to Elizabethan times four hundred years ago.
Upper and Lower Slaughter
Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter share a fascinating name, which derives from "miry place" which it certainly is not now! The link (and the fascination) is the tiny River Eye that links the two small villages. Lower Slaughter is just off the Roman Fosse Way and a wonderfully conserved typical Cotswold village, with a Water Mill and ducks on the stream - a wander alongside the stream seems like a privilege. Upper Slaughter is equally attractive with old cottages and farmhouses, and a Manor House now a hotel.
Stow on the Wold
Stow-on-the-Wold is a small, but well known, market town of about 2000 people set in the Cotswold Hills and near the northeast corner of the English county of Gloucestershire. Set on a hilltop, it stands beside the Roman Fosse Way at its junction with six other roads, and where a settlement has existed since the Iron Age. Like many of the Cotswold towns and villages, the houses were built with the very distinctive mellow Cotswold stone from the local quarries. Many of the buildings date back to the 16th century.
Moreton in Marsh
Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire is one of the principal market towns in the northern Cotswold’s situated on the Fosse Way and now served by the main line railway from London. It grew up in the thirteenth century as a market town with a wide main street, narrow burgage plots and back lanes. There still is a busy Tuesday market with about 200 stalls attracting many visitors. See image of Tolls charged in 1905. Moreton has been a traveller's town for at least 1700 years and was used as a coaching station before the coming of the Oxford to Worcester railway in 1853.
Broadway
The Cotswold’s village of Broadway in the English county of Worcestershire is often referred to as the 'Jewel of the Cotswold’s' and the 'Show Village of England' because of it's sheer beauty and magnificence. The 'broad way' leads from the foot of the western Cotswold’s escarpment with a wide grass-fringed street lined with ancient honey coloured limestone buildings dating back to the 16th century. The village has one of the longest High Streets in England.
Chipping Campden
The beautiful town of Chipping Campden. This charming old wool merchants town has so much to offer, varied architecture and the enviable reputation, as the most beautiful High Street in England Chipping Campden is one of the most beautiful tourist destinations in the UK.
Painswick
Painswick is quite often referred to as the Queen of the Cotswold’s due to its fine buildings of pale grey limestone. These are a reflection of the town's former prosperity during 300 years of activity in the cloth industry. St. Mary's church is largely of the 15th and 16th centuries but the spire was not added until 1632. The churchyard is famed for it's 99 yew trees, which were planted around 1792. It is said that every time a hundredth tree is planted it dies. Painswick is a town that contains many notable houses built in the prosperous seventeenth century and has lots of little streets to explore and quaint shops to discover. On the outskirts of the town the well known Rococo Gardens can be found in a hidden 6 acre valley. The gardens are the last sole survivor from the brief early 18th century period of English Rococo Garden design. The garden combines formality with informality in a flamboyant style making use of charming garden structures strategically place for effect.
Winchcombe
The ancient Saxon town of Winchcombe is situated in a beautiful Cotswold valley mid-way between Broadway and Cheltenham (approx each 15 minutes away by car). The name Winchcombe means 'valley with a bend', and today the town still retains street, which curve gracefully along the 'combe'. The inns, restaurants, tea rooms, and shops set among Winchcombe's three main streets are full of the character of times past.
Minster Lovell
Minster Lovell has to be one of the prettiest villages in the Windrush Valley, with thatched cottages lining the High Street, beautiful scenery and The River Windrush running through the bottom end of the village. If you take a walk through the graveyard of the 15th century church of St. Kenelm, you will be rewarded with the sight of the remains of Lovell Hall.
Cirencester
Cirencester was the second largest town in Britain during Roman times. Today the former Corinium Dobunnorum is home to more than 18,000 people and a service centre for the thousands more who live in surrounding villages. In later years it was a very prosperous medieval wool town The range of attractions in and around Cirencester includes the excellent Corinium Museum, the remains of a Roman Amphitheatre and Cirencester Park (just a short walk from the town centre). The Abbey Grounds behind the church provides a convenient and pleasant location to sit and eat a sandwich as you have a break from walking around the town.
Snowshill
Snowshill village sits on the top of the escarpment above the villages of Broadway, Buckland, and Laverton. It is a secluded village where ancient pretty cottages and a 19th century church cluster around a small green. As its name implies - if there is any snow about then you will find it here first. Snowshill is renowned for its manor house, now administered by the National Trust. It is interesting architecturally as a typical 15th to 16th Century manor house, with a good dovecote. The beautiful gardens are terraced and were designed by Charles Wade. Snowshill Lavender farm grows a colorful variety of the flowers, making this one of the most beautiful displays of lavender to be seen.