Best Places to Visit in the Cotswolds (A Guide to England's Most Beautiful Villages)
Honey-coloured stone, climbing roses, village greens and church spires rising above rolling hills — the Cotswolds is England at its most achingly beautiful. It's the landscape that appears on ten thousand tea towels and biscuit tins for good reason: nowhere in the country does pastoral charm quite like this.
Here are the best places to visit in the Cotswolds — from famous market towns to the hidden villages most people never find.
1. Bourton-on-the-Water
Often called the "Venice of the Cotswolds," Bourton-on-the-Water has the River Windrush running right through its centre, crossed by a series of low stone bridges. Honey-stone cottages, flower-filled gardens and water so clear you can see every pebble below. It's extraordinarily pretty and entirely deserving of its reputation.
2. Bibury
William Morris called Bibury "the most beautiful village in England" — and you can see exactly why. Arlington Row — a terrace of ancient wool weavers' cottages dating from the 14th century — is one of the most photographed streetscapes in Britain. In spring and summer, with cottage gardens in full bloom, it's like stepping into a painting.
3. Chipping Campden
One of the most beautiful market towns in England, Chipping Campden has a long, curving High Street lined with medieval wool merchants' houses, a magnificent perpendicular church and a Market Hall dating from 1627. It feels entirely undisturbed by the modern world — which is precisely the point.
4. Broadway
Sometimes called the "Jewel of the Cotswolds," Broadway has a wide, tree-lined high street flanked by honey-coloured stone buildings that glow gold in the afternoon sun. Broadway Tower — a folly on the escarpment above the town — offers views across thirteen counties on a clear day.
5. Burford
The "Gateway to the Cotswolds" is a medieval wool town with a High Street that descends steeply to the River Windrush — a perfect sequence of limestone buildings, antique shops, tearooms and a church of extraordinary beauty.
6. Stow-on-the-Wold
Sitting at 800 feet above sea level, Stow-on-the-Wold is the highest town in the Cotswolds — and one of the most atmospheric. A large market square, ancient coaching inns and the famous yew-framed north door of St Edward's Church make it one of the region's most visited stops.
7. Lower Slaughter
Despite its alarming name, Lower Slaughter is one of the most tranquil and beautiful villages in England. The River Eye runs gently through the village, an old watermill sits at one end, and the cottages are immaculately preserved. It's the kind of place that makes you want to move there immediately.
8. Winchcombe
Less touristy than many Cotswolds towns, Winchcombe is all the better for it. Medieval streets, a magnificent church, the ruins of Hailes Abbey nearby and the starting point for some of the best walking in the region.
9. Bourton-on-the-Hill
Fewer visitors than its famous neighbour, but arguably even more beautiful — a quintessential Cotswolds village with a church, a pub and a single lane climbing steeply through honey-stone cottages with views across the surrounding countryside.
10. Moreton-in-Marsh
A working market town rather than a tourist honeypot, Moreton-in-Marsh has a long wide High Street, a weekly market that's been running for 700 years, and the feel of a place that genuinely still belongs to the people who live there.
Bring the Cotswolds Home
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