Located about an hour and a half northwest from London Heathrow Airport is this region called “The Cotswolds”. Filled with rolling hills and charming villages frozen in time, like the one above. This area was included in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1966. For a frame of reference, it is 25 miles wide and 90 miles long, containing many different towns and larger cities as well. I thought this was where they filmed the movie “The Holiday” but that was filmed in Surrey mainly… either way, it holds the same charm and looks similar in spots! We were able to spend only four days here, during our England Trip.
Pro's and Con's About the Cotswolds
From our own personal experience alone, here are some of the things we enjoyed and didn’t enjoy as much:
PRO’S
- Not many places like it! It’s truly an area of natural beauty, and it’s so green! There are rolling hills like you would imagine, filled with sheep and other wildlife. People also live here full time, so it has that small town charm about it.
- You’re very much in the country in most towns and can really see the stars at night and enjoy the peace and quiet!
- The people are extremely friendly! To be honest, I didn’t expect the locals to be that friendly to us trourists at all. I was so wrong! We made friends with a few of the workers at our hotel and at the local restaurant just after one night of knowing them. Locals on the street also say “goodmorning” as you walk by and they don’t seem to be too bothered by the tourism (or they do a good job at hiding it)
- Contains filming locations from Harry Potter!!
- Great place to go for more rest and relaxation but also easy to add more to your itinerary if you chose!
CON’S
- Not a huge variety of food. I felt like there were for sure more “unhealthy” options than healthy. Markets are harder to find (not in every town).
- Meals are expensive here. This might be partially my fault for not researching enough beforehand.. but I had A LOT of restaurant/pubs saved that I wanted to try, and they were all about the same price range. Most meals we had were at least $20 per person. That adds up when you’re staying in a hotel and can’t cook!
- Very big tourist destination – although a lot of people I talk to haven’t even heard of it.
- Public transportation kind of sucks here. There’s generally no bus or train that gets you between the towns. We ended up renting a car because I wanted to make the most out of it and see as much as we could in the other towns.
- Can get very touristy in the warmer months. This is why we went in January!
How to get to the Cotswolds
There are a few easier ways to explore the Cotswolds, if you just want a day trip and don’t want to have to drive in England – on the opposite side of the road. For example, this tour takes you from London to Oxford and into a few of the Cotswolds villages and back for the day. I personally don’t like the idea of tours like this….. so we made our own adventure. Honestly not sure if I regret that or not. Still trying to decide.
After spending a few days in Richmond and London, we took a train to Oxford where we would pick up our car rental. There was no way in hell either one of us were going to survive driving in/near London, so Oxford was a good alternative. The trains are extremely easy to figure out, especially if you have Google or Apple Maps on your phone. Also, download TFL (Transport for London) app for more real time transport updates.
For the trains, you can use your credit card (tap to pay) as entry. You simply tap it at the gate to let you through and board. Once you are done riding the train, there is another gate to tap again to leave the station. This is how it knows how long you’ve ridden and how much to charge you. If you don’t have tap to pay, you can purchase a ticket once you arrive or try apple pay at that same gate as well. Make sure you take note if you are switching trains that it might require you to tap out before you get on the new train line. If you don’t (like we didn’t), there are agents that can help, and everything will be okay!
Car Rental
We used Europcar rental and I booked in advance through Rentalcars.com. For once in my life, I said yes to the car insurance while booking. Word of advice… don’t. When we arrived at the Europcar Rental in Oxford, we were told that insurance I purchased basically means nothing to U.S Citizens and wouldn’t be valid. I would suggest looking into the insurance options beforehand and you can always add it on when you arrive at the car rental!
Driving in The Cotswolds
If you’ve never driven on the opposite side of the road… it’s honestly pretty scary at first. The traffic in Oxford wasn’t terrible but there are a lot of round abouts (clockwise) to get through. Once you get closer and into the Cotswold, the roads are small. We knew this going into it, but it was still shocking! Word of advice, ask for the smallest car that the car rental company has. I think the worst thing about this whole driving experience was the spatial awareness. You’re not used to knowing how much space is on the opposite side of the vehicle and especially in a different vehicle than what you normally drive. Takes time to get used to.
A lot of the roads in the Cotswolds are actually one lane. Well, what I consider to be one lane, coming from the US. It’s quite terrifying when you see a car coming the other way, but everyone is really good about pulling over to let you go around. If you’re unsure, just be the first one to pull over. I noticed the oncoming cars flashing their lights at me when I would do this. Being the passive aggressive driver that I am, I was getting annoyed because I thought they were doing this to be rude. Nope. They’re basically saying thank you and appreciate you being a courteous driver. Also, pedestrians usually have the right of way and watch out for bikers in the cities and people on horseback in the countryside.
Where to Stay in the Cotswolds
We stayed here, at the Swan Hotel, located in Bibury. While I don’t know that I would stay in Bibury the whole time again, I have absolutely no complaints about this hotel, we loved it! It includes breakfast, which was really delicious. The bar area is so cute!! There was a roaring fire every time we were there and such a comforting atmosphere. It’s actually also the only place that served COLD BEER, out of any of the pubs we tried in England. Is that normal? Not sure. Our room was pretty large with a beautiful bathroom and overlooked the river that you see pictured above. The staff was very friendly and willing to recommend nearby places to visit.
The only downside to Bibury was that it was a very small town. There were four places to eat, but two of those closed for dinner so we only had two choices for dinner in town. I personally would’ve liked just a bit more variety only because it got dark in January at 4pm and we didn’t want to be somewhere else for dinner and drive at night.
I had a lot of other hotels saved as options; I’ll list them below for you to check out!
Things to do in the Cotswolds
If you’re at all a Harry Potter fan, there are two things that are a must. One we did and one we didn’t squeeze in. Mainly because we were too scared to drive there.
- Visit Lacock Abbey, which used to be a monastery that was founded in the 13th century. There’s a museum and beautiful gardens to wander around there and serves as a filming location for Harry Potter.
- Go to the Gloucester Cathedral. This is located in a bigger town, Gloucester. It was about a 35 minute drive from Bibury. This Cathedral is free admission, accepting donations. When we arrived, school was being let out and I swear it was like a scene from Harry Potter. The kids were rushing outside in their uniforms, with this cathedral/castle behind them. A magical experience. Once you’re in, you can see the area where they filmed a few scenes from Harry Potter in the early days (below for reference)!
- Try the sticky toffee pudding at Catherine’s Wheel in Bibury and tell Deborah we say hi!!
- Make sure to visit Arlington Row in Bibury (very first picture), one of the most photographed area in the Cotswolds
- While in Bibury, get a coffee at Twig!
- Visit Bourton-on-the-water and do the walk to Lower Slaughter (3 miles).
- The most photographed town is Castle Combe, make sure to check that one out!
- Visit Painswick. Recommended by our hotel manager, this village is kind of like another scene from Harry Potter. We found a really good cafe – Handmade in Painswick Arts Cafe – and had lunch here, which was served by more really friendly locals!
Overall Impression
There are definitely things we would do differently if we ever came back. Going in March would’ve probably been a better option because of the sunlight time. It also wouldn’t yet be peak tourist season. We would’ve made sure we got a smaller vehicle than what we had. I would’ve researched more for somewhat healthier food options. I would’ve preferred to stay in Bath, Oxford or Gloucester and taken day trips to the little villages and maybe stay one night in Bibury.
It’s hard to judge this trip because we went when it was dark at 4pm and rainy for a majority of the time. We also didn’t get to experience even a fraction of the towns. Driving was a pain and it just ended up being more stressful than I imagined. Thats not the Cotwolds fault!! Overall, I do think it’s very much worth checking out and ultimately glad we went to experience this area of natural beauty. The best highlights for me were making friends with the locals, visiting the Gloucester Cathedral and our stay (and food) at the Swan Hotel.
By far your best piece. Very inspiring and well written.
My best one ??
Photos are gorg as always!!! Great info and beautiful blog ♥️
Aw thank you!!! 💕💕💕
I enjoyed reading your blog! My dream is to travel more and I look forward to reading more of your blogs 😊
Oh my gosh thank you so much!! I appreciate it 💚