The Prettiest Villages in the Cotswolds

I don’t know about you but when I think about the English countryside my mind conjures up pictures of beige stone buildings, thatched cottages, vast green fields, blossom trees and beautiful flowers. I’ve always been an advocate for getting out and exploring the country you live in. Over the past couple of years, I have made the most of any sunny weather and persuaded my husband and (occasionally my parents) to join me on a trip into the countryside. From where I live in Oxfordshire the obvious escape is to one of my favourite parts of the country and somewhere very close to my heart, the Cotswolds. So with a bit of experience and local knowledge, here is my guide to the prettiest villages in the Cotswolds. Enjoy!

The Prettiest Villages in the Cotswolds

The Slaughters

Named after the Old English for ‘muddy place’ (slough/ slothre) the pretty villages of Lower and Upper Slaughter lie on the banks of the River Eye. They are best known for their picture perfect limestone cottages. I particularly love visiting The Slaughters in late Spring when the blossom trees are in full bloom. The fields and full of sheep and the weather allows for a picnic beside the bubbling stream. There is also a great half an hour walk which takes you across the fields from Upper to Lower Slaughter. Afterwards, what better way to treat yourself than with a cup of tea in Lower Slaughter’s Old Mill which features a tea and gift shop?

Bourton on the Water

Often described as the ‘Little Venice’ of the Cotswolds, Bourton on the Water is one of the most popular tourist spots in the area. It’s no wonder. Straddled across the River Windrush, with numerous low bridges connecting the two sides, the village offers its visitors the traditional Cotswold cottages. There are also plenty of shops, cafes, and attractions such as Birdland, the Model Village and the Dragonfly Maze. Did you know that Bourton also has its own sporting traditions? Every August Bank Holiday Monday sees Bourton-on-the-Water’s Football in the River. This sees two teams play a half hour match in the usually calm waters of the River Windrush. If you plan to visit, get there early (parking can be difficult), take a waterproof and prepared to get splashed!

Castle Combe

Once a weaving town at the heart of the Cotswolds wool trade, Castle Combe has since been called the prettiest village in England. I didn’t realise until I visited that the village is a popular Hollywood filming location! It is featured in many films including Dr Doolittle (1967), Stardust and War Horse. The village is built around the 14th-century Market Cross. Along with it’s chocolate box cottages, and St Andrew’s Church, not too far away you’ll find Castle Combe motor car racing circuit. Jeremy Clarkson has often said it is one of the fastest in Britain.

Snowshill

As its name suggests, if there is any snow in the Cotswolds then you will find it first in Snowshill village due to its position upon the escarpment above the villages of Broadway, Buckland, and Laverton. I first visited Snowshill on an absolutely gorgeous Spring day and fell in love with the secluded village filled with pretty cottages clustered around a small green. Apart from its beautiful village centre, Snowshill is known for its manor house, now administered by the National Trust. You can easily spend a few hours enjoying the picturesque gardens and venture inside to see the amazing and eclectic collections of Sir Charles Wade: toys, musical instruments, clocks, bicycles and samurai armour and more!

Chipping Camden

Chipping Campden, another small market town, was one of the most important of the medieval wool towns and in its day was famous throughout Europe. Much like many of the Cotswold towns and villages, Chipping Camden’s High Street is lined with elegant honey-coloured limestone building, and offers its visitors a generous choice of old inns, hotels, specialist shops and restaurants. If you’re into your walking, then perhaps consider walking the Cotswold Way, a 102-mile long-distance footpath, which ends in Chipping Camden.

Blockley

You could mistake Blockley for some of the villages in the Stroud valley but here you will find the much more golden in colour. As the Cotswolds wool trade began to seize, Blockley turned its attention to producing silk and by 1884 the village had six silk mills, all powered by the Blockley brook. Nowadays however the village is peaceful with the once vital mill stream winding its way through the bottom of the valley. Blockley is another great place for those who enjoy walking as you can easily get out into the picturesque countryside, and when you’re in need of refuelling, why not enjoy a picnic on the village’s Bowling Green?

Bradford on Avon

Although technically a town and not a village, Bradford on Avon is an unspoilt market town and one of the last outposts of the Cotswolds in the western corner of Wiltshire close to the Somerset border and just 8 miles from Bath. Jack and I visited for the first time last autumn on our way down to Devon and had a lovely few hours wandering through the cute narrow streets, browsing through some of the lovely boutique shops in the town centre and on my part, taking far too many pictures of the charming old weavers’ cottages. If you’re into experiencing local traditions you might also like to know that in February the town hosts a Pancake Race across the ancient town bridge!

Minchinhampton

On our way back from our mid-February trip to Gloucester, we stopped in the small hilltop town of Minchinhampton which sits on a small area of high land between the so called ‘Golden Valley’ and the Nailsworth valley. You might recognise it as a scenic location for the BBC adaptation of J K Rowling’s Casual Vacancy. Along with all the cute stone cottages, the thing that landed Minchinhampton on this list for me were the incredible views of the Stroud Valleys from Minchinhampton Common, an expanse of land with freely roaming horses and cattle, managed by the National Trust. I’d definitely like to go back here again and enjoy a walk or a little picnic!

Stow on the Wold

Although I’ve driven through or past Stow on the Wold several times, it wasn’t until last year that I actually took the time to explore the town. Jack and I had spent the day touring the Cotswolds with my friend Fiona, who was visiting from Austria and on our way home, we wanted to check out a furniture shop which has its flagship store in the town. So having parked up we headed out into the town and I was really impressed with what we found – how had it taken me so long to visit Stow on the Wold?

Along with yet more lovely Cotswold buildings, independent cafes, shops and galleries, I was interested to find out that Stow-on the-Wold is the highest of the Cotswold towns standing exposed on 800 feet high Stow Hill. Not only this but at the height of the Cotswold wool industry the town was famous for its huge annual fairs where as many as 20,000 sheep were sold at one time. Imagine that!

Bibury

If you’ve ever googled images of the Cotswolds you would definitely have come across the quaint village of Bibury, just 9 miles from the market town of Burford. Although I had visited Bibury a few times before when I was little, it was only near the start of this year that I returned to rediscover this pretty Cotswold village.

Bibury is centred around a square near the village’s Saxon church, St. Mary’s. It is actually from this small little church that many Saxon remains displayed in the British Museum come from, and those kept in Bibury today are replicas of their original. Probably the most famous spot in Bibury however is the iconic Arlington Row, a cluster of 16th century ancient cottages which overlook a water meadow and the river. Don’t be fooled by the pictures however, as even on a grey, cold and rainy February morning, there were so many people!

Stanton

Another picture perfect village is Stanton, an unspoilt 17th century village set in the side of the Cotswold Hills about 2¹⁄₂ miles southwest of Broadway which my parents and I discovered whilst on a walk out of Broadway. You won’t find yourself getting lost in Stanton as the majority of the village is located along a long main street, but take your time taking in the atmosphere and admiring the cottages and their beautiful flowers.

Winchcombe

Mid-way between Broadway and Cheltenham you will find the ancient Anglo Saxon town of Winchcombe. Here, you will not only find the charming Cotswold honey coloured cottages, but also black and white half-timbered buildings, narrow side streets and charming houses, housing inns, restaurants, tea rooms, and shops. My favourite row of cottages, possibly in the whole of the Cotswolds, has to be the almshouses of Dent’s Terrace. From Winchcombe you can also easily reach Sudeley Castle with its 1,000 years of royal history and stunning gardens, particularly in the summer months, and there are lots of lovely footpaths with interesting things to see en-route such as a remote Roman villa or Belas Knap Long Barrow – a Neolithic burial site.

Broadway

Broadway is another Cotswold favourite of mine and use to be our frequent stop on the way home from visiting family. The lovely village is referred to by a number of names including the ‘Jewel of the Cotswolds’ and the ‘Show Village of England’ and when you visit you will quickly discover why. The village is dominated by a wide grass-fringed street lined with a variety of ancient Cotswold limestone buildings dating back to the 16th century and even earlier. Don’t miss The Lygon Arms Hotel, once a manor house and something of a Cotswold institution as in its time it has hosted both Charles I and Oliver Cromwell. For more great views over the surrounding countryside you could also check out Broadway Tower which stands at 65ft!

Tetbury

One of my favourite things about Tetbury is its bright yellow pillared Market House, which has acted as the hub of the town for centuries and still hosts regular markets on Wednesdays and Saturdays. If you are a fan of history, you might also be interested in knowing that Tetbury’s (Tetta) Monastery was mentioned in a charter by King Ethelred of Mercia in 681. Tetbury was also an important wool trading town in the medieval age and is known today as an ‘architectural gem’ due to the fact that many of the wool merchants houses still look as they did 300 years ago. Tetbury is also a great place for any antique lovers as this small town has 25 antique shops and is in close proximity to Prince Charles’s residence of Highgrove, so who knows, you might find yourself a royal bargain!

Painswick

Painswick is beautiful even on a rainy day. The village’s pale grey limestone cottages and grand town houses have earned Painswick the title of Queen of the Cotswolds and reflect the town’s former prosperity during 300 years of activity in the cloth and wool industry. St. Mary’s church is at the centre of the village and is most famous for its churchyard, filled with 99 yew trees which were planted around 1792. If you visit in Spring or Summer I would fully recommend a trip to the Rococo Gardens, just outside the town!

Guiting Power

Guiting Power lies on in the upper reaches of the Windrush Valley and from my point of view is a relatively undiscovered gem and one of the prettiest villages in the Cotswolds. Thanks to a self-help housing trust set up in 1934, the russet-coloured cottages, small shops and inns are so well looked after and in great condition. From the villages small sloping green you can enjoy a number of lovely countryside walks – taking you into Guiting Woods, towards Hawling, or through the Windrush Valley towards Naunton. The area is also home to the Cotswold Farm Park and the small village of Temple Guiting, where I would highly recommend checking out the Temple Guiting Pantry shop and cafe!

Burford

If I had to start a tour of the Cotswolds anywhere, it would be in the picturesque town of Burford considered by many to be the southern gateway to the Cotswolds. Back in history, the site which Burford now sits on was the site of a fortified ford in Anglo-Saxon times and over time, the town grew to be an important crossroads and very wealthy wool town, much like many of the towns and villages on this list.

Burford’s Main Street slopes gently down towards the River Windrush and offers many shops, tea rooms and restaurants in its impressive old houses and cute cottages. My family and I also particularly love Burford for its fantastic Garden Centre which we use as a stop for many of our heading north wanderings and of course, I love a visit to the Cotswold Wildlife Park which is just a few miles outside the town centre.

Cirencester

Often referred to as the Capital of the Cotswolds, Cirencester is another must-visit for me and had to make it onto this list, even if it isn’t a village! Cirencester or Corinium Dobunnorum was the second largest town in Britain during Roman times (after London) and later became another of the Cotswolds prosperous wool towns during the 16th and 17th centuries. This is not hard to picture when you explore the narrow streets of stone buildings, or enjoy the views of the cathedral-like Church of St. John Baptist from the town’s market square.

Despite being considerably bigger than many of the other places on this list, Cirencester still offers its fair share of hidden gems. Venture off its main streets and you’ll find the Swan Yard, The Woolmarket and the Stable Yard, which is home to many independent shops and cafes. Cirencester is another good Cotswold town to use as a base to explore the area as you will find plenty of interesting places in the surrounding area. I particularly enjoyed learning more about the town’s history in the Corinium Museum and the Roman Amphitheatre, just a short walk from the town centre, is one of the best preserved in Britain!

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Other posts that may help you:

• Chapel in the Cotswolds
• A Trip to the 3 Counties | Part 1: Exploring Gloucestershire
• A North Newington New Years
• Staying at the Wood Norton, Evesham
• Going Local | Batsford Arboretum

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed my post on the prettiest villages in the Cotswolds! If you have any questions about the different destination or if you think I’ve missed somewhere off the list, please do get in touch in the comments below!

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Love, Victoria X