Where to Stay in the Cotswolds (UK)?
 

If you had 3 days to stay in a village in the Cotswolds area of the UK, which village or small town would you choose? I'll be traveling from London on trains/buses/taxis in mid-September. I love to visit gardens, stately homes, and do a lot of walking. Any suggestions would be very welcome.

It sounds as if you want to do the whole 3 days without driving - right? If so your wish list will be difficult. Most gardens, houses/castles, etc are not easily reached by public transport. And hiring taxis/drivers can get really expensive since sites are far flung.

If you had a car I'd probably recommend Burford or somewhere nearby. But car-less I'd want to be farther north -- Say Chipping Campden or maybe Broadway. Not because they have rail stations -- they don't. But because places like Hidcote, Sezincote, Hailes Abbey and Snowshill would be shorter drives, therefore easier to arrange taxis. Or you could stay in Charlbury or Moreton-in-Marsh or Kingham which all do have train stations and just resign yourself to pay more for taxi trips.

Meant to add - the walking is fine no matter where you stay since there are public footpaths absolutely everywhere. I'd maybe list which gardens/houses you most want to visit and pick a town/village that is relatively near a majority of them.

There are companies that provide walking tours (they move your luggage) might be fun. eg https://www.headwater.com/list/by-re...xoCAA4QAvD_BwE

Janisj is spot on comme d'habitude

"comme d'habitude" . . . Had to look it up/translate :)

(My french is pretty much limited to the 'niceties'/greetings and menu stuff ;) )

I agree the easiest would be an organized tour or walking sherpa type set up such as the one bilboburgler linked.

But for doing it on your own, here is a really up to date article about the Cotswolds sans car that has lots of good info and tips https://explorethecotswolds.com/cots...lic-transport/

Bourton-on-the-Water
 

We Stayed in Bourton-on-the-Water (pictured below) and would absolutely stay there again. Not too far from a number of small beautiful towns including Stow-on-the-Wold, Lower Slaughter, Bibury, Broadway Tower, and Chipping Campden. We have a Youtube video premiering tomorrow, I'll send a link when it uploads.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...89a72684c3.jpg

Bourton-on-the-Water is lovely (though often very overrun with coach day trippers - when/if they resume) but would not be a convenient location for someone without a car.

Just a friendly heads up - "We have a Youtube video premiering tomorrow, I'll send a link when it uploads." . . . IF that is on your own youtube channel or in anyway commercial, linking to it is against Fodors rules.

There are villages such as Bourton-on-the-Water, above, that are visited by most tourists to the area and others with very few to none, equally well situated. It depends on the kind of experience you'd like in that regard. I'm thinking of places like Mickleton, where I never saw another tourist, big enough to have what a visitor needs, not far from a train station, Honeybourne. It's walking distance to 2 major gardens, Hidcote & Kiftsgate Court. I've stayed twice nearby. I've stayed in Broadway which was mobbed & down the road in Winchcombe, close to Hailes Abbey on the Cotswold Way & very near Sudeley Castle, which was not mobbed, a few walkers passing through. Winchcombe can be reached by train to Cheltenham then a local bus. I've done it. Or there are the other well-known towns where there are lots of people, so lots of restaurants & services. I prefer the less crowded spots. You can certainly work around the lack of a car if you're committed, though many more houses & gardens will be accessible with one. These are the sorts of details you need to sort through before you decide on a location that will suit you.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. And thank you Janisj for suggesting the Cotswolds travel website. It's a great resource. Thanks to the difficult time in which we are all living, I'm not having to hurry to make my decision!

Hi, enewell.
I've made four trips like this into the Cotswolds, using only public transportation, and had great fun challenging myself with the walks. Like you, I love both the hiking and the stately homes and gardens.

I'd look into a base at Moreton-in-Marsh (MiM). An easy rail connection to London.

From MiM, you can do a lovely walk to Sezincote, and add Batsford Arboretum if you were inclined. (If you hike to Sezincote and take the house tour, know you'll have to remove your hiking boots, but there's something wonderful about walking around that beautiful home in your socks.) If you have a bad weather day, with no hiking available, look into the "Secret Cottage Tour." https://www.cotswoldtourismtours.co.uk/ I loved it, and I'd signed up the night before, and as a single, they could accommodate me. But if the weather is looking iffy a day or two out, you may want that in your back pocket.

I'd do some research as to which walks you want to do. If you want a serious 4-6-8 mile hikes, you'll want to research and get yourself a compass and the Ordnance Survey maps prepped in advance. There's likely an App for that nowadays, but I'd not rely on those. A lot of the walks on the Cotswold Way are well marked, but you still need to be able to navigate. A lot of times, the trails can be obscured for a time, or hard to decipher in a wood.

A couple favorite walks were
(circular) Stanton to Snowshill -- However, you might do this from Broadway. I was based in Cheltenham for this, and was easier to bus to Stanton. I'd look at starting from Broadway.
Chipping Campden to Broadway Tower to Broadway (bus MiM to Chipping Campden, bus Broadway to Chipping Campden. It used to be bus #22 from MiM Corn Exchange 22 Bus to Chipping Campden; then #1 bus from Broadway to MiM)

A wonderful village and nearby stately was Winchcombe (the church has wonderful Yew trees and gargoyles) and a very easy walk to historic, beautiful Sudeley Castle.

To start planning, you can use Traveline to sort out the public transporation options.
https://www.traveline.info/

HAve fun planning!

We enjoyed both Tetbury and Chipping Campden as our bases, although our fantastic b&b in Tetbury is no more.

ChgoGal, Winchcombe is a favorite of mine, too, mentioned above. The church with the yews may be the famous one in Painswick, also on the Cotswold Way.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...57488851e4.jpg

The church in Burford has a special family crypt, outside of which their tenants clubbed together to raise a sign indicating just what horrible people the family were.

History.... You have to love it.

Yes, thank you, MmePerdu. I confused those churchyards. I recall Winchcombe having incredibly old yews, but not the 99 in Painswick. (Also, my Painswick-Stroud-Kings Stanley walk was NOT a favorite of mine. The Painswick to Stroud leg put me in a wood that seemed endless and wasn't well-marked. I'd never recommend that to anyone unless going with an experienced walker or with a group. Come to think of it, I did that walk on a weekend, and there was a group walk of dozens that day that completely avoided the wood. I caught up with them just outside of Stroud. They knew better than I did.)

British Yews in Church Yards are often very old and some have been identified as even older than once thought. The pre-Christian religion used Yew trees and the Churches were often built on sites of the British religion.

Thanks again for all the wonderful suggestions. I have a lot of planning to do, and I love travel planning!