60 Best Sights in Bath and the Cotswolds, England

The one place in Bath that gives Austen any space provides a briefly diverting exhibition about the influence of Bath on her writings; Northanger Abbey and Persuasion are both set primarily in the city. The center is brought to life by characters in costume, and displays and a short film give a pictorial overview of life in Bath around 1800. Immerse yourself further by dressing up in costume; assistants are on hand to take your photo. The cozy Georgian house, a few doors up from where the writer lived in 1805 (one of several addresses she had in Bath), also includes the Austen-themed Regency Tea Rooms, open to the public.

While not as spectacular as Hidcote Manor Garden, this intimate, privately-owned garden, just a five-minute stroll away, still captivates. It's skipped by the majority of visitors to Hidcote, so you won't be jostled by the crowds. Kiftsgate was created by three generations of female gardeners. The interconnecting flower beds present harmonious arrays of color, and the contemporary formal water garden adds an elegant contrast. Don't miss the prized Kiftsgate rose, supposed to be the largest in England, flowering gloriously in mid-July. There are also three properties to rent on the estate, sleeping four to fourteen guests.

Well-preserved Lacock Abbey reflects the fate of many religious establishments in England—a spiritual center became a home. The abbey, at the town's center, was founded in the 13th century and closed down during the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539, when its new owner, Sir William Sharington, demolished the church and converted the cloisters, sacristy, chapter house, and monastic quarters into a private dwelling. The house passed to the Talbot family, the most notable descendant of whom was William Henry Fox Talbot (1800–77), who developed the world's first photographic negative. You can see the oriel window, the subject of this photograph in the upper rooms of the abbey, along with a rare 16th-century purpose-built strong room in the octagonal tower. Look for the sugar lump on the goat's nose in the Great Hall. The last descendant, Matilda Talbot, donated the property as well as Lacock itself to the National Trust in the 1940s. The abbey's grounds and Victorian woodland are also worth a wander. Harry Potter fans, take note: Lacock Abbey was used for some scenes at Hogwarts School in the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

The Fox Talbot Museum, in a 16th-century barn at the gates of Lacock Abbey, commemorates the work of Fox Talbot as well as other pioneers and contemporary artists in this field.

The broad High Street, lined with stone houses and shops, follows a captivating curve. In the center, on Market Street, is the Market Hall, a gabled Jacobean structure built by Sir Baptiste Hicks in 1627 "for the sale of local produce."

In the center of Tetbury, look for the eye-catching Market House, dating from 1655. Constructed of white-painted stone, it's built up on rows of Tuscan pillars. Various markets are held here during the week.

Acclaimed writer Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, the world's first science fiction novel, while living in Bath, and this spot (although not the original house she lived in) has become one of Bath's spookiest attractions, combining a museum and an immersive experience in a historic house. Inside you'll find a Frankenstein-themed escape room (from £25), a gruesome mystery to solve, and plenty of unusual artifacts and vintage items. It's not suitable for younger children.

At this shop, the diverting tour lets you hear pianolas, music boxes, and other mechanical instruments from times past. You can even listen to the maestros Grieg, Paderewski, Rachmaninov, and Gershwin on piano rolls. The well-stocked shop sells antique and modern music boxes, mechanical toys, piano rolls, books, and more. A small on-site café serves coffee and snacks.

Built in 1937, this knee-high model of Bourton-on-the-Water took five years to complete. It is the only model village to have been given special historical status by English Heritage. As you walk down its tiny lanes, you'll see how little has changed over the past decades. The small exhibition at Miniature World shows miniature scenes and rooms; some you can make come to life. Particularly entertaining is the model village within the model village, which, much like an infinity mirror, is perpetuated to an increasingly smaller scale.

The core of this industrial-history collection, which gives a novel perspective on the city, is an engineering works and fizzy drinks factory. This building once belonged to Bath entrepreneur Jonathan Bowler, who started his many businesses in 1872. The collection includes the original clanking machinery and offers glimpses into Bath's stone industry and cabinetmaking. Look out for the temporary exhibitions, which often showcase the lives and experiences of local people.

Intimate galleries on three floors display ancient and modern pieces, mostly from China but with other exhibits from Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia. Highlights are the Chinese jade figures, especially the animals, both mythical and real, Buddhist objects, and Japanese lacquerware and prints. Don't miss the charming netsuke (toggles) and inro (seal cases) on the staircase to the lower ground floor.

Half a mile north of town, this delightful garden is a rare survivor from the exuberant rococo period of English garden design (1720–60). After 50 years in its original form, the 6-acre garden became overgrown. Fortunately, the rediscovery of a 1748 painting of the garden by local artist Thomas Robins sparked a full-scale restoration in the 1980s. Now you can view the original structures—such as the pretty Gothic Eagle House and curved Exedra—take in the asymmetrical vistas, and try the modern maze, which, unusually, has three centers you can discover. It's also famous for the snowdrops that bloom in January and February. There's a restaurant and a shop, too.

The grandest of Cheltenham's remaining spa buildings, the pump room is set amid parkland, a 20-minute walk from the town center. The classic Regency structure, built in the late 1820s, now serves mainly as a concert hall and a theatrical venue but still offers its musty mineral waters to the strong of stomach. It's wise to check before visiting as there's often a function taking place.

A vision to warm Jane Austen's heart, Bath's grandest house lies a mile or so southeast of the center, with splendid views over the Georgian townscape. Built around 1738 by John Wood the Elder, the Palladian mansion was the home of quarry owner and philanthropist Ralph Allen (1693–1764), whose guests included such luminaries as poet Alexander Pope and novelists Henry Fielding and Samuel Richardson. Today it's a school, and the interior is not open to the public, but you may wander through the beautiful grounds, designed by Capability Brown and embellished with a Palladian bridge and lake. A leisurely circuit of the park should take around an hour. The parking here is reserved for people with disabilities, so take a taxi or bus from the center. The City Sightseeing bus also calls here.

Florence's Ponte Vecchio inspired this 18th-century span, one of the most famous landmarks in the city and the only work of Robert Adam in Bath. It's unique in Great Britain because shops line both sides of the bridge.

Palatial houses and the Francis Hotel surround the garden in the center of this square designed by the older John Wood. An obelisk financed by Beau Nash celebrates the 1738 visit of Frederick, Prince of Wales.

One of the oldest and most attractive houses in the village of Lacock, Quintessentially English is the home of Lacock Distillery as well as an organic soap company and gift shop. Come inside for a close look at the medieval building and to have a chat with the friendly, passionate staff about their artisanal products.

One of the last English country houses constructed using traditional methods and materials, Rodmarton Manor (built 1909–29) is furnished with specially commissioned pieces in the Arts and Crafts style. Ernest Barnsley, a follower of William Morris, worked on the house and gardens. The notable gardens—wild, winter, sunken, and white—are divided into "rooms" bounded by hedges of holly, beech, and yew. The gardens are open for people to see the snowdrops on certain dates in February, but otherwise, they are only open from May until the end of September on Saturdays and Wednesdays. The manor is 5 miles northeast of Tetbury.

A reminder of the ancient civilizations of Britain can be seen about 8 miles east of Moreton, where three stone groups occupy a high position on the wolds. The site lacks the grandeur of Stonehenge and Avebury, but has a peace and beauty of its own and is almost as important. Legend gives the stones, dating from before 1500 BC, the names of the King's Men, the King Stone, and the Whispering Knights.

Originally designed as an arboretum, this tidy expanse of lawns and shady walks just west of the Royal Crescent provides the perfect setting for pleasant strolls and leisurely picnics. The park has a pond, a Botanic Garden, and an adventure playground with plenty for kids. The Great Dell Aerial Walkway has also been restored at the northern end of the park. Hot-air balloon launches and open-air shows at festival time enliven the atmosphere.

It comes as somewhat of a surprise to see the blue onion domes and miniature minarets of Sezincote, a mellow stone house and garden tucked into a valley near Moreton-in-Marsh. Created in the early 19th century, Sezincote (pronounced see-zincot) was the vision of Sir Charles Cockerell, who made a fortune in the East India Company. He employed his architect brother, Samuel Pepys Cockerell, to "Indianize" the residence with Hindu and Muslim motifs. Note the peacock-tail arches surrounding the windows of the first floor. The exotic garden, Hindu temple folly, and Indian-style bridge were favorites of the future George IV, who was inspired to create that Xanadu of Brighton, the Royal Pavilion. If you come in spring, glorious aconites and snowdrops greet you. Children under 10 are allowed inside only at the owners' discretion.

The soaring pinnacled tower of St. James, a prime example of a Cotswold wool church (it was rebuilt in the 15th century with money from wool merchants), announces Chipping Campden from a distance; it's worth stepping inside to see the lofty, light-filled nave. The church recalls the old saying, which became popular because of the vast numbers of houses of worship in the Cotswolds, "As sure as God's in Gloucestershire."

At the top of Market Place is this magnificent Gothic parish church, known as the cathedral of the "woolgothic" style. Its gleaming, elaborate, three-tier, three-bay south porch is the largest in England and once served as the town hall. The chantry chapels and many coats of arms bear witness to the importance of the wool merchants as benefactors of the church. A rare example of a delicate 15th-century wineglass pulpit sits in the nave. Tower tours (£5) are available on Saturdays in summer; check the website for dates and times.

Hidden away at the end of a lane at the bottom of High Street is the splendid parish church of St. John the Baptist, its interior a warren of arches, chapels, and shrines. The church was remodeled in the 15th century from Norman beginnings. Among the monuments is one dedicated to Henry VIII's barber, Edmund Harman, that depicts four Amazonian Indians; it's said to be the first depiction of native people from the Americas in Britain. Also look for the elaborate Tanfield monument and the grave of Christopher Kempster, master mason to Christopher Wren during the rebuilding of St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

This church, a fine example of 18th-century neo-Gothic style, has a galleried interior with pews and fine slender pillars. The entrance porch has a striking contemporary mural of the Annunciation. The churchyard is a wildflower haven with around 300 species of native wildflowers including snowdrops, cyclamen, bluebells, and more. Donations are welcome.

Besides its soaring pillars and clerestory windows, this 15th-century light-filled church, known as the cathedral of the Cotswolds, contains notable memorial brasses, monuments to the merchants who endowed the church. Each merchant has a wool sack and sheep at his feet.

Almost 40 outlandish gargoyles adorn this mid-15th-century Perpendicular-style building, a typical Cotswold wool church full of light. The interior displays an embroidered altar frontal said to have been worked by Catherine of Aragon, first wife of King Henry VIII. Look for the Winchcombe Imp, an unusual figure for a rood screen, now at the back of the church.

This perfect Cotswold manor of glowing limestone, Stanway House dates from the Jacobean era. Its triple-gabled gatehouse is a Cotswold landmark, and towering windows dominate the house's Great Hall. They illuminate a 22-foot-long shuffleboard table from 1620 and an 18th-century bouncing exercise machine. The other well-worn rooms are adorned with family portraits, tattered tapestries, vintage armchairs, and, at times, Lord or Lady Neidpath themselves, the current owners. The partly restored baroque water garden has a modern fountain that shoots up 300 feet. The tallest in Britain, it shoots at 2:45 pm and 4 pm. Note that the house is only open in June through August, on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, and admission is cash-only. To get to Stanway, about 5 miles south of Broadway, take B4632 south from town, turning left at B4077.

Supposed to be the largest outdoor market in the Cotswolds, the Tuesday Market takes over the center of the main street between 9 am and 3 pm, with a mix of household goods, fruits and vegetables, and some arts-and-crafts and jewelry stalls. It's no newcomer to the market scene either: it was chartered in 1227.

Connecting the two Slaughters is the Warden's Way, a mile-long pathway that begins in Upper Slaughter at the town-center parking lot and passes stone houses, green meadows, ancient trees, and a 19th-century corn mill with a waterwheel and brick chimney. The Warden's Way continues south to Bourton-on-the-Water; the full walk from Winchcombe to Bourton is 14 miles. You can pick up maps from local tourist offices.

Spread over 600 acres and with 17 miles of paths, this arboretum contains one of the most extensive collections of trees and shrubs in Europe. A lovely place to spend an hour or two, it's 3 miles southwest of Tetbury and 10 miles north of Bath. The best times to come for color are in late spring, when the rhododendrons, azaleas, and magnolias are blooming, and in fall, when the maples come into their own. Open-air concerts take place in summer, and there are exhibitions throughout the year. A gift shop, café, and restaurant are on the grounds.