Not every trip has to reach the sea. Four days in the Cotswolds is a short, easy break with a drive of about three hours at each end and very little in between.
It suits a long weekend, a first hire, or a week when the forecast on the coast looks poor and the inland one does not.
One thing to know before you set off: the Cotswolds are beautiful and narrow in roughly equal measure. The villages were built for carts, and the lanes between them are walled with stone. Plan to park once a day and walk.
Why choose the Cotswolds?
Because of the stone. The whole region sits on a band of golden limestone, and for centuries everything was built from whatever was quarried in the next field. The result is several hundred square miles where the houses, the walls, the churches and the barns are all the same colour.
The wool trade paid for it. The churches are far too large for the villages around them because medieval wool merchants built them that way, and the market towns still have the halls and squares where the trade was done.
It is also compact. Most of the places below are fifteen or twenty minutes apart, which means a four day trip here involves almost no driving once you have arrived.
Day 1: Abberton to the eastern Cotswolds
Three hours, then stop
The drive from Abberton is around three hours on main roads. Aim to arrive in the early afternoon, get settled, and do one short thing rather than three.
Burford is a good first stop. Its high street runs steeply downhill to a medieval bridge over the River Windrush, lined with stone houses, antique shops and a church at the bottom. Walk down and walk back up, which is the only real decision the town asks of you.
There are sites around Burford, Witney and Bourton-on-the-Water. Check the approach lane when you book, as several of the smaller sites here are reached through villages with tight corners.
Arrive in daylight. Cotswold lanes are unlit, high-walled and much harder in the dark.
Day 2: Bourton, the Slaughters and Stow
The villages everybody comes for
Bourton-on-the-Water has the Windrush running straight through the middle of it under a row of low stone footbridges, which is why it gets called the Venice of the Cotswolds by people who have not been to Venice. It is genuinely pretty and genuinely crowded. Arrive early.
A mile north, Upper and Lower Slaughter are quieter and better. The names have nothing to do with slaughter and come from an old word for a wet place. A level footpath runs between the two villages beside the water and takes about twenty minutes each way. It is the best short walk in the region.
Finish at Stow-on-the-Wold, the highest of the Cotswold market towns, built around a large square. Look for the north door of St Edward’s Church, framed by two ancient yew trees grown around the stonework.
Stay a second night where you are rather than moving. Everything today is within a few miles.
Leave the motorhome on the edge of Bourton and walk in. The central car parks are small and fill early.
Day 3: Broadway, Chipping Campden and the escarpment
The north Cotswolds
Head north west to Broadway, which has a wide green high street and a folly tower on the hill above it. Broadway Tower stands at one of the highest points in the Cotswolds and the view from the escarpment reaches a long way across the Vale of Evesham.
Chipping Campden, a few miles on, is the one to spend the most time in. Its curved high street is almost entirely unchanged, with a seventeenth century market hall standing open in the middle of it, and the wool church at the end is enormous. The Cotswold Way long distance path starts here, so you can walk the first mile of it and turn round.
Snowshill and Hidcote, both National Trust, are nearby if you want gardens. Both are reached by narrow lanes with limited turning, so check the approach and the car park before setting out.
Consider moving north for the last night, to the area around Broadway, Winchcombe or Moreton-in-Marsh.
Bibury, west of here, is famous for Arlington Row and badly congested with almost no parking. Go very early or leave it out.
Day 4: The journey home
One stop, then east
The run home is around three hours. One stop on the way is plenty.
Cirencester is the obvious choice if you want Roman history, with a museum built around what was the second largest town in Roman Britain. Oxford is the alternative if you would rather finish with a city, though you will need the park and ride.
Then east, allowing time for refuelling and for the return arrangements agreed when you collected the vehicle.
Your return time is agreed when you hire your vehicle. Plan the final morning around it, and contact us in advance if you would like to arrange a longer hire.
Make the most of four days
A few simple things will make a short trip go well:
- Book your overnight stops in advance. Popular sites fill quickly during school holidays and summer weekends.
- Check access before you travel. Some car parks have height barriers, narrow approaches or vehicle length limits. Never assume a space is suitable for your motorhome.
- Keep your days flexible. The suggested stops are options, not a checklist. There is no need to see everything.
- Travel light and plan your supplies. Stock up on essentials before leaving, then enjoy discovering local shops and food along the way.
- Respect the countryside. Follow local parking rules, take your rubbish with you and leave overnight stops as you found them.
- Check opening times and seasonal services. Ferries, boat hire, attractions and campsite facilities may not operate all year.
Ready for the Cotswolds?
Four days is enough to stop hurrying. Park up, walk between two villages beside a stream, find a church far too big for the place it stands in, and come back for the kettle.
It is the shortest route we suggest and one of the easiest to drive.
PWS Go, your adventure starts here.
Suggested itinerary only. Driving times, routes, campsite availability and attraction opening arrangements vary. Please confirm suitability for your hired vehicle and make bookings directly with the relevant providers before departure.