10 Days in the Cotswolds – Itinerary, Accommodation and Top Tips

Hi all, it’s been a while.

It’s been a busy one for everyone to say the least, and with the pandemic we haven’t really had the chance to travel. But, I (Zoe) finally managed to get away! David was on placement so couldn’t join me but hopefully he will on our next adventure.

We have both decided that we probably wouldn’t be going abroad for a fair few years mainly because of all the uncertainty but also because we (hopefully) will have a fully-converted camper van that we can cruise around in in the very near future!

Enough about us, lets get on to all the joys the Cotswolds has to offer and what I did during my 10 days there.

Itinerary

First, I thought I’d give you the overall itinerary of what we did:

	AM	PM
Day 1: 10/7	Travelling Burford	Burford
Day 2: 11/7	Cotswold Water Park 11am SUP / Kayak – 4 Lakes Waterski	Sculpture trail Cirencester Park
Day 3: 12/7	Gloucester	Leckhampton walk
Day 4: 13/7	Moreton in Marsh market	Snowshill Arms (lunch) Snowshill Manor
Day 5: 14/7	Westonbirt Arboretum	1pm Alpaca walk (Cowley) Lechlade on Thames
Day 6: 15/7	Broadway Tower walk	Willersey Stanton Chipping Campden Blockley
Day 7: 16/7	Upper Slaughter Lower Slaughter	Stow on the Wold Bourton on the Water 6pm Smiths (dinner)
Day 8: 17/7	Castle Combe Lacock	2pm boat trip Bradford on Avon
Day 9: 18/7	Bath	Bath
Day 10: 19/7	10am breakfast at Lavender Bakehouse and Coffee Shop Stroud Miserden Edgeworth	3pm Afternoon Tea at The Kitchen Minchinhampton
Day 11: 20/7	Tetbury	Travelling home

Accommodation

Our home for the duration of our holiday was The Old Dairy in Brimscombe, Stroud. As its name suggests, it is a homely converted building where cows used to be milked. The owners also lived on site and they were so lovely and willing to help with whatever we needed. It is located on a working equestrian centre so you’re greeted by horses every time you arrive or leave which is very cute.

Brimscombe is towards the more South-Western end of the Cotswolds but it was still nice and easy to get where we wanted to go by car. There was 4 of us in the accommodation and it felt like just the right size and set up for us – 1 double bed and 2 single beds.

The link to the accommodation can be found here and I just want to re-iterate how lovely and good value this place and the owners are. I hope you consider The Old Dairy when looking for where to stay on your travels in this area.

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3 Top tips

Before we get into a blow-by-blow account of what I got up to, I thought I would share some tips for people visiting the Cotswolds, especially over the peak season (summer) and during Coronavirus times.

Bring lots of 20p’s!

Sounds like a weird one but in many of the villages we visited, you need to pay 20p to get into a public toilet. The machines only accept 20p and higher coins (and don’t give change) so make sure you save up all your small coins and don’t get caught short!

Get to the popular places early

It’s logical when you think about it, but I think people don’t quite appreciate how busy some of these places can get, there is only a limited amount of parking in many villages too as they don’t want to be completely swamped by tourists. Some of the busiest places with limited parking include the Slaughters, Lacock and Stow-on-the-Wold. Its just worth bearing in mind that these places do get busy so if you’re desperate to visit, make sure you get there early to get a parking space.

There is SO MUCH to explore

Although we had ten days in the Cotswolds (and a pretty packed itinerary!), there were still things that we didn’t get to see and explore. That’s why I think it is important to do your research and decide where it is you want to visit, and then work that into some form of itinerary so you’re not spending all your time travelling across the length and breadth of the Cotswolds every day.

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That’s all for now, keep an eye out for more posts about the Cotswolds coming soon 🙂

Happy and safe travels!

Zoe and David x

Written by Zoe