Cotswolds region - where to visit?

[manalishi]

Fantastic - thanks, guys. We'll self-cater most days, but splurge on at least one full-on dinner. I'll look up those places and see which one looks the best bet.

We last stayed at Cley in Norfolk, and spent a lot of time in the smaller towns and villages, so we'll probably spend a lot of time mooching around the Burford, Slaughter, etc area.

Hadn't seen Gaydon on the map, but Google shows that it's "sort of" on the way there (or back), so it's a definite maybe.

 

[Roger Jones]

How did you get on and what would you recommend to others?

 

[Steve_B]

Last time I was in the Cotswolds I parked directly outside the Swan Hotel in Bibury, sun was shining, meal in the courtyard......then crash! A picture tells a thousand words

Old guy driving got his foot stuck on the gas pedal crossing the bridge, forgot to bear left to follow the road and missed my car, as you can see above, by about 4ft

 

[Simon_M]

Lygon Arms is shockingly bad, Costwold House hotel is way overpiced.

 

[manalishi]

Back home now and a big thanks to those who gave ideas.

We especially liked Broadway. We did the walk up to Broadway Tower (good exercise!). Tried the Lygon Arms, but it had the typical 'British' bad hotel service and with the high menuprices, we thought better of it and went along to Russells (a little further up the road) and had a decent lunch.

Halfway up the footpath to the Tower we were buzzed by a low-flying Harrier. Awesome sound and he got us on the way back, too.

Bourton-on-the-Water was great - we went back a second time because it was completely mobbed on the Saturday (saw a Ford Mustang get-together rolling through, plus various other vintage oddities, including a pair of unrusty Fiat X1/9s!). In midweek was much more pleasant.

Other highlights were Chipping Camden, the Slaughters and Bath.

We didn't like Stratford at all. Overpriced and all rather low-rent! The rip-off price structure for the 'Shakespeare' house tours was an eye-opener (having to pay to visit 2 other irrelevant houses). The Butterfly Farm almost made up for that.

Cotswold Wildlife Park was...OK. Nothing special.

We didn't have time for some other places (arboretum, Woodchester, etc) so we'll just have to go again!

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Cotswold Wildlife Park was...OK. Nothing special.

Went there today. The glorious weather perhaps helped but we thought it was one of the best zoos we've visited.