Hotels in the Cotswolds

The Cotswold Hills provide wonderful open landscapes and deep valleys, where tiny golden stone villages nestle in chocolate box settings. As the river Severn meanders south-west, the hills contrast dramatically with the lush green pastures stretching out below. Here the stone-built cottages give way to thatched, black-and-white architecture. There is plenty to see and do in the Cotswold area, which encompasses most of Gloucestershire and parts of Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Oxfordshire. Wildlife Parks at Slimbridge and Burford, a fascinating model village at Bourton-on-the-Water, and the beautiful spa town of Cheltenham, dubbed ‘Centre for the Cotswolds’ made popular by the Regent, later to become George IV and still boasting spacious squares, gardens and arcades. The Pump Room should not be missed and the town hosts both music and literary festivals.

Wool was the source of much of the Cotswolds’ wealth two centuries ago. Rich merchants built great manor houses which still stand today, as well as great churches and abbeys around which artisans’ cottages and little villages grew up. Streams powered the mills which produced the wool and the stone is mellow, soft and golden.

Local sights of note include Gloucester Cathedral (founded 1089) and one of the venues, with Worcester and Hereford, of the annual Three Choirs Festival; Chedworth Roman Villa; Sudeley Castle, Winchcombe; Snowshill Manor; and the famous Hidcote and Kiftsgate Gardens.