The Cotswolds have a problem familiar to all beautiful places: the famous bits are overrun. Bourton-on-the-Water and Bibury, the villages on every calendar, can be shoulder to shoulder with visitors and idling coaches in summer. But the Cotswolds are large, and most of them are empty. A little local knowledge takes you to villages just as lovely with a fraction of the people.
The quieter villages
Head for the less-photographed corners. Northleach, a former wool town with a magnificent church, sees a fraction of the crowds despite its charm. Winchcombe, near the dramatic ruins of Sudeley Castle, is a proper working town rather than a film set. The villages of the northern Cotswolds and the valleys around the Slaughters, just off the honeypot trail, stay surprisingly peaceful.
Getting off the road
- Walk. The moment you leave the car parks and take a footpath, the crowds vanish and you have the rolling country to yourself.
- Stretches of the Cotswold Way, the long-distance path along the escarpment, give big views and almost no people.
- Visit midweek and out of high summer; spring and autumn are lovely and far quieter.
Making it work
A car helps for reaching the quieter villages, as public transport is thin once you leave the main towns. Base yourself in a small town with a good pub rather than a honeypot, and explore outwards on foot. The honey-coloured stone, the church towers and the dry-stone walls are everywhere, not just in the famous few villages.
The Cotswolds earned their fame for good reason; the landscape and the architecture really are that pretty. The trick is simply to sidestep the places the coaches stop and seek out the rest, which is most of it. Do that and you get the England of the postcards, with room to breathe and a quiet pub to yourself at the end of the day.