Cotswolds Blog

History of Tetbury The first written record of Tetbury occurs in 681 AD, when Ethelred of Mercia gave 15 acres of land near ‘Tette’s monastery’ to the abbey of Malmesbury. Who Tette was we do not know for certain, but we do know that a woman of that name was...

Malmesbury- An Introduction Atop a perfect flat hill encircled by the River Avon at the southern entrance to the Cotswolds, sits Malmesbury, said to be the oldest continually inhabited town in England. Malmesbury is rightly called the “Queen of Hilltop Towns” being England’s...

History of Painswick Rococo Garden Painswick House was built in the mid 1730s. Its owner, the asthma suffering, Charles Hyett came to Painswick to escape the smog of Gloucester and named his new house ‘Buenos Ayres’. Sadly this move was not enough and he died soon...

 What to expect on our Private Cotswolds Tours Our driver-guide will pick up your group (up to 7 people) at 10am from your location of choice in the Cotswolds. We use a luxury Japanese MPV which is very comfortable and its height gives great views over the surrounding...

  History of Castle Combe Castle Combe was voted ‘pretties village in England’ in 1961 and it is easy to see why. The Romans are known to have but a fort named ‘Castle Hill’ here due to its proximity to the Fosse Way, which required fonts all along its...

History of Lacock Centred around a grid of four streets Lacock has changed little in the past 200 years. The name Lacock has its origins in Saxon times when settlers living by the Bide Brook named it Lacuc to ‘Little Stream’. Lacock was recorded in the Domesday Book...

History of Lacock Abbey Lacock Abbey, dedicated to St Mary and St Bernard, was founded in 1229 by the widowed Lady Ela the Countess of Salisbury, who laid the abbey’s first stone 16 April 1232, in the reign of King Henry III, and to which she retired in 1238. Her late...

  The Cotswold Wildlife Park & Gardens exhibits over 260 different species of animals and is the largest privately owned zoological collection in the UK. The Park is set in 160 acres (0.65 km2) of landscaped parkland and gardens 2 miles south of Burfo...

Bibury is a charming, typically Cotswold, village just a short drive from “The Capital of the Cotswolds”, Cirencester. Bibury was once described by William Morris (1834-96) as “the most beautiful village in England”. A picture of Bibury is seen on the...

The typical Cotswolds village of Guiting Power lies on a tributory of the river Windrush, its russet-coloured houses clustered round a sloping green. There was a late Anglo-Saxon settlement on this site, when it was called Gyting Broc. The buildings are restored by a self-help...

Chavenage House is an Elizabethan era manor house northwest of Tetbury, in the Cotswolds area of Gloucestershire, England. It is constructed of Cotswold stone, with a Cotswold stone tiled roof. Particularly famous features of the house are the two tapestry rooms Cromwell’s...

  Bibury Trout Farm is one of Britain’s oldest, and certainly most attractive, Trout Farms. Founded in 1902, by the famous naturalist Arthur Severn, to stock the local rivers and streams with the native Brown Trout it now covers 15 acres in one of the most beautiful valleys...

  A rare gem of a Jacobean country house, Chastleton House was built between 1607 and 1612 by a prosperous wool merchant as an impressive statement of wealth and power. Owned by the same increasingly impoverished family until 1991, the house remained essentially unchanged...

Stanton is a small village in Tewkesbury Borough, Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the edge of the Cotswolds Hills, around three miles southwest of Broadway, in the neighbouring county of Worcestershire. Although Stanton is officially in Gloucestershire, it is often...

Set against the dramatic backdrop of the Cotswolds, in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Sudeley Castle & Gardens is just eight miles from Broadway. It has played an important role in the turbulent and changing times of England’s past, with royal connections that stretch...

Stanway House Stanway House is an outstandingly beautiful example of a Jacobean manor house, owned by Tewkesbury Abbey for 800 years then for 500 years by the Tracy family and their descendants, the Earls of Wemyss who still live there. The house, its fascinating furniture, the...

Chipping Campden- A Brief History The Domesday Book “Great Survey” of England completed in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror records that the Manor and Village ‘Broad Campden’ previously belonged to King Harold. Sitting at the northern most point of the Cotswolds Way...

Broadway Cotswolds-Arts and Crafts Village Broadway Cotswolds is named after its wide central street, boarded by fine green chestnut trees and an amazing array of beautiful Cotswolds stone houses dating from the 17th and 18th century. It probably benefited from the wool trade of...

Information about Snowshill Pronounced Snowshill by the locals, Snowshill is a charming little village hidden away in the hillside below Oates Hill along the Cotswold escarpment near to the villages of Broadway, Buckland and Laverton. A small village green and 19th century...

Stow-on-the-Wold- Market Town At 800ft, Stow-on-the-Wold is the highest town in the Cotswolds and sits at the convergence of no fewer than 8 roads including the Roman Fosse Way. Stow-on-the Wold is a pretty market town and one of the most touristed Cotswold spots. The old Market...

A short history of Bourton-on-the-Water Affectionately known as the Venice of the Cotswolds, Bourton-on-the-Water is probably the most touristed village in the whole of the Cotswolds area. The River Windrush runs through the centre of town spanned by a series of pretty bridges...

Cotswold Lavender in Snowshill The Cotswold Lavender in Snowshill near Broadway is one of the highlights of the Cotswolds calendar. Usually in bloom from June to July the purple lavender fields really are a sight to behold. Cotswold Lavender has been growing lavender since 2000...

Cotswolds Adventures coming this summer 2014 So its been a long time in the making but we are finally getting close to launching our new baby ‘Cotswolds Adventures’. After 9 great years in Japan we have decided to return back to the UK and base ourselves there for the...

Broadway Tower in the Cotswolds One of my favourite spots in the Cotswolds is definitely Broadway Tower. Broadway Tower is not as touristed as many other spots in the Cotswolds and if you are lucky enough to visit on a quiet day you may even be the only ones up there. It is...