The Cotswolds – Places to Visit
You can find out about the Cotswolds, some of its history and what it has to offer the visitor by clicking on the buttons below.
Farmers Markets
Cheltenham: 2nd & last Fridays 9am – 3pm
Cirencester: 2nd & 4th Saturday 9am – 1pm
Evesham: 4th Friday 9am-3pm
Gloucester: every Friday 9am – 3pm
Malvern: 3rd Saturday 9am – 2pm
Ross on Wye: 1st Friday 10am – 2pm
Stroud: 1st & 3rd Saturday 9am – 2pm
Tewkesbury: 2nd Saturday 9am – 1pm
Winchcombe: 3rd Saturday 9am – 2pm
Antiques
Cirencester Corn Hall: Antiques Market – Fridays 9.00am-3.00pm weekly
Gloucester Docks –Antiques Centre Website
Gloucestershire antiques – Information Britain website
For a comprehensive list of some of the local antique dealers check out the Cotswold Antique Dealers Association website.
Click Here to review the National Trust’s Gloucestershire properties.
Dyrham Park – a William and Mary mansion sited in an ancient deer park. House collections reflect the Dutch fashion of the time. Elegant gardens.
Hailes Abbey – founded 1246, Cistercian abbey ruins with dramatic cloister arches.
Minchinhampton Common – acres of great walking.
Newark Park – Tudor hunting lodge perched upon a 40 foot cliff.
Prior Park – 18th century landscape garden, centres around the Palladian Bridge; superb views of Bath.
Tyntesfield Victorian Estate – unrivalled collection of Victorian decorative arts.
Woodchester Park – secluded Cotswold valley, 5 lakes, a ‘lost’ garden.
Sherborne Lodge and Estate – Lodge Park was created in 1634 by John Dutton as grandstand for deercoursing. 4000 acres of Cotswold countryside. Much of the pretty Sherborne village is owned by the Trust.
Chedworth Roman Villa -1700 years old Roman villa, surviving bath houses and mosaics.
Hidcote Manor Garden – a superb garden, plenty of outdoor’rooms’, old roses and unusual plants and trees from around the world, stunning views across Vale of Evesham.
Snowshill Manor – various fascinating collections of almost anything Charles Paget Wade could gather. Lovely gardens.
Westbury Court Garden – only restored Dutch water garden in the country.
Here is a selection of other places of interest in the Cotswolds:
Sudeley Castle – has had Royal connections –Queen Katherine Parr, Henry VIII’s surviving wife, Henry VIII himself, Anne Boleyn, Queen Elizabeth 1, Charles 1, have all lived or stayed at the castle. Destroyed by Cromwell’s troop, it lay in ruins until 1837 when bought by the Dent family since when there has been an ongoing restoration programme of castle and grounds.
Colesbourne Park – magnificent snowdrops displays at home of Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire. Garden tours. Restoration project. Plant sales. Snowdrops Open days in February.
Stanway House – Jacobean manor house, gatehouse, 14th century tithe barn, water garden, canal, 8 ponds and a 300 foot single jet fountain – highest in UK and highest gravity fountain in the world.
Painswick Rococo Gardens – Near Painswick, 6 acre garden of the brief but flamboyant period of English Rococo design. Lovely roses, superb kitchen garden.
Kelmscott Manor – Tudor farmhouse built 1570. Loved by William Morris, the house contains many examples of his work and designs.
Gardens
The official tourism website for the Cotswolds area of England
Sezincote – great gardens surrounding a fascinating manor house in the Regency Indian style, lavishly restored in the Kleinworts’ ownership since 1944. Gardens open on Thursdays, Fridays & Bank Holiday Monday afternoons 2.00pm-6.00pm. House open, on Thursdays and Fridays, from May until September. Entrance: Garden – £4.00, House – £6.00.
Kiftsgate Court Gardens – a garden developed by three generations of Muir women since the 1920s set on the Cotswold escarpment and renowned for its use of colour. Right nextdoor to Hidcote (see NT properties above.) Open Sunday, Monday & Wednesday afternoons in April, August and September, Saturday-Wednesday from May to July (ie, not Thursday and Friday). Entrance: £5.50.
Westonbirt Arboretum – 600 acre arboretum with one of the finest collections of temperate trees in the world, run by the Forestry Commission. Open 9.00am-8.00pm.
Batsford Arboretum – 50 acre arboretum containing over 1,500 trees, established in the 1880s by the Redesdale family and home to the Mitford girls during the Great War. The arboretum was considerably developed under the Wills family’s ownership between the 1960s and the 1980s, recycling the tobacco fortune organically in a sense, before bheing turned over to the charitable Batsford Foundation in 1984. Open daily 10.00am. Entrance: £6.00.
Cotswold Motoring Museum (Bourton-on-the-Water) – run by the Civil Service Motoring Association contains a substantial toy collection in addition to the main motor-car exhibition. Open daily from mid-February until early December. Entrance: £3.50.