One of the best things about living in Chippenham is how easy it is to get out of it.
It’s a joke I’ve made before and will likely make again because it’s one that has a kernel of truth at its heart.
The mainline train station can quickly deliver you to Bristol, Bath, and London (or Swindon or Reading if that’s your thing; I don’t judge). If you’re driving, it’s a veritable hop, skip, and a jump to get on the M4, the main motorway that ventures into southern Wales.
But, if you continue driving north, you end up in a place that MrElaineous and I have christened the “magical land above the M4”. It’s better known by its proper and more concise name of the Cotswolds.
Of course, we have two charming and Cotswoldesque villages right on our doorstep: Lacock and Castle Combe. They are both lovely and well worth a visit.
But, when you visit a place on a regular basis, it’s easy to start to think that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Or, in this case, that the buildings are more quaint on the other side of the motorway. As a result, MrElaineous and I have made a few trips this summer into the Cotswolds proper.
I can hear the question now: “What exactly are the Cotswolds?”
The slightly cynical answer is that they are an area of the country that has given rise to the image of ye olde England. Picture honey-coloured stone cottages, rolling green hills, and villages that look like they’ve been plucked from a BBC period drama. Indeed, I was familiar with Lacock long before I moved to the UK through the Pride and Prejudice miniseries. Ask an American to imagine a quintessentially English village and it’s likely that the Cotswolds is what they have in mind.
The more factual response is that the Cotswolds is a region of the UK that predominantly straddles the counties of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, but Wiltshire, Somerset, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire each get a slice of the action. It is also officially one of the 46 designated National Landscapes in the UK. These were previously called by the wordy but descriptive term Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs). Whatever you choose to call them, it means the area is recognised for landscapes that have significant scenic, cultural, and environmental value and are worthy of permanent protection.
Taking a step back in time, this region was historically all about wool. From the Middle Ages onwards, the area’s sheep were prized for their thick, high-quality fleeces. The golden age of Cotswold wool trade, from the 14th to 16th centuries, funded the construction of magnificent “wool churches” that still dominate many villages. Indeed, the very name itself is believed to come from two Old English words: cot (sheep enclosure) and wold (gently rolling hills). Put them together and you’ve got “sheep enclosures on the hills”.
Today, though, the Cotswolds are best known for being a rural idyll, the sort of place where people go for long walks, cream teas, and a bit of celebrity spotting. Those gently rolling hills can hide quite a few multi-million-pound homes.
In my case, the Cotswolds appealed because I was after a change of scenery and didn’t want to travel too far to enjoy it. As a result, the first place we visited was Bourton-on-the-Water. The water in question is the River Windrush, which burbles merrily through the centre of the village and is criss-crossed by footbridges. This gives the village its nickname of “Venice of the Cotswolds”, and it is utterly charming.
And if you’ve noticed I’ve started to recycle some of my adjectives, it’s because there really aren’t many other ways to describe these villages. They are indeed charming, quaint, and absolutely lovely. They are also stuffed to the gills with tourists during the summer, but I’ll get to that later.
We arrived in Bourton-on-the-Water just after 10:00 am and made a beeline for Birdland. This is exactly what it sounds like: it’s a zoo dedicated to showcasing birds from around the world. Penguins, pelicans, flamingos, and so much more are available to view. If you can, catch a few of the feedings and keeper talks. Both talks we attended were fantastic; they were informative, entertaining, and demonstrated the care and attention the birds get from their keepers.
You can even rewind the clock and see the ancestors of birds through the Jurassic Journey part of the property. Replica dinosaurs dot the small nature reserve, and we enjoyed spotting them in the foliage. As someone who grew up with a love of dinosaurs, it’s always a joy to see them in action.
The crowds were in full force by the time we left to grab lunch, hence the lack of photos. This is the downside to visiting a Cotswold village in the summer: everyone else has the same idea. By their very definition, the villages are small and hundreds or thousands of day-trippers can easily swamp them. There are ways around this, which I’ll explain in just a few paragraphs.
In the meantime, although the villages are small, they’re not nearly as tiny as the next attraction we visited in Bourton: the Model Village. This is a charmingly precise, 1:9‑scale replica of Bourton‑on‑the‑Water as it appeared in the mid‑1930s. It was initially conceived as an attraction to lure in motorists, and it was opened to the public for King George VI’s coronation in 1937.
The craftsmanship is what makes it stand out. Local stonemasons built it using authentic materials—tiny limestone walls, miniature Cotswold slate roofs, even tiny glass‑panelled windows and fine tracery on the churches. The 17th to 19th century vernacular architecture—the local building style—is reflected in miniature, allowing visitors to feel like Gulliver in Lilliput.
While no cream teas were sampled, it was an enjoyable day out. Bourton-on-the-Water is well worth a visit … but I would probably recommend any time other than summer if at all possible.
Which brings me to the village we visited just last week.
Bibury can best be described as a victim of its own success. William Morris, the founder of the Arts and Crafts movement, described it as “the most beautiful village in England”. Japanese ruler Hirohito visited Bibury in the early 20th century before he became emperor, firmly cementing its status as a must-see location in the itinerary of foreign tour groups.
The result is that the village has regularly been overrun by coaches and cars full of day-trippers. Up to 10,000 tourists a day can descend on the village during peak season; it only has 600 residents. MrElaineous and I were caught in the melee ourselves when we attempted to visit pre-pandemic. My overriding memory of Bibury was of a place heaving with people as crowds swarmed a handful of relatively small streets. The problem reached a head earlier this year, and new guidelines were established to keep coach tours under control and bring some semblance of order to the chaos.
With all of this on my mind, I decided the best approach was to arrive there early. Like 6:30 am early. Which meant leaving Chippenham by 5:30 am. Which meant rolling out of bed around 4:30 am. I take my day-tripping seriously.
And since my family didn’t object to my plans, that’s exactly what we did.
Arriving so early gives you a chance to see why Bibury is talked about in such glowing terms. The River Coln runs through the village and past the marshy Rack Isle, with the village’s most famous bit of architecture—Arlington Row—catching the golden hour light.
Remember those sheep that gave the Cotswolds their name? They have a role to play in Bibury too. The buildings that compose Arlington Row were converted from a medieval wool store into weavers’ cottages in the 17th century. Rack Isle likewise takes its name from the wool trade. It was a meadow where wool was once laid out on racks to dry before being sent to the local mill for further processing. Today, it’s a protected patch of land to provide a home for wildlife.
Once again, we bypassed the cream teas since cafés sensibly do not open at the crack of dawn. Instead, we walked a two-mile loop through the neighbouring fields as the sun rose, with only the dawn chorus and a brown hare for company. It took us through the lands of Court Farm, past the centuries-old churchyard, and delivered us back to Arlington Row.
We stopped for breakfast at the only café that was open when we returned and enjoyed a leisurely bite to eat while getting a much-needed infusion of caffeine. I could watch the main road into town from where I sat, and it didn’t take long for the first coach of tourists to drive past. It was 9:30 am on the dot.
As we walked back to the car to make our escape, the coach disgorged at least 60 people who immediately set about blocking the paths and small stone bridge. To combine clichés, the difference in atmosphere was night and day, and I was grateful that we had a chance to experience the calm before the storm. It helped overwrite my earlier memories of jostling crowds while confirming that earlier is better as far as Bibury is concerned.
Of course, this raises another question or two: Is it worth it? Which village is a must-see?
First, a caveat: I have only scratched the surface of exploring the Cotswolds. Painswick and Lechlade-on-Thames are lovely (and the latter is home to some pretty impressive reptiles). But there is still so much more to see: the Slaughters (as in Upper and Lower Slaughter); the Chippings (Campden, Sodbury, and Norton); the poetically named Moreton-in-Marsh and Stow-on-the-Wold; and numerous other villages I’d love to check out at some point.
But in relation to this particular blog post, if you like history and/or gushing over quaint architecture, my recommendation is … Lacock. It does get busy in the summer, but it’s a little bigger than both Bourton and Bibury so it can better absorb the crowds. A visit to Lacock Abbey is also a relatively peaceful retreat from coachloads of visitors.
I really enjoyed seeing both Bourton-on-the-Water and Bibury. The Cotswolds are a magical place that are well worth visiting, but it was a good reminder that the grass isn’t always greener or the buildings more quaint. Lacock might not technically be within the borders of the Cotswolds, but it has more than enough charm to go around.
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