Classic Cotswolds

A two day tour winding through the pretty and scenic roads of the Cotswolds.

This route includes small country towns, chocolate box villages and typically English countryside.

“The most English and the least spoiled of all our countrysides” wrote JB Priestly in 1933.

The honey-yellow stone towns and villages of the Cotswolds have enchanted visitors for generations and it is a perfect touring area with quiet, meandering roads and quaint architecture. The Thames has played a major role in the history of England through the centuries. It rises in the Cotswolds and flows some 210 miles to London and the sea. Villages and towns are scattered along its banks with pleasant walks and delightful scenery.

Oxford, the city of dreaming spires, and its University has influenced thinking throughout the world for centuries. This region is an area of outstanding natural beauty and our suggested route will take you along the most scenic drives, and offers plenty to do and see.

Accommodation

Stay in the beautiful village of Lower Slaughter near Stow on the Wold, often called England’s prettiest village. We have a choice of two hotels: Washbourne Court and Lower Slaughter Manor.

Washbourne Court Hotel offers a unique refreshing twist on luxury country house hotel ethos, with an enviable reputation for exceptionally fine food. A truly splendid 17th century hotel, once an Eton cramming school, standing in four acres of beautiful grounds alongside the River Eye in the centre of Lower Slaughter, is an inspired mix of exciting contemporary design and handsome historic features. Traditional beamed ceilings, stone mullioned windows and the most magnificent fireplace in the bar, all harmonise with a restaurant style that is both bold and contemporary whilst being wonderfully comfortable. During the summer, guests really appreciate lunch or drinks on our Riverside Terrace, a truly charming riverside setting, with wild birds strutting across the lawns, giving every impression of being so appreciative of their beautiful natural habitat. In the cooler months, guests enjoy relaxing in front of the real log fires.

Queen of the Cotswolds, Lower Slaughter Manor reigns supreme; serene and gracious. This lovely manor house displays all the hallmarks of refined, regal luxury and is testimony to inspired contemporary design complementing fine period features to exalted effect. One of the finest 17th C country houses in the south of England, Lower Slaughter Manor stands in its own lovely gardens next to the historic church in the heart of the beautiful Cotswold village of Lower Slaughter. The rooms are as refined and luxurious as you would expect from such a regal manor house hotel; stunning contemporary design works so well with stately architecture to fabulous effect. Dine in either the award-winning restaurant, perhaps the most superbly designed and most comfortable restaurant in the Cotswolds, or al fresco in the lovely gardens.

Itinerary

Day One

Today’s circular tour takes you round the northern part of the Cotswolds. Surrounded by rolling green hills, dotted with sheep that made the area so rich from the wool trade, visit the towns that prospered during those times. Start with Winchcombe, the Saxon capital of Mercia and the nearby Hailes Abbey. Nearby is the Bugatti Trust and Prescott Hill Climb which will appeal to car enthusiasts.

Continue on to Snowshill, owned by the National Trust and then pretty Broadway, just over the border in Worcestershire, where the Cotswolds join the Vale of Evesham. Proceed to Hidcote and the famous gardens and then on to Chipping Norton and Stow on the Wold, before heading back to Lower Slaughter.

Day Two

Make your way to Woodstock and visit Blenheim Palace, home to the Dukes of Marlborough, and now a World Heritage Site. Then head to Stanton Harcourt and Wantage, before heading west to Uffington to see the famous White Horse, carved into the chalk hillside. Drive north to Lechlade on Thames and Burford and then back to Lower Slaughter.

Details

Duration: 2 days/2 nights – this trip can be taken at any time.

Price:

Washbourne Court: From £245 to £425 per person, depending on the room type chosen.

Lower Slaughter Manor: From £450 to £625 per person, depending on room type chosen

This price is per person, based on two people sharing a twin or double room. Requests for single room accommodation will be extra. Please ask for the supplementary price at the time of booking.

What’s included

Two nights accommodation in a twin or double room (room type dependent on price)
Full breakfast each morning and three course dinner each evening.
A complete route book detailing our suggested route, along with maps, and a tour book detailing places to visit and things to do in the areas you will pass through.