The Rough Guide to Cotswolds, Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford (Travel Guide eBook)

Rough Guides

• Publisher: Rough Guides
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9781789197266
• Edition: 4
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Travel

The Rough Guide to the Cotswolds, Stratford-Upon-Avon and Oxford Make the most of your time on Earth with the ultimate travel guides. Discover the Cotswolds, Stratford-Upon-Avon and Oxford with this comprehensive and entertaining travel guide, packed with practical information and honest recommendations by our independent experts. Whether you plan to wander amid stunning medieval architecture in Oxford, marvel at perhaps the finest cloisters in England at Gloucester Cathedral or visit Shakespeare's birthplace of Stratford-Upon-Avon, The Rough Guide to the Cotswolds, Stratford-Upon-Avon and Oxford will help you discover the best places to explore, eat, drink, shop and sleep along the way. Features of this travel guide to Cotswolds, Stratford-Upon-Avon and Oxford:
- Detailed regional coverage: provides practical information for every kind of trip, from off-the-beaten-track adventures to chilled-out breaks in popular tourist areas
- Honest and independent reviews: written with Rough Guides' trademark blend of humour, honesty and expertise, our writers will help you make the most from your trip to the Rockies
- Meticulous mapping: practical full-colour maps, with clearly numbered, colour-coded keys. Find your way around Stratford-Upon-Avon, Cheltenham, Stroud, Cirencester and many more locations without needing to get online
- Fabulous full-colour photography: features inspirational colour photography
- Time-saving itineraries: carefully planned routes will help inspire and inform your on-the-road experiences
- Things not to miss: Rough Guides' rundown of the best sights and top experiences to be found in the Cotswolds, Stratford-Upon-Avon and Oxford
- Travel tips and info: packed with essential pre-departure information including getting around, accommodation, food and drink, health, the media, festivals, sports and outdoor activities, culture and etiquette, shopping and more
- Background information: comprehensive 'Contexts' chapter provides fascinating insights into Scotland with coverage of history, religion, ethnic groups, environment, wildlife and books, plus a handy language section and glossary- Covers: Cheltenham and the South Cotswolds, the Central Cotswolds, Stratford-Upon-Avon and the Feldon, the Oxfordshire Cotswolds, Banbury and North Oxfordshire and OxfordYou may also be interested in: Rough Guide to England About Rough Guides: Rough Guides have been inspiring travellers for over 35 years, with over 30 million copies sold globally. Synonymous with practical travel tips, quality writing and a trustworthy 'tell it like it is' ethos, the Rough Guides list includes more than 260 travel guides to 120+ destinations, gift-books and phrasebooks.

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PAINSWICK ROCOCO GARDEN

Cheltenham and the south Cotswolds

Cheltenham

Seven Springs and around

Gloucester

Painswick and around

Stroud and around

Tetbury and around

Malmesbury

Dursley and around

The Vale of Berkeley

Chipping Sodbury

Castle Combe

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BIBURY

The central Cotswolds

Cirencester

Around Cirencester

Cotswold Water Park

Fairford and around

Bibury and around

Northleach and around

Bourton-on-the-Water

The Slaughters

Cotswold Farm Park

The Guitings and around

Stow-on-the-Wold and around

Moreton-in-Marsh and around

The central Cotswolds

Few main roads cross the Cotswold hills. Two east–west corridors – the A40 and A44 – more or less follow valley contours, linking Oxford with Cheltenham and Evesham respectively, but through history Cotswold topography hasn’t lent itself to many easily definable north–south routes. In that regard, not much has changed since the Romans: their Fosse Way road – now the A429 – is still the only north–south artery through the region, cutting a more or less straight line from the wilds of Warwickshire through the central Cotswolds to Cirencester and on south towards Bath. This leaves the best of the region tucked into the hills either side: beautiful landscapes, quiet villages, splendid country churches.

Southern parts are anchored by the presence of Cirencester, a lovely, old-fashioned market town which, these days, is the epitome of what has turned Gloucestershire into “Poshtershire” – a polo-playing hideaway on the fringe of classic countryside, yet with speedy links to Cheltenham and London, and now sporting upmarket bars, delis and department stores. It’s easy, though, to take what you want and leave the rest behind: Cirencester’s Roman museum, for instance, is a cracker, as are the villages of the quiet Coln Valley nearby – and humble Fairford hosts a church as splendid as any in the Cotswolds.

Pretty Northleach is thankfully bypassed by both the A40 and A429 at their crossroads, though riverside Bibury has become a very popular mid-Cotswolds stop. Bourton-on-the-Water is one of the most visited but perhaps least satisfying of all Cotswold destinations, and nearby Stow-on-the-Wold and Moreton-in-Marsh, though visually attractive, lie slap bang in the eye of the Cotswold tourism hurricane.

As always, head away from the main routes to find the best of the area: Blockley village, between Moreton and Chipping Campden, is a beauty, while the high wolds west of Stow are speckled with horsey hamlets flanking the splendid Cotswold Farm Park rare-breeds centre, itself only a spit from the famously beautiful twin villages of Upper and Lower Slaughter.

Cirencester

Plumb astride the A429 fifteen miles southeast of Cheltenham, pleasantly old-fashioned CIRENCESTER was a provincial capital under the Romans. The town flourished for three centuries: its grand forum was one of the largest in northern Europe, and in the province of Britannia “Corinium” was second in size and importance only to “Londinium” (London). The Saxons put paid to all that, largely destroying the Roman town. The wool boom of the Middle Ages saw a revival, and today, with its handsome stone buildings, Cirencester is an affluent little place that lays claim to be capital of the Cotswolds. Come, chiefly, for the outstanding Roman museum and the Church of St John the Baptist – but also make time to tap into the upmarket food-and-shopping lifestyle. Alongside a developing hinterland of quality food producers, the town now has genuinely good restaurants – often populated, entertainingly, by a very distinctive breed of ladies who lunch.

Farmers’ markets

Dates may change around Christmas and New Year. See also

farmretail.co.uk.

Bourton-on-the-Water 4th Sun of month 9.30am–1pm.

Cirencester 2nd & 4th Sat of month 8.30am–2.30pm

cirencester.gov.uk.

Stow-on-the-Wold 2nd Thurs of month (May–Sept also last Thurs of month) 9am–1pm

fresh-n-local.co.uk.

Alamy

COTSWOLD FARM PARK

Highlights

Cirencester The “capital of the Cotswolds” – a friendly market town with a grand church, quiet old lanes and good food.

Fairford Come to this attractive village near the Thames to marvel at the medieval stained glass in the church.

Bibury A one-street riverside village with perhaps the most photographed cottages in England.

Northleach This charming, unspoilt mid-Cotswolds village merits a detour.

T...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Contents
• INTRODUCTION TO THE COTSWOLDS
• BASICS
• THE GUIDE
• CONTEXTS
• SMALL PRINT