England: Bath & the Cotswolds

Hidcote Gardens to Chipping Campden; 3.5 miles, easy. Optional afternoon loop walk; 2.5 miles, easy to moderate

Breakfast is included at your hotel. Meet your guide(s) at 9:30 a.m. in the main lobby of your Stratford-upon-Avon hotel. Embark your private motor coach and transfer about 20 minutes to Hidcote Gardens. Please be dressed for walking.

Upon arrival at Hidcote Gardens, one of England’s most influential Arts and Crafts gardens, there’ll be time to explore its hedge-lined pathways that lead to pretty topiaries and rare trees. Created by the talented American horticulturist Major Lawrence Johnston, the colorful and intricately designed outdoor “rooms” are always full of surprises.

After a picnic lunch, you’ll set off on your walk along the Monarch’s Way footpath toward Chipping Campden. We will only follow a fraction of this historic 615-mile footpath. As you start your walk, you’ll pass by Hidcote Bartim, a small hamlet of traditional thatched-roof stone cottages that were once home to Johnston’s gardeners. Admire them as you pass through and continue into the open Cotswolds countryside. Later, arrive in the small market town of Chipping Campden (chipping is a derivation of “market” in Old English). Enter into town on High Street, lined with limestone buildings the color of honey. The stone of these masterful structures—an oolitic limestone called Cotswold stone—was quarried locally. At the town center, admire the Market Hall with its splendid arches, built in 1627 by Sir Baptist Hicks to provide shelter for local farmers selling cheese, butter, and poultry.

Check in to the Noel Arms Hotel, one of the Cotswolds’ oldest inns. Charles II is thought to have stayed here during the English Civil War in the mid-1600s.

Tonight, enjoy a welcome dinner in the hotel’s restaurant.

Accommodation: Noel Arms Hotel
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

6 miles, easy to moderate

After breakfast, step onto the Cotswold Way, a 102-mile UK National Trail that links Chipping Campden and the city of Bath. Your tranquil route, first envisioned by England’s Ramblers, the largest walking group in Great Britain, passes quaint houses as it makes its way into the countryside and up the Cotswold Edge escarpment to Dovers Hill. Here, enjoy the extensive views west to the Malvern Hills. Around 1612, Robert Dover instituted annual games here, giving them the grand title of the “Olimpick Games,” and they continue to this day.

Your walk continues through bucolic pastureland dotted with sheep, through small wooded glens, into a lateral valley, and up a gentle slope to Broadway Tower. Built in 1799, it is a typical example of an 18th-century Gothic folly, a structure built by the nobility simply for pleasure. This one was erected for Lady Coventry of Worcester, who wondered whether a torch lit here upon a tower could be seen from her home 22 miles away. (It turns out that it could, much to her delight.) Today, at 1,024 feet above sea level, Broadway Tower still offers an extensive view across the Worcestershire countryside. Take time to ponder the folly of Lady Coventry during a cream tea break in a converted barn nearby.

After, continue downhill to the village of Broadway, often referred to as the “Jewel of the Cotswolds” for its fine 16th-century buildings made from the local stone. High Street is particularly inviting with its many shops, cafés, and other amenities. There’ll be time for you to enjoy lunch on your own and explore the village before shuttling back to your hotel.

Dinner is on your own tonight.

Accommodation: Noel Arms Hotel
Included Meals: Breakfast

Buckland to Stanway House; 3 miles, easy. Stanway House to Snowshill; 3 miles, moderate

A 20-minute morning shuttle delivers you to the small rural village of Buckland, starting point for today’s ramble. You traverse open country to the hamlet of Laverton, where a cluster of stone cottages evokes more of rural Old England. Later, arrive in Stanton, an idyllic village little changed in 300 years. Walk past 16th- and 17th-century houses built in typical Cotswolds style with steeply pitched gables, mullioned windows, and glowing honey-colored limestone. Stanton takes its name from the stan (or stone) from which it is built.

Upon arrival, visit the grand Stanway House, an outstandingly beautiful example of a Jacobean manor house. Owned by Tewkesbury Abbey for 800 years, it changed hands to the Tracy family for 500 years and is still the home of their descendants, the Earls of Wemyss and March. Enjoy a private guided tour of the house, with time to explore the gardens. Savor a ploughman’s lunch of local produce on the outdoor terrace before getting underway.

Your walk continues through the village of Stanway, then ascends slightly through a mixed forest. Leaving the woodland, follow the footpath through gently sloping agricultural land before arriving at Snowshill, a tiny village resting atop the escarpment. As its name implies, and as locals are fond of saying, if there is any snow about then you will find it here first. After time to explore, join the shuttle back to your hotel.

Dinner is on your own tonight.

Accommodation: Noel Arms Hotel
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

5.5 miles, easy to moderate

After breakfast today, check out of the hotel and shuttle to Stow-on-the-Wold, a small market town in Gloucestershire. Founded by Normans where two busy trade routes converged, this pretty town is situated on an 800-foot hill. This was a major center of the Cotswold wool industry. Enormous annual fairs attracted farmers from all reaches with as many as 20,000 sheep to sell. Today’s walk starts in the Market Square, flanked by an ancient cross on one end and the town stocks on the other. You will walk in the footsteps of the 21-year-old King Charles II who, in 1651, was defeated in the Battle of Worcester and hotly pursued by Parliamentary troops down the aptly named Monarch’s Way. Rejoin this footpath that you left behind a couple of days ago.

Descend from the escarpment through timeless pastureland. This is the Cotswolds of dreams, wide green fields edged with limestone walls and dotted with sheep. Later, arrive in the idyllic small village of Lower Slaughter straddling the River Eye. The town’s name is derived from the Old English word slothre, meaning “muddy place.” Admire the charming stone bridges spanning the river and the 16th- and 17th-century yellow limestone cottages built in the traditional Cotswolds style. Leave this charming hamlet and continue through a small wooded area, before traversing more pastures down to the Windrush River, which leads you into Bourton-on-the-Water. This pretty village is known as the “Venice of the Cotswolds” for the bridges that span its river.

There’ll be time here for lunch and to explore the village and its many craft shops before shuttling approximate 50 minutes to your home for the next three nights, the Hare & Hounds at Westonbirt, near Tetbury.

Dinner is at the hotel tonight.

Accommodation: The Hare & Hounds Hotel
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

7 miles, easy

After breakfast, stroll directly from the hotel along a meandering trail through tree-dotted pastureland. Your route traverses the tree-lined Highgrove House, the family residence of Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. Gatcombe Park, home of Charles’ sister Princess Anne, is also nearby. Shortly afterwards, walk into Tetbury, developed on the site of an ancient hill fort. Tetta’s Monastery was first mentioned in a charter by King Ethelred of Mercia in 681. In medieval days, Tetbury was an important market town for the Cotswolds wool and yarn trade. The town center is still dominated by the splendid pillared Market House, built in 1655. Many of the wool merchant houses look exactly as they did 300 years ago.

During your free time in Tetbury, visit one of its inviting cafés, its lovely church, or one of its many antique shops, for which the town is known. You’re sure to find a pleasing spot for lunch on your own.

The walking trail circles back, to Westonbirt House. Dating back to the end of the 19th century, it’s now a prestigious girls’ boarding school with beautiful gardens and not often open to the public. Stop here just before arriving back at your hotel for a private guided tour.

After time to relax back at the hotel, dinner is on your own. You may wish to eat in the hotel’s restaurant or return to Tetbury by taxi.

Accommodation: The Hare & Hounds Hotel
Included Meals: Breakfast

7 miles, easy to moderate

After breakfast, board your shuttle to Bath (approximately 50 minutes), which has been attracting travelers for some 2,000 years. This UNESCO World Heritage site is home to some of England’s grandest Georgian architecture, as well as one of the world’s best-preserved Roman bathhouses.

Today’s walk starts just outside Bath and follows the final leg of the Cotswold Way, the path you followed to Broadway a few days ago. Begin by traversing Lansdown Hill, site of the bloody Battle of Lansdown during the English Civil War. From here, you will cross a plateau, passing the famous Bath Horse Racecourse. Shortly afterwards, you will have your first views of Bath in the valley below. Walk through some fertile farmland before you emerge into the more suburban environs of Weston. As your walk draws to a close, you will have glimpses of finely landscaped parks and grand Regency architecture, including the famous Royal Crescent, 30 terraced houses forming a sweeping crescent, designed by John Wood the Younger in 1767. Conclude your walk at Bath Abbey, where a round carved stone set into the pavement outside the ornate west doors marks the end of the Cotswold Way.

You will have free time to explore Bath and have lunch on your own before returning to the hotel. This evening, recount your memorable journey over a festive farewell dinner.

Accommodation: The Hare & Hounds Hotel
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

After breakfast, check out of the hotel, say goodbye to your guides, and transfer to The Bear Hotel in Woodstock, approximately one-and-a-half hours away. Woodstock is a picturesque, historic market town, but not like any you have visited thus far: Today, you will have access to Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Winston Churchill and a veritable paradise for walkers.

Upon check-in you will be given an entrance ticket. Blenheim Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is the principal residence of the Dukes of Marlborough, and the only non-royal, non-episcopal country house in England designated a palace. Completed in 1722, it is one of England’s largest houses. Its 2,000 acres were designed by the most renowned landscape architect of his day, Capability Brown. It is pure pleasure to stroll along Blenheim’s great lake, browse the beautiful formal gardens, and take off-the-beaten-track rambles. You may even stumble upon the Temple of Diana, where Churchill proposed to his future wife Clementine. All well worth exploring.

Accommodation: The Bear Hotel
Included Meals: Breakfast

Hidcote Gardens to Chipping Campden; 3.5 miles, easy. Optional afternoon loop walk; 2.5 miles, easy to moderate

Meet your guide(s) at 9:30 a.m. in the lobby of the designated meeting point hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon, The Arden Hotel. Your guide(s) will be wearing a Country Walkers shirt. Please be dressed for walking.

Upon arrival at Hidcote Gardens, one of England’s most influential Arts and Crafts gardens, there’ll be time to explore its hedge-lined pathways that lead to pretty topiaries and rare trees. Created by the talented American horticulturist Major Lawrence Johnston, the colorful and intricately designed outdoor “rooms” are always full of surprises.

After a picnic lunch, you’ll set off on your walk along the Monarch’s Way footpath toward Chipping Campden. We will only follow a fraction of this historic 615-mile footpath. As you start your walk, you’ll pass by Hidcote Bartim, a small hamlet of traditional thatched-roof stone cottages that were once home to Johnston’s gardeners. Admire them as you pass through and continue into the open Cotswolds countryside. Later, arrive in the small market town of Chipping Campden (chipping is a derivation of “market” in Old English). Enter into town on High Street, lined with limestone buildings the color of honey. The stone of these masterful structures—an oolitic limestone called Cotswold stone—was quarried locally. At the town center, admire the Market Hall with its splendid arches, built in 1627 by Sir Baptist Hicks to provide shelter for local farmers selling cheese, butter, and poultry.

Check in to the Noel Arms Hotel, one of the Cotswolds’ oldest inns. Charles II is thought to have stayed here during the English Civil War in the mid-1600s.

Tonight, enjoy a welcome dinner in the hotel’s restaurant.

Accommodation: Noel Arms Hotel
Included Meals: Lunch, Dinner

6 miles, easy to moderate

After breakfast, step onto the Cotswold Way, a 102-mile UK National Trail that links Chipping Campden and the city of Bath. Your tranquil route, first envisioned by England’s Ramblers, the largest walking group in Great Britain, passes quaint houses as it makes its way into the countryside and up the Cotswold Edge escarpment to Dovers Hill. Here, enjoy the extensive views west to the Malvern Hills. Around 1612, Robert Dover instituted annual games here, giving them the grand title of the “Olimpick Games,” and they continue to this day.

Your walk continues through bucolic pastureland dotted with sheep, through small wooded glens, into a lateral valley, and up a gentle slope to Broadway Tower. Built in 1799, it is a typical example of an 18th-century Gothic folly, a structure built by the nobility simply for pleasure. This one was erected for Lady Coventry of Worcester, who wondered whether a torch lit here upon a tower could be seen from her home 22 miles away. (It turns out that it could, much to her delight.) Today, at 1,024 feet above sea level, Broadway Tower still offers an extensive view across the Worcestershire countryside. Take time to ponder the folly of Lady Coventry during a cream tea break in a converted barn nearby.

After, continue downhill to the village of Broadway, often referred to as the “Jewel of the Cotswolds” for its fine 16th-century buildings made from the local stone. High Street is particularly inviting with its many shops, cafés, and other amenities. There’ll be time for you to enjoy lunch on your own and explore the village before shuttling back to your hotel.

Dinner is on your own tonight. Chipping Campden has several options for a fine meal.

Accommodation: Noel Arms Hotel
Included Meals: Breakfast

Buckland to Stanway House; 3 miles, easy. Stanway House to Snowshill; 3 miles, moderate

A 20-minute morning shuttle delivers you to the small rural village of Buckland, starting point for today’s ramble. You traverse open country to the hamlet of Laverton, where a cluster of stone cottages evokes more of rural Old England. Later, arrive in Stanton, an idyllic village little changed in 300 years. Walk past 16th- and 17th-century houses built in typical Cotswolds style with steeply pitched gables, mullioned windows, and glowing honey-colored limestone. Stanton takes its name from the stan (or stone) from which it is built.

Upon arrival, visit the grand Stanway House, an outstandingly beautiful example of a Jacobean manor house. Owned by Tewkesbury Abbey for 800 years, it changed hands to the Tracy family for 500 years and is still the home of their descendants, the Earls of Wemyss and March. Enjoy a private guided tour of the house, with time to explore the gardens. Savor a ploughman’s lunch of local produce on the outdoor terrace before getting underway.

Your walk continues through the village of Stanway, then ascends slightly through a mixed forest. Leaving the woodland, follow the footpath through gently sloping agricultural land before arriving at Snowshill, a tiny village resting atop the escarpment. As its name implies, and as locals are fond of saying, if there is any snow about then you will find it here first. After time to explore, join the shuttle back to your hotel.

Dinner is on your own tonight.

Accommodation: Noel Arms Hotel
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

5.5 miles, easy to moderate

After breakfast today, check out of the hotel and shuttle to Stow-on-the-Wold, a small market town in Gloucestershire. Founded by Normans where two busy trade routes converged, this pretty town is situated on an 800-foot hill. This was a major center of the Cotswold wool industry. Enormous annual fairs attracted farmers from all reaches with as many as 20,000 sheep to sell. Today’s walk starts in the Market Square, flanked by an ancient cross on one end and the town stocks on the other. You will walk in the footsteps of the 21-year-old King Charles II who, in 1651, was defeated in the Battle of Worcester and hotly pursued by Parliamentary troops down the aptly named Monarch’s Way. Rejoin this footpath that you left behind a couple of days ago.

Descend from the escarpment through timeless pastureland. This is the Cotswolds of dreams, wide green fields edged with limestone walls and dotted with sheep. Later, arrive in the idyllic small village of Lower Slaughter straddling the River Eye. The town’s name is derived from the Old English word slothre, meaning “muddy place.” Admire the charming stone bridges spanning the river and the 16th- and 17th-century yellow limestone cottages built in the traditional Cotswolds style. Leave this charming hamlet and continue through a small wooded area, before traversing more pastures down to the Windrush River, which leads you into Bourton-on-the-Water. This pretty village is known as the “Venice of the Cotswolds” for the bridges that span its river.

There’ll be time here for lunch and to explore the village and its many craft shops before shuttling approximate 50 minutes to your home for the next three nights, the Hare & Hounds at Westonbirt, near Tetbury.

Dinner is at the hotel tonight.

Accommodation: The Hare & Hounds Hotel
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

7 miles, easy

After breakfast, stroll directly from the hotel along a meandering trail through tree-dotted pastureland. Your route traverses the tree-lined Highgrove House, the family residence of Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. Gatcombe Park, home of Charles’ sister Princess Anne, is also nearby. Shortly afterwards, walk into Tetbury, developed on the site of an ancient hill fort. Tetta’s Monastery was first mentioned in a charter by King Ethelred of Mercia in 681. In medieval days, Tetbury was an important market town for the Cotswolds wool and yarn trade. The town center is still dominated by the splendid pillared Market House, built in 1655. Many of the wool merchant houses look exactly as they did 300 years ago.

During your free time in Tetbury, visit one of its inviting cafés, its lovely church, or one of its many antique shops, for which the town is known. You’re sure to find a pleasing spot for lunch on your own.

The walking trail circles back, to Westonbirt House. Dating back to the end of the 19th century, it’s now a prestigious girls’ boarding school with beautiful gardens and not often open to the public. Stop here just before arriving back at your hotel for a private guided tour.

After time to relax back at the hotel, dinner is on your own. You may wish to eat in the hotel’s restaurant or return to Tetbury by taxi.

Accommodation: The Hare & Hounds Hotel
Included Meals: Breakfast

7 miles, easy to moderate

After breakfast, board your shuttle to Bath (approximately 50 minutes), which has been attracting travelers for some 2,000 years. This UNESCO World Heritage site is home to some of England’s grandest Georgian architecture, as well as one of the world’s best-preserved Roman bathhouses.

Today’s walk starts just outside Bath and follows the final leg of the Cotswold Way, the path you followed to Broadway a few days ago. Begin by traversing Lansdown Hill, site of the bloody Battle of Lansdown during the English Civil War. From here, you will cross a plateau, passing the famous Bath Horse Racecourse. Shortly afterwards, you will have your first views of Bath in the valley below. Walk through some fertile farmland before you emerge into the more suburban environs of Weston. As your walk draws to a close, you will have glimpses of finely landscaped parks and grand Regency architecture, including the famous Royal Crescent, 30 terraced houses forming a sweeping crescent, designed by John Wood the Younger in 1767. Conclude your walk at Bath Abbey, where a round carved stone set into the pavement outside the ornate west doors marks the end of the Cotswold Way.

You will have free time to explore Bath and have lunch on your own before returning to the hotel. This evening, recount your memorable journey over a festive farewell dinner.

Accommodation: The Hare & Hounds Hotel
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Your tour ends at your Woodstock, England hotel today. Kemble is the nearest train station to the Hare & Hounds Hotel, around seven miles away, with non-stop service to Paddington Station, London. The hotel will help arrange a taxi to the station.

Included Meals: Breakfast