We often get asked by guests…’Can you visit the Cotswolds in just one day?’ The answer is ‘YES’ Lucy & Richard from Cotswolds Guided Tours have been running their ‘Award-Winning’ tour company since 2017. The day tours have changed over the years & now you have the chance to take the ‘Best of the Best’ Cotswolds tour. This tour visits 6 amazing locations, you have free time to explore at each stop & 90 minutes for lunch. The tour takes a total of 6 glorious hours wandering through picture perfect locations. You finish the day feeling like you have immersed yourself in Cotswolds life, without feeling rush & will walk away with wonderful memories. Naturally you will want to come back & explore more of the region, as let’s face it, there are 800 square miles of ‘The Cotswolds’.
What is the Cotswolds all about?
Visiting the Cotswolds is like stepping back in time, you can see beautiful honey-coloured cottages, some with thatched roofs. Horses being ridden down the quiet country lanes, rolling fields & an array of little independent eateries and stores. It is just like stepping into a movie set. You can reflect on the slower pace of life & marvel at the higgledy-piggledy roof lines as cottages seem to huddle together in beautifully laid out villages & market towns.
Is the Cotswolds easy to navigate?
If you love walking, then yes! There are thousands of miles of trails & footpaths criss-crossing the region. However not advisable if you only have one day to explore. There are ‘some’ local buses which run every hour & connect some of the major towns. If you want to maximise your time in the region & not have to worry about driving down single-track lanes on the ‘wrong’ side of the road with tractors & the occasional stray sheep darting out in front of you (!) then taking a Cotswolds day tour would be a fantastic option. Being local we know all the back roads, so you are not spending the day stuck in traffic but out on the little byways looking over the hedgerows and arriving at stunning villages that most visitors miss. If you are staying locally in the Cotswolds we offer lots of free collection points, where we can pick you up from your accommodation, just let us know.
How do I get to the Cotswolds from London?
Taking a day trip out from London is easy. If you are staying centrally then all you need to do is get to London Paddington Station. This is easily connected via the network of tube stations. Once at London Paddington you can hop on a Great Western Railways train & be whisked away to Moreton in Marsh, one of only a handful of railway stations in the Cotswolds. Lucy & Richard from Cotswolds Guided Tours will meet you at the railway station ready to start your Cotswolds adventure.
The great thing about catching the train out from London to the Cotswolds is that once seated you can enjoy watching the city pass by & open up into the rolling countryside as you travel through the different counties, heading north. The journey takes one hour 30 minutes & whilst on board you have a refreshment cart & toilets, so you have arrived relaxed & ready to explore. The trains out from London Paddington to the Cotswolds run every hour & many of our guests catch the train which arrives at Moreton in Marsh at 9.17am (Monday to Saturday) or 9.32am on Sunday.
Do you collect guests from London for the Cotswolds tour?
Cotswolds Guided Tours is a local Cotswolds based company & we are located just under 100 miles from London. As the train is so efficient, we do not offer London collections. It would take us a minimum of 2 hours to reach central London & then we would have to fight our way back through the morning rush hour to get to the Cotswolds. This could take at least another couple of hours and hardly a relaxing experience for our guests!
Can I visit the Cotswolds from Oxford?
Yes! It is so easy to reach the Cotswolds from Oxford, a quick 30-minute train journey & you arrive at Moreton in Marsh railway station. So perhaps if you are studying at Oxford or decided to base yourselves in this beautiful city then once you have visited the colleges, seen all the sites & museums why not hop on the train and spend the day in the Cotswolds.
If you would like to explore the Cotswolds in a day, then taking a tour with locals Lucy & Richard is the perfect way to discover why the Cotswolds wins over the hearts & minds of so many visitors year on year.
What will I see on the tour?
In 2022 we launched our 'Best of the Best' Cotswolds tour. This tour has been designed after 5 years of asking our guests what their favourite locations had been that day. We compiled a list of locations that year on year, tour by tour always came out on top as the favourite places to visit. This tour includes all of those, starting with The Slaughters, a favourite with visits these two little riverside villages are untouched by mass tourists descending from coaches. You can wander past the babbling little river, see a manor house, visit a little old watermill & soak up the Cotswolds atmosphere. On to the 'most famous' Cotswolds village of Bourton on the Water, known as the Venice of the Cotswolds. This is a honeypot location & featured in every travel guide. Please don't be put off by the potential crowds, we visit this village early in the day before any of the big London coaches arrive! That way you get to soak up the beauty and wander along the river, have time for a coffee or even a pastry from one of the local bakeries. Onwards & upwards (literally) the next stop on the tour is on one of the many 'Wolds' the hillside village of Snowshill has stunning views over the valley. A beautiful manor house, tiny village church surrounded by wonderful cottages, provides the quintessentially English scene. Guests will be getting hungry now & you won't be disappointed with the village of Broadway. Filled with independent shops, wonderful cafe's, local pubs, fine dining establishments & a deli serving 'monster' sandwiches there is something for everyone. The last stop of the tour is the outstandingly beautiful village of Stanton. The famous Cotswolds way walking trail route was moved to encompass this village. You will often see horses heading out on a hack through the hillside, admire beautiful, thatched cottages & explore the most amazing little church which has a secret or two that we love to share. A day filled with memory making moments that you will ponder on long after you have returned home, unpacked & settled back into your daily routine.
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