📍 The Cotswolds
We spent a wondrous 3 days in the cotswolds & it was a dream! The English countryside is truly as magical as every picture you’ve seen or story you’ve heard. The Cotswolds are absolutely a must see!
Accommodation
We stayed in Cirencester at The King's Head hotel. The location of the hotel was so good! I definitely liked being in the town center, because it obviously made going to dinner and shops easier, but overall, this was our least favorite accommodation on the trip...
Our biggest complaints were that the staff, at the time of our stay, were pretty unhelpful, parking was not included, and while there was an elevator to our floor, there were around 15-20 stairs (broken into increments of a few at a time, but stairs nonetheless.) to the room... While I think the price is good for the location and what you got... if we ever go to the Cotswolds again, i wouldn't jump at the opportunity to stay here again.
*I will note that this was all included on the confirmation email, but nonetheless even knowing, it still made it inconvenient.
Transport
For this portion of the trip we decided to get a rental car from Heathrow Airport Enterprise... and boy was this an experience.
We got to the airport and, due to the unhelpful instructions provided by the company, we took awhile to find the shuttle pickup... but once we did we waited for 10 minutes for the shuttle to take us to Enterprise.
Once we were there, they were making everyone stand in the same line, no matter if you had pre-checked in or if you had just shown up with no idea what car you wanted. And while this is not a huge inconvenience, it was 😆 Because we were stuck waiting for nearly an hour behind people who had no idea what they wanted, whereas we had checked in and knew the exact car we had requested and pre-paid for. And after waiting on alll of them, we also had to wait on Enterprise to clean a car for us, which took probably 20 minutes.
So what should have been an easy and straightforward process, turned into over an hour wait for a car we had reserved weeks ago, thus throwing off other plans we had that day, but... we'll get into that later.
All of this to say: I do recommend getting a rental car if you're traveling to the Cotswolds, because it made the journey so easy and I really can't imagine not having a car up there! But... maybe don't choose Enterprise at Heathrow if you do 😆
Day 1
Because of our Enterprize fiasco, we didn't get a lot done on our first day. We drove from London to Diddly Squat farm shop where we were unable to enter as they close at 4:30 pm. Again, had the car been ready we would have likely made it with over an hour to roam around. But even though we couldn't go in, it was so cool to see the area in person! Such beautiful land! And I definitely recommend stopping by.
After the shop, we got back on the road and headed to Cirencester, where we checked in to our hotel and relaxed a bit before dinner.
For dinner, we ate at the Black Horse Pub, which truly was not the best. Not to bash a business, but no one in my family enjoyed their food (even my dad who will eat anything...😅).
And with that we concluded possibly the longest day of the trip.
Day 2
Luckily, our second day in the Cotswolds was much better than the first! We started our day by driving to Stow-On-The-Wold, where we stopped for some amazing hot chocolate at the New England Coffee House. After some cozy hot drinks, we continued walking around town where we saw "The Porch House," the oldest inn in England and we walked around St. Edward's Church where we saw a beautiful old door (that is said to have inspired JRR Tolkein's hobbit doors)! So cool!
From Stow-On-The-Wold, we made our way to Broadway Tower, where we spent over an hour roaming the beautiful property! There are just fields and fields of gorgeous land (with incredible views of the cutest sheep!) We even went up into the tower, which I highly recommend doing! It's so neat to see all of the levels set up historically! And you can even go to the top where you have an incredible view of the property! So gorgeous!
After our wonderful time, we headed to Gloucester Cathedral (which definitely rivals Broadway Tower for my favorite part of this day). The cathedral was just magnificent! The architecture on the outside was truly breathtaking, but the inside was even better. We made our way in (There is no entry fee but we decided to buy a pamphlet and to leave a donation to support the beautful church!)
The cathedral is the location of several Harry Potter filming locations like: The wall where the first chamber of secrets message is written, where Moaning Myrtle flooded the corridor, Gryffindor common room, and much more! It is definitely a must see for any Potterhead! And while we initially only went here for the aforementioned filming locations, we were pleasantly surprised to have spent just as much time focusing on the beautiful architecture and history of the cathedral! We even had a beautiful and educational conversation with one of the lovely volunteers named John. We had such a lovely time!
After the cathedral, we started heading back towards Cirencester and made our way through Painswick where we walked around the gardens of St. Mary's Church. The church and surrounding yue trees were so beautiful! It felt like something out of Alice In Wonderland! We ended up walking around the town, which literally looks like its frozen in time in some parts. So stunning! If you're passing through the area I definitely recommend stopping by to see the beauty!
Finally, back in Cirencester, we took some time to relax at the hotel before making our way to dinner at "Le Passione."
When I tell you this was the best meal of the entire trip... I am not kidding! My entire family loved this restaurant SO much we went out of our way to eat there again on Day 3! The carbonara was phenomenal and so was the chocolate souffle! I absolutely recommend eating here if you are anywhere in the area!
Day 3
We woke up early to check out of our hotel and make our way south to Bath. Once in Bath, we un-optimistically made our way to see if the Roman Baths had any openings, which they did not, but we made the most of our trip by walking around the town and down to the stunning riverwalk!
After Bath, we made our way to Lacock! We went to the abbey and oh my gosh! The grounds are stunning! It truly felt like a secret garden. They even had some exhibits. One was a tour of the inside that was still decorated accurately. It was so neat and the volunteers were so informative and friendly! Another opening took you to even older rooms (one of which is a Harry Potter filming location of Prof. Quirells office!).
From the abbey, we made our way to the Stables Cafe and got a small bite to eat before heading into the village. Lacock village is filled with the cutest homes and businesses and... even more Harry Potter filming locations like: Slughorn's home, Lily & James' home, and more! It was such a lovely and beautiful village!
After Lacock, we concluded our wonderful time in the Cotswolds with a quick trip back to Cirencester for another meal at Le Passione and then headed to London for the end of our trip.
Daily Budget
Food - About £45. Unlike everywhere else, we were eating around 2 meals in the Cotswolds, so the budget is about double what I included for the two other places we went, however, the prices were around the same per meal!
Transit - As I said above, we opted to rent a car, so our transportation cost was about £110 per day.
Souvenirs - We didn't purchase any souvenirs while in the Cotswolds, but from looking the prices seem to be pretty reasonable!
Accommodation - Roughly £170 per night.
Misc. - While most things are free entry, there are a few locations where we paid to enter like: Broadway Tower costs £14 to explore the grounds and go up in the tower. Gloucester Cathedral does not have any entry fee, but you can donate, which we did. And Lacock Abbey grounds have an entry fee of £17.
Total - roughly £350 per day.
What I wore
The weather was, once again, beautiful! I wore tank tops and a light pant or jean everyday and really only needed a light jacket when it was cooler in the mornings.
What I Would & Wouldn't Do Again
We absolutely loved most of our time in the Cotswolds, but there were surprisingly a few things we... didn't love. The biggest for me being The King's Head. As mentioned, it wasn't our favorite place we stayed. It's by no means a bad hotel, but I personally wouldn't stay there again. But everything else about our trip was pretty good!