One the of many wonderful things about staying at Bibury Farm Barns (see previous travel post for further details) was that you can walk to the beautiful village of Bibury.

This is probably the most famous village in the Cotswolds as it is so quintessentially English; with honey-coloured Cotswold stone houses and a beautiful river running through it, you feel like you are immersed in an early 19th century oil painting.

The downside is the high number of tourists, so if you are going to go, it’s best to go early morning or last thing. Plus, it goes without saying; please respect the people that live there. Spend some money in the local pubs or shop, take away your rubbish, social distance as best you can and don’t park in front of people’s houses.

Probably the most well-known part of Bibury is the street which is owned by the National Trust which is made up of a row of tiny terraced cottages with a stream running alongside it.

The trout-filled Coln River that runs through it, is as picturesque as the rest of the village:

…and The Swann hotel is the icing on the cake.

Another nice way to see a bit more of the area is to walk from Coln St Aldwyns along the river to Bibury. We did this on a very wet day but it was still beautiful.

We even found a hollowed-out tree to hide in!

It goes without saying, that I am a huge fan of the Cotswolds and it is one of my favourite areas of the U.K. to visit.

The food is also fantastic here. There are so many wonderful places to eat and lovely shops selling local produce. One of our favourite finds was Upton Firehouse. This is a no-frills affair (basically an agricultural barn with the biggest barbecue at one end) but the food is incredible:

They specialise in barbecue and smoked meats and fish but also have more delicate things on the menu:

…and they also do pizza nights. (They are currently doing takeaways and once they reopen after lockdown, I highly recommend booking in advance.)

They also have a really lovely farm shop where you can buy their smoked fish and other local produce alongside some equally mouthwatering French products.

Another place we ate and loved was The Stump near Cirencester. They have a great Covid-secure system in place and delivered our takeaway pizzas to our car. They do amazing gluten-free pizzas (they were all so good I didn’t have time or the inclination to photograph them, sorry).

And lastly, not to be missed in this area is the magical Sezincote House which I’ll do a separate post on as I went a bit photo-crazy.

I will definitely return time-after-time to the Cotswolds; there are so many beautiful villages and hidden gems to discover. If you have any Cotswolds gems to share, do let me know.

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