A Drizzly Day in the Cotswolds

May 20, 2025

One nice thing about Cotswolds towns is that they're very small, so if you're not in a leisurely mood where you want to sit in a little cafe and have a cream tea and then while away the hours in shops, you can see a lot in one day. Since there are too many towns in the Cotswolds for me to feel leisurely in any way, we tried to knock out as many as possible.

Our first early-morning stop was Bourton-on-the-Water, known as the Venice of England and located on the River Windthrush. We had tried to visit Bourton on our first day in the Cotswolds, and it was insanely packed--like Disney World level crowds (because it was a bank holiday for Easter and England's spring break). We kept on driving and resolved to come back another day, arriving at around 9 am to ensure we beat any crowds (parking is very limited in these towns).

She was having fun, I promise

Since it was so early, most things were closed, and in Bourton there actually is a lot to do--there's a huge bird sanctuary/zoo, a car museum, a nearby wildlife park, and a good number of shops and restaurants. Having missed all of those things, I would like to go back and see them (especially if we can go when Elowen is still young, since Birdland looks amazing).

It was hard not to buy this ceramic cat, guys

That being said, it was nice to walk around in the early morning drizzle and have the town mostly to ourselves, as shopkeepers slowly opened their doors and restaurants started putting out their tables. Elowen made me nervous on the bridges, but she had fun and the water wasn't very deep anyway.

From Bourton we drove to Stow-on-the-Wold, site of a market since 1330 and important for trade as several roads converged there. Livestock and wool were especially important, and most of the buildings around the main square where trade was held date from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Shops were open by the time we got to Stow, so we rambled around and enjoyed a cheese shop, a little bookstore with the fluffiest dog ever, and a cream tea to tide me over (a cream tea is just tea, scones, clotted cream, and jam). We also visited St. Edward's church, built between the 11th and 15 centuries. One set of its doors are framed by ancient Yew trees, and the sight allegedly inspired Tolkein's Doors of Dorin from The Lord of the Rings.

Elowen, having never been in a church she remembers, gasped "wow the church is BEAUTIFUL" once we were inside.

My cream tea at the Old Bakery Tearoom--the owner was also our waiter and told us they make everything fresh in-house.

For lunch, we ate at The Porch House, which is reputed to be England's oldest pub and was built in 975. While people tend to look down on British food as flavorless and just not good, I disagree--especially in the Cotswolds. Most of the places we ate at took pride in local ingredients and fun twists on traditional recipes, and the Porch House was no exception.

I started with an Nduja flatbread with blue cheese and prosciutto, and then had a chicken, mushroom, and roast garlic pie. I also ate part of Taylor's peri-marinated half chicken. I was tempted by the blue cheese panna cotta with spiced saffron and poached pears, but a girl can only eat so much no matter how determined she is.

And finally, we stopped at The Flapjackery, because I saw flapjacks on a travel show and wanted to try one. They aren't American pancakes, but rather oat bars made with brown sugar and syrup. The store had so many flavors, but I limited myself to a clotted cream one because I wasn't sure what other eating lay in store for me.

Then, stuffed but never defeated, we drove to Lower Slaughter. The main road was under construction, making already limited parking almost impossible, so we had a drink at the local pub to get a spot without being towed and then positively zipped through the town itself. Luckily, it's a very small town and we had walked it and gotten our pictures in about 10 minutes (it was also a filming location for the 2020 movie Emma, which of course watched as soon as I got home to see what I could recognize).

To me, Lower Slaughter was the prettiest town, with its idyllic little houses along the water and the mill. You can also walk from Lower Slaughter to Upper Slaughter (it's about a mile), and I am still SO SAD we didn't do it; I think Elowen could have made it, but then we'd have had to walk back, which was the real issue. Hopefully when she's older and hardier we can take that walk (or any walk--there are footpaths all through the Cotswolds and it's one of the top things to do). I deeply want to stroll through fields and stands of leafy trees and past sheep and little honey-colored houses.

We ended our day in Upper Slaughter, which was lovely like all of the towns but actually has little to do except the walk back down to Lower Slaughter; Taylor took a call in the graveyard while Elowen frolicked, and then we headed back to the hotel. We also had (another) cream tea at a hotel called Lords of the Manor, because it as too lovely not to go inside.