Most Americans touring England go to the romantic Cotswolds — rolling hills with quaint villages hidden in its ravines. The area is very popular with English hikers, but it seems that most American visitors barely get out of their cars. Every time I take an actual walk here — even just 30 minutes from any road or trailhead — I’m richly rewarded. Join me for a quiet moment on the Cotswold Way, where the soundtrack for my grand view is sheep pulling their dinner out of the turf. How do you best appreciate the Cotswolds — or any other rambles in Britain?
This is Day 72 of my 100 Days in Europe series. As I research my guidebooks and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences and lessons learned in Vienna, the Alps, the Low Countries, England, and beyond. Find more right here on my travel blog.
As a British Man, I would like to take the time to thank you. You are basically the reason my American girlfriend decided to visit the UK, without you it’s unlikely we would have even met. She’s a huge fan!
reminds me of a walk we did, between Stonehedge and Bath…when we flew home the customs or some authority ask us if we were on a farm,and took all our shoes and scrubed them with a toothbrush(they had the hoof and mouth disease in England at that time.
While the Cotswolds lovely, and I rode through there on my last visit to the UK in 2009, I don’t think I’ll be visiting there on my next visit. It’s against my better judgment to spend any of my hard-earned money on areas of the UK that voted for Brexit. I’ll stick to London and its environs.
Thanks for the video! This looks like the perfect antidote to the hustle and bustle of city sightseeing. Love walking in the country.
Shirley and I had a wonderful tour of the Cotswold and the Lake District with Roy and your organization a few years ago. This post is about sheep and the Cotswolds…but I wanted to say how disappointed I was to learn that the heritage sheep showcase in the Lake District, an interesting part of your tour in those days, did not prove to remain economically viable. Well…I still love sheep!
In 2011 my wife and I walked the northern portion of the Cotswold Way from Winchcombe to Chipping Campden as part of a circular walk that included Moreton-in-Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold, Bourton-on-Water, Guiting Power, and many other towns in between. This spring we finished the Cotswold Way by walking from Winchcombe to Bath. I love the Rick Steves tours, but hiking the Cotswold Way really is one of our all-time favorites. I envy you being over there now.
Go North, young man, where the Mountains are named, and beloved. Wild Celtic names like Blencathra, and Helvellyn. Go up where Wordsworth and Wainwright went, to appreciate the country, then came down to enrich the culture for us all.
The richness of the entire connected English footpath system, local ones and long distance, is what gives me a fundamental feeling of freedom. I’ll be leaving the divided and conquered walled gardens of Maryland soon to regain that feeling of freedom.