A base village for 5 days in & near the Cotswolds

We stayed 4 days in Burton On The Water and did lots of walking touring. We booked with HF Holidays and stayed in a lovely huge manor house in Burton On The Water.

Will you be renting a car or relying on public transportation? Which direction are you coming from and where is your next destination?

The RS guide to Great Britain has a robust chapter on The Cotswolds which will really give you more info than can be suggested here without knowing more about your plans and interests. It says the northern part of the region is the best, with Chipping Campden and Stow-on-the-Wold recommended for charm. Moreton-in-Marsh is the only town with a train station.

Just north of the Cotswolds is Stratford-upon-Avon. It will be full of tourists, but the HoHo bus with live tour guide is very enjoyable and informative. You could book tickets to a play in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Be aware that the leg room in the inexpensive seats is pretty cramped.

To the southeast of the Cotswolds is Blenheim Palace, seat of the Duke of Marlborough and birthplace of Winston Churchill. It gets high marks from those who like to visit stately homes.

Bourton-on-the-Water would make a great base. If you will be renting a car, great!!! But if you aren't you will be able to get a bus in Bourton-on-the-Water to Broadway, Stow-on-the-Stow, Bibury, Lowe Slaughter, Chipping Norton...just to name a few.

Bourbon-on-the-Water

I think you've been drinking too much of that!

We recently got back from two weeks in the U.K. We spent two days and nights in the Cotswolds. We stayed at a lovely air bnb on a farm outside Naunton. Bourton was charming but overrun by tourists and buses by noon ... my favorite village we visited Chipping Campden.

I agree that Bourton on the Water can be overrun with tourists. Whether you have a rental car makes a big difference in how to reply to your query.

We stayed in Chipping Campden in a lovely B&B just outside of the central part of town. It was an easy walk to the pubs, etc. I do recommend having a car to see as many towns as you want. Bourton on the Water was very nice, but heavily touristed.

If you are interested in the B&B information I would be happy to share with you in a private message.

We did a week like that 2 years ago and loved it. We DID have a car. We stayed in the town of Witney, about 12 miles west of Oxford, in the Witney Hotel http://thewitneyhotel.co.uk/ which was lovely, well-rated on TA and in the oldest part of town. The bus service is quite good http://www.carlberry.co.uk/rfnshowl.asp?L1=WIT0030 and offers access to a lot of places. We did take the bus to Oxford to avoid the traffic in town. It was on time and the stop was about a 4 minute walk from the hotel. By car we visited Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Warwick Castle, Great Tew, the Rollright stones.,Castleton House, Bletchley Park, Woburn Abbey, Waddeson Manor. We also drove through lots of the Cotswolds on our way to and from these places. We LOVED this trip, the Witney Hotel and the town of Witney.