Hello! My husband and I are spending three nights in the Cotswolds in August. We are trying to decide where to stay. According to Rick's book, Stow-on-the-Wold seems like a better base for walking, but Chipping Campden seems cuter. Is Stow-on-the-Wold far superior to Chipping Campden as a jumping off point for walking?
Thanks for your replies!
How are you traveling? Will you have a car?
Oh I don't know. Stow allows you to get to the Slaughters, Bourton-on-the-Water and points beyond. Chipping Campden allows you to get to Broadway, Hidcote Manor Gardens, Kiftsgate, and many small villages nearby.
It is all what you want to see, how far and how hard you want to walk or hike, what floats your boat. They are both good, surrounded by beautiful countryside.
One thing to consider, do you prefer to start by walking up a hill or end that way? Stow is at the top of a hill (the proverb I grew up with living nearby was, "Stow-on-the-Wold, where the wind blows cold", so at the end of your walk you will be walking uphill if you do a loop.
Consider staying at the Volunteer Inn in Chipping Campden. Great B&B with nice pub and Indian restaurant.
Check out the book: Back Roads of Britain
Chipping Campden is a much better place to stay, The Volunteer Inn is a great place to stay. Also, the Cotswold Way starts in Chipping Campden, you could hike from there to Broadway, you will see the most beautiful scenery. It’s a six mile hike to Broadway, or go a little farther.
Couldn’t have said it better Nigel. I like all three towns. To me Bourton on Water is the most touristy of the three, but does have the stream running through it. The others are about the same although I think Stow on Wold is a little larger. If you go there, there is a door on the backside of St Edwards Parish that is framed by trees. Makes for a nice photo.
I’m writing sitting in the lobby of the Noel Arms Hotel in Chipping Camden. We got up this morning with the idea of doing a nice hike from chipping camden, and ended up just walking to the TI, which is just a few doors down. They sold us a nice map of the area for 3 pounds and we ended up walking the first 5+ miles of the Cotswold Way hiking trail ending our journey in Broadway, where we had lunch, an ice cream, and went to the TI there where a nice woman at the TI called us a cab for the return journey. Highly recommend this hike, which on a perfect day like today yielded views for 30 miles.
I also highly recommend getting the map and having a basic understanding of how to orient yourself to north, south, east, west, and have an understanding that the top of the map usually is north before you walk it. I ended up directing a few other tourists who had gotten twisted around.
Bob
epritch, it would help us to know how much walking you plan to do. My husband and I recently walked from Chipping Campden to Broadway, where we spent the night, then from Broadway to Stanton (with a detour to Snowshill). We also did a circular walk out of Chipping Campden to Dover Hill. There are all sorts of public footpaths running through the area. We travelled around between Oxford and Bath using trains, buses, taxis, and, of course, walking.
Maybe you could do some reading about the different villages in the Cotswolds. We bought a book we really liked called "Cotswold Way" by Trailblazer Publications. Might help you narrow down where you want to go.
Here is a map of the area with CC near the top & Stow-on-the-Wold near the bottom. (I have switched on traffic flows which will be live at the time you click the link). Zoom down on each place and use street view to have a look around. You may like to also have a look oil Streetview at Bourton-on-the-Water, Lower Slaughter and Broadway. Several main roads converge on Stow-on-the-Wold whilst CC is down some backroads. I would favour CC out of the two.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.983188,-1.7933879,17360m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e1
You could look into https://www.contours.co.uk/cotswold-round-trail.
I prefer a round trip or point-to-point rather than a central lodging and day trips (YMMW) and if you use a planning company you don't have to worry about lodging or luggage. We have used ContoursWalkingHolidays twice and will definitely do it again.
We did several one day hikes from CC as a base. Wonderful. Hidcote and Kiftsgate gardens made a great day ‘loop’ outing.
Also consider using the local bus to allow for longer one way hikes. We used it to great benefit.
