The Cotswold Villages

The Cotswold villages are all pretty much of a candy box genre , and they rightly draw a great number of visitors . It's hard to pick a loser , but the real key to a visit is to have a car . The area is spread out , but distance between the well known villages is relatively short , and more complex by limited bus transport . There are many choices here , a few possibilities might be Chipping Campden , Stow on the Wold , Bourton on the Water ( a bit busier , but charming , nonetheless ) Again , whether or not you will have a car would greatly inform from where you base .

Steven has mentioned three good choices. Chipping Campden is the quietest of the three.
Stow-On-The-Wold has a little more going on, I mean more pubs with good food.
The busiest of the three is definitely Bourton-On-The-Water, with the Windrush River (small like a stream) running through the center of town. Bourton has the most shops, restaurants, pubs, and hotels of the three. And a great little bakery. In the summer, it also has the most tourists. But since you are going in September, you will not see the huge tourist crowds that are present in the summer.
Any one of the three would be an excellent choice as a base in which to stay.

Thanks for the responses so far. We will have a car so we will hopefully be able to enjoy as many of the villages as possible.

On our last trip we were in Bourton-on-the-Water in September and it wasn't crowded at all.

on our last trip we stayed at Broadway and travelled to the other villages mentioned. it was a good base with a car. we stayed at a B&B in the town, so walking around for meals etc was good.

A vote for Painswick from me! Also we stayed for a week at Slad and Lower Slaughter which were a) tiny and b) quiet! I recall - although it's been a while - Minchinhampton being rather nice too.

Have a great trip!

Ian

There's a nice B&B in Painswick, St.Annes B&B.

I really liked Painswick too, but one year we stayed in a really little place called Kingham. We used it as base for a couplethree days. A car is a must here because the two pubs, a shop, and a larger hotel are about all there is...besides a couple of B&B's. But an evening walk around this quiet little village was wonderful.

Winchcombe with its own castle, Sudeley Castle, and Belas Knapp, a prehistoric burial mound.

Guiting Power, gorgeous.

Broadway for its tower, Fish Hill, and the village.

Stanton and Stanway.

too many to mention, really.

I toured a number of the Cotswolds villages but quite enjoyed staying in Stow-On-The-Wold. It was large enough to have a few activities for the evenings and good accommodation choices (I stayed at the Old Stocks Hotel, which has a small car park at the back). The village had some nice shops also.

Chipping Campden--The Volunteer Inn. On the High Street.
or Noel Arms Hotel. www.noelarmshotel.com

Stow-On-The-Wold:
Stow Lodge, www.stowlodge.com
Eating: The Queen's Head Pub (Has a painting of Queen Elizabeth I on the pub sign.)
Great food. We ate lunch there last May. Be prepared; some customers standing at the bar in front room
will have their dog with them. Continue walking to the back room. They do have servers to come take your order at the table.

Bourton-On-The-Water: Chester House Hotel. http://www.chesterhousehotel.com/
Cute hotel on a side street, away from any crowds looking at the shops on the main street.
Quiet. Good comfy beds. Good breakfast.
L'Anatra Italian Cafe inside the hotel.
Good for dinner.

Another vote for Bourton-on-the-Water, It was accessible by bus from the train station in Moreton-in-Marsh. We had a delightful visit.