Where to stay in the Cotswolds- want a place where we can walk to restaurants

To me, Bibury is worth a couple hours stop at most and not a place to spend 3 days. It is very small. Stow on Wold is in a nice location as is Chipping Campden. I think Stow On Wold is a little larger and may have more choices for restaurants. On our last visit to the Cotswolds we stayed in Stratford Upon Avon at the Arbor hotel.

Bibury, especially Arlington Row, has a beautiful aspect - if you can see past the tour buses - and one hotel restaurant overlooking the river. But other than a small coffee shop there is nothing else.

I had a nice lunch there at the hotel many years ago, with my parents, and enjoyed chatting with the ducks.

But there really is nothing there for one day let alone three.

It doesn't meet your stated requirements.

I've always enjoyed Burford.

Try Winchcombe. Not any where as touristy as Burton on the Water, et al. Can visit Sudeley Castle. Broadway Tower.

Enjoyed meals at The White Hart Inn, and Lion Inn. Also pastries from the bakery.

Loved my drive into the nearby woodlands where I parked and followed a trail to Bela’s Knapp Long Barrow. Ancient burial grounds. Sturdy shoes and watch out for cattle and cow patties

Try the Plaisterer Arms in Winchcombe or The White Heart Inn. I stayed at AirBnB which is no longer available.

We were terribly disappointed by Suddeley Castle when we visited.

Nailsworth is a pretty small town with a lot of places to eat. Very well to do, as is most of the Cotswolds.

What about staying in Bourton-on-Water as a homebase? It looks so cute and seems pretty central.... Any thoughts on using that has a homebase. We'd like somewhere that's convenient to walk to other villages.

@ Wasleys

I went at Christmas. NOT disappointed at all. Then, I’m easily pleased.

OP: use the search box on this Forum ( click on the horizontal bars on the top left) Bourton on the Water is VERY popular so you’ll find the streets very crowded during the day. Much quieter at night. Lastly, this website might be of interest; https://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/en_GB/trails/cotswold-way/

Bourton on the Water is barely a real place. Full of tourist trinket shops and daytripping pensioners. It is pretty but it’s incredibly busy and not somewhere I’d be inclined to return to. I’m not saying you won’t enjoy staying there but it’s just incredibly tourist focussed.

Yo JMP,
I'll try to offer some useful advice here by being as objective as possible. We were in the Cotswolds this past summer and as self-caterers, wanted to base somewhere that had just enough infrastructure yet was not somehow wholly overrun by commercial tourism. Not always an easy task to select such places, in the Cotswolds or elsewhere.

I asked our driver there (Ian 'Cookie' Cook), plus our landlords, for their outlook on which places/restaurants/towns/villages/attractions were irredeemably touristy versus which were favoured by locals, plus what seemed to fit in between. While posing those queries, I pretended to have done no homework.
Bourton on the Water was defined by the above locals as 'pretty but busy' mixed with a dash of "WTF would you go there for when there are numerous other pretty places nearby?" Stowe also came in for similar criticism. We visited neither and thus can't be wholly objective for your post.

Our choice for base was Chipping Campden and it worked a charm. It had its own quotient of touristiness but Brit visitors outnumbered the rest of us by a wide margin: it was the Olympiks/Scuttlebrook week. Several worthy restaurants and cafes and delis and pubs...
Happy to further advise as to what CC might offer for your anniversary. The Cotswolds House is the local splurge and we stayed there for our final night (after I um, misremembered...OK, screwed up our departure date). Their room-with-a-jacuzzi might fit your requirement...

I am done. the CC