I'm planning a June visit to England and will be able to spend one full day touring the Cotswolds. We will arrive in Bath on day one. On day two I thought we would do a leisurely drive through the Cotswolds stopping at various towns along the way including lunch and dinner. We will have much longer days in June which can extend the time we have to tour. We will return to Bath late in the day. While we plan on making a loop through the area, I'd like to make sure that I see most of the great spots (and I'm sure there are many). I'd appreciate receiving your opinion on which towns you think are the best. Recommendations for lunch and dinner are also appreciated. Many Thanks for your insight. Tom
I love the Cotswolds and spent many years there as a child. I have my favourites but they are, to a degree the same as Rick Steves has outlined in his guidebook. I'm afraid I'm a bit too lazy today to type them all in when it is so easy to read the chapter in the book. My suggestion is to look in the book. Its pretty comprehensive and would answer your questions... If you have specific questions about places or methods fire away.
You'll spend about an hour and a half driving from Bath to Stow-on-the-Wold and that much getting back. I don't know if you plan on touring Blenheim Place but that's worth four hours by itself. You'll spend a couple of hours walking through Stow and Chipping Campden plus a few hours driving "the loop." Yes, you can drive through the Cotswolds but you'll be rushed. I agree with the previous post to just read Rick's book. Plan your time carefully. You'll get to see the Cotswolds but you won't get the experience of it.
Here is a link for a driving tour of the Cotswolds. http://www.cotswolds.info/romantic-roads/broadway-to-broadway.shtml
This site has tons of helpful information for planning a trip to this area.
Thanks to All, I have read Rick's book (several times). I just thought getting other opinions would be helpful as I have found that Rick is usually right but not necessarily all the time (in my opinion). That said, it looks like Rick's ideas are consistent with you and I'll go with that Debra, thanks for the website! Tom