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    Insight Guides Great Breaks Cotswolds (Travel Guide eBook)
    Insight Guides Great Breaks Cotswolds (Travel Guide eBook)
    Insight Guides Great Breaks Cotswolds (Travel Guide eBook)
    Ebook458 pages2 hours

    Insight Guides Great Breaks Cotswolds (Travel Guide eBook)

    By Insight Guides

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    About this ebook

    Insight Guides Great Breaks: pocket-sized books to inspire your on-foot exploration of the best of the British Isles.

    Practical, pocket-sized and packed with inspirational insider information, this will make the ideal on-the-move companion to your trip to the Cotswolds
    Features eight detailed walking tour itineraries, including Gloucester and the Vale of Berkeley, Stroud and the Mill Valleys, and Around Stow-on-the-Wold
    Overview section features concise insider information covering everything from landscape and location, to history and culinary highlights
    Top Ten section takes you to the heart of your destination, from Chipping Campden to Sudeley Castle
    Rainy Day recommendations offer plenty of options, whatever the weather
    Includes an innovative extra that's unique in the market - all Insight Great Breaks Guides come with a free eBook
    Invaluable itinerary maps and practical Travel Tips section ensure effortless exploration
    Inspirational colour photography throughout

    About Insight Guides: Insight Guides has over 40 years' experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce around 400 full-colour print guide books and maps as well as picture-packed eBooks and apps to meet different travellers' needs. Insight Guides' unique combination of beautiful travel photography and focus on history and culture together create a unique visual reference and planning tool to inspire your next adventure.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherInsight Guides
    Release dateJun 1, 2018
    ISBN9781786719652
    Insight Guides Great Breaks Cotswolds (Travel Guide eBook)
    Author

    Insight Guides

    Pictorial travel guide to Arizona & the Grand Canyon with a free eBook provides all you need for every step of your journey. With in-depth features on culture and history, stunning colour photography and handy maps, it’s perfect for inspiration and finding out when to go to Arizona & the Grand Canyon and what to see in Arizona & the Grand Canyon. 

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      Book preview

      Insight Guides Great Breaks Cotswolds (Travel Guide eBook) - Insight Guides

      How To Use This E-Book

      This Great Break has been produced by the editors of Insight Guides, whose books have set the standard for visual travel guides since 1970. With ­top-­quality photography and authoritative recommendations, these guidebooks bring you the very best routes and itineraries in the world’s most exciting destinations.

      Walks and Tours

      The clearly laid-out walks and tours in this book feature options for walking or using public transport wherever possible. The emphasis is on family fun, wholesome outdoorsey activities, local festivals, and food and drink. There are loads of great holiday ideas: kids’ stuff, best beaches, historic pubs, literary connections, unique shops, and – crucially with our Great British weather – what to do on a rainy day.

      We recommend reading the whole of a route before setting out. This should help you to familiarise yourself with it and enable you to plan where to stop for refreshments – options are shown in the ‘Eating Out’ box at the end of each tour.

      Introduction

      The routes are set in context by this introductory section, giving an overview of the destination to set the scene, plus background information on food and drink.

      Directory

      Also supporting the walks and tours is a Travel Tips section, with a clearly organised A–Z of practical information. There is a comprehensive round up of sports and activities in the destination, recommendations for themed holidays, plus our pick of the best places to stay.

      Getting around the e-book

      In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

      Maps

      All key attractions and sights mentioned in the text are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map] just tap this to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

      Images

      You’ll find lots of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of the destination. Simply double-tap on an image to see it full-screen.

      About Insight Guides

      Insight Guides have more than 40 years’ experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce 400 full-colour titles, in both print and digital form, covering more than 200 destinations across the globe, in a variety of formats to meet your different needs.

      Insight Guides are written by local authors, whose expertise is evident in the extensive historical and cultural background features. Each destination is carefully researched by regional experts to ensure our guides provide the very latest information. All the reviews in Insight Guides are independent; we strive to maintain an impartial view. Our reviews are carefully selected to guide you to the best places to eat, go out and shop, so you can be confident that when we say a place is special, we really mean it.

      © 2018 Apa Digital (CH) AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd

      Table of Contents

      Cotswolds’s Top 10

      Overview: Cotswolds’ Rugged Harmony

      Location and topography

      ECONOMY

      THE FUTURE OF THE COTSWOLDS

      Food and Drink

      WHAT TO EXPECT

      LOCAL PRODUCE

      DAIRY PRODUCTS

      BEER, WINE AND SOFT DRINKS

      Tour 1: Gloucester and the Vale of Berkeley

      BERKELEY

      Detour for the Children

      Dr Jenner’s House

      RIVERS AND CANALS

      Sharpness Detour

      Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre

      Frampton-on-Severn

      Nature Detour

      Saul Junction

      HARDWICKE COURT

      GLOUCESTER

      Historic Waterfront

      Westgate

      The Cathedral

      City Centre

      Tour 2: South Cotswolds

      TETBURY

      WESTONBIRT, THE NATIONAL ARBORETUM

      DIDMARTON

      THE BADMINTONS

      THE SODBURYS

      HIDDEN HAMLETS

      FORGOTTEN VALLEYS

      WOTTON-UNDER-EDGE

      DURSLEY AND THE SECRET VALLEY

      OWLPEN MANOR

      ANCIENT SIGHTS

      WOODCHESTER PARK AND MANSION

      BACK TO TETBURY

      Feature: Architecture

      Tour 3: Stroud and the Mill Valleys

      STROUD

      THE NAILSWORTH VALLEY

      Minchinhampton

      Avening

      THE GOLDEN VALLEY

      Canal Path Walk

      Sapperton

      Bisley

      THE SLAD VALLEY

      THE PAINSWICK VALLEY

      The Gardens

      Viewpoints

      RETURNING TO STROUD

      The Stanleys

      Selsley Church

      Tour 4: Cirencester to the Churn Valley

      CIRENCESTER

      The museum and the church

      Cirencester Park

      THE DUNT VALLEY

      THE UPPER FROME VALLEY

      PRINKNASH ABBEY

      GREAT WITCOMBE VILLA

      COUNTRY PARKS

      CHURN VALLEY

      Villages and Churches

      North Cerney to Baunton

      Feature: Conservation

      Tour 5: Cheltenham and the Cotswold Escarpment

      CHELTENHAM

      Museums and Galleries

      Taking the Waters

      THE COTSWOLD ESCARPMENT

      Winchcombe

      Sudeley Castle

      Hailes Abbey

      Stanway and Stanton

      SNOWSHILL MANOR

      BROADWAY

      Broadway Village

      EVESHAM

      TEWKESBURY

      Tour 6: Towns and Gardens around the North Cotswolds

      STRATFORD-UPON-AVON

      Shakespeare’s Birthplace

      Harvard House

      Tudor World Experience

      Nash’s House and New Place

      Hall’s Croft

      Royal Shakespeare Company

      Butterfly Farm

      AROUND STRATFORD

      NORTH COTSWOLDS

      Beautiful Gardens

      CHIPPING CAMPDEN

      Historic Buildings

      Craft Shopping

      View Over Campden and Beyond

      VILLAGES AND GARDENS

      Broad Campden and Blockley

      Bourton-on-the-Hill

      MORE NOTABLE COTSWOLD GARDENS

      Sezincote

      Batsford Arboretum

      MORETON-IN-MARSH

      Feature: Morris Dancing

      Tour 7: Around Stow-on-the-Wold

      CHIPPING NORTON AND AROUND

      Rollright Stones

      Chastleton House

      STOW-ON-THE-WOLD

      PERFECT COTSWOLD VILLAGES

      The Slaughters

      The Guitings

      COTSWOLD FARM PARK

      BOURTON-ON-THE-WATER

      CHURCHES AND VILLAGES

      Notgrove and Turkdean

      Hampnett

      Northleach

      CHEDWORTH

      Tour 8: The Coln and Windrush Valleys

      VILLAGES AND THEIR CHURCHES

      Quenington

      Coln St Aldwyns

      Hatherop

      Fairford

      LECHLADE

      KELMSCOTT

      REMOTE VILLAGES

      Southrop

      Eastleach

      WEAVERS AND WILDLIFE

      Cotswold Woollen Weavers

      Cotswold Wildlife Park

      BURFORD

      WINDRUSH VALLEY

      The Barringtons

      Estate Village

      COLN VALLEY

      Bibury

      Arlington Mill and Trout Farm

      Barnsley

      Active Pursuits

      CHILDREN

      Cycling

      The Bike Works

      Cotswold Country Cycles

      Hartwells Cycle Hire

      Stratford Bike Hire

      Golf

      Cleeve Hill

      Cotswold Edge

      Minchinhampton

      Painswick

      Horse Riding

      Barton End Equestrian Centre

      Bourton Vale Equestrian Centre

      Brian Sinnett – Hall Place Stables

      Walking

      Gliding and Microlighting

      Bristol and Gloucestershire Gliding Club

      Kemble Flying Club

      Fishing

      Bibury Trout Farm

      Lechlade and Bushyleaze Trout Fishery

      Water Sports

      Cotswold Water Park

      South Cerney Outdoor Education Centre

      Swimming

      Cotswold Leisure – Cirencester

      Themed Holidays

      ARTS AND CRAFTS

      Kite Studios

      New Brewery Arts

      Stanton Guildhouse

      CHILDREN

      COOKING

      The Cookery School at Thyme

      The Foodworks Cookery School

      The Gables School of Cookery

      SPAS, YOGA AND WELLBEING

      Spas

      Calcot Manor

      Cowley Manor

      Yoga and Wellbeing

      Holycombe

      BOATING HOLIDAYS

      CONSERVATION

      Practical Information

      GETTING THERE

      By air

      By car

      By coach

      By train

      GETTING AROUND

      Public transport

      By car

      By bike

      By taxi

      GOING GREEN

      FACTS FOR THE VISITOR

      Visitors with disabilities

      Emergencies

      Guided tours

      Bancroft Cruises

      Blue Badge Guided Tours

      Cotswold and Gloucestershire Tourist Guides

      Cotswold Guided Tours

      Gloucester Civic Trust

      Opening hours

      Tourist information

      Useful websites:

      Entertainment

      Cinemas

      Cineworld

      Stratford Picturehouse

      Music and Theatre

      The Bacon Theatre

      Cheltenham Playhouse

      Cheltenham Town Hall and Pitville Pump Room

      Everyman Theatre

      Gloucester Guidhall

      Kings Theatre

      Royal Shakespeare Company

      Accommodation

      SOUTH COTSWOLDS

      NORTH COTSWOLDS

      ACCOMMODATION WEBSITES

      Cotswolds’s Top 10

      Here are just some of the highlights of this quintessentially English area of rural Britain, which is peppered with stone villages tucked into lush river valleys and graced with elegant, historic towns

      Gloucester. Renowned for its sublime cathedral, other highlights include a fascinating waterways museum and historic docks. For more information, click here.

      Lydia Evans/Apa Publications

      Cheltenham. This town, which is noted for its specialist shopping, proudly shows off its Regency splendour, best seen in the Prom. For more information, click here.

      Tony Halliday/Apa Publications

      Westonbirt, The National Arboretum. The stunning arboretum was planted in the 19th century and is a celebration of trees from around the world. For more information, click here.

      Tony Halliday/Apa Publications

      Cirencester. Roman settlement meets 21st-century bustling market town. Visit the museum of Roman antiquities and then hit the speciality shops. For more information, click here.

      Lydia Evans/Apa Publications

      Sudeley Castle. A romantic setting for hundreds of years of history, Sudeley Castle is also renowned for its award-winning gardens. For more information, click here.

      Tony Halliday/Apa Publications

      Chipping Campden. This is one of the most beautiful of the Cotswold small towns, with a totally unspoilt high street. For more information, click here.

      Lydia Evans/Apa Publications

      Snowshill Manor. All you could wish for from a typical Cotswold-stone manor house, surrounded by gardens inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement. For more information, click here.

      Tony Halliday/Apa Publications

      The Cotswold Way. Stretching 102 miles (164km) along the Cotswold escarpment, this long-distance footpath can be joined at several points along the way. For more information, click here.

      Tony Halliday/Apa Publications

      Stratford-upon-Avon. For lovers of all things Shakespearean, the town is a shrine to the immortal bard. For more information, click here.

      iStock

      The Slaughters. These two idyllic Cotswold villages are almost too beautiful to be true, pure architectural and rural bliss. For more information, click here.

      Tony Halliday/Apa Publications

      Overview: Cotswolds’ Rugged Harmony

      To many people, the Cotswolds is the essence of England, a place where they would love to live – if not immediately, then certainly when they retire

      Here in the Cotswolds the hills are high and wild, but rarely bleak, and simple stone cottages combine with church, manor house and tithe barn to create a picture of timeless beauty. Stone here is plentiful and it is this stone that gives the region its character, creating a harmonious landscape of fields bounded by drystone walls, churches with majestic towers, opulent town houses, stately homes and humble cottages with lichen-patched walls beneath steeply pitched roofs of limestone tile.

      An aerial view of Painswick village on a summer’s day.

      iStock

      Cotswolds

      Location and topography

      Stone also defines the boundaries of the Cotswolds. The region’s creamy white oolitic limestone constitutes a distinctive geological feature. The Cotswold Hills were formed from limestone created by the accumulation of shelly debris beneath the warm, shallow Midlands Sea that covered much of west-central England in ancient geological times. This thick compressed raft of calcium carbonate was later thrust up by tectonic pressure to create a tilted sheet running southwest to northeast.

      Cotswold stone houses in Guiting Power.

      Tony Halliday/Apa Publications

      To the north, west and south this sheet forms a cliff-like escarpment running from Mickleton, near Stratford-upon-Avon, southwards to Wotton-under-Edge, near Bath. Walkers can follow the length of the escarpment along the Cotswold Way, a long-distance footpath designated in 1970. Its highest point, on Cleeve Hill, north of Cheltenham, rises to 1,040ft (317 metres). The edge is littered with prehistoric hillforts, burial mounds and the remains of ancient quarrying. The limestone grassland that tops these hills is rich in wild flowers, including rare orchids, which are festooned with butterflies.

      Off the main roads you will descend into wooded valleys with houses clustered around village greens, ancient churches and welcoming pubs. Many of the settlements in the Cotswolds are tucked into hidden hollows and valleys where they are invisible to anyone travelling on the high roads. The lanes here are narrow and twisty, often no more than a farm track, and it is advisable to have a detailed map to hand.

      The prettiest Cotswold villages lie along the valleys of the Churn, Coln and Leach, the Eye, the Dikler and the Ampney Brook, the Windrush, the Frome and the many other brooks and streams that spring up in these hills to drain eventually into the Thames, Severn and Avon rivers. Many of these are misfit valleys (valleys that are very wide in proportion to the

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