Bibury and the River Coln

The Bibury and River Coln walk is a 4-mile (6.5km) circular route from the river bridge by the Swan in Bibury, one of the Cotswolds National Landscape's Miles Without Stiles walks. It takes about two hours, with one 110m climb through Oxhill Wood and a muddy stretch, and finishes at Arlington Row.

The Swan, the church and Bibury Court

The first kilometre passes the Swan, St Mary's church and Bibury Court before the walk crosses the Coln. The Swan is a coaching inn of the mid to late eighteenth century with early nineteenth-century additions, listed Grade II and now a hotel. The way through the village turns uphill just before St Mary's, a Grade I church with walls of the mid to late eleventh century, enlarged in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries; a small round clerestory window from the first church survives in the south wall of the nave.

The private road down to the river runs alongside Bibury Court, a Grade I house of the late sixteenth century with a large range dated 1633 for Sir Thomas Sackville, whose arms are over the porch. The walk crosses the Coln on a bridge of three oval arches dated 1792, beside Bibury Mill, which is recorded from 1608 and was still grinding corn in 1920. The old millstones are on the climb from the river.

Oxhill Wood, Ash Copse and Akeman Street

All the walk's climbing comes in one go, from the river up through Oxhill Wood to Ash Copse. The 600m along the top of the wood can be muddy. The leaflet points out butterflies and wild flowers in Ash Copse in summer, and says the climbing is soon over once you are through it.

On the track between hedges beyond the copse you cross the line of Akeman Street, the Roman road the leaflet describes as running from London to Cirencester, and our story on the Roman Cotswolds traces it. Nothing of the road shows here, and the walk crosses its line again on the way back.

The dewpond

The dewpond is a small pond hidden behind a mound to the left of the path beyond Coneygar Cottages, and it may be dry. The leaflet says it was dug out long ago to water sheep grazing the high pasture. From there a straight track runs for about 2km, gently down and up, before houses come into view and a grassy path leads down to the village.

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Arlington Row and Rack Isle

The walk ends at Arlington Row, a Grade I terrace of weavers' cottages owned by the National Trust. It was built in the late fourteenth century as a wool store and turned into weavers' cottages in the late seventeenth; the Royal Society of Arts repaired it in 1929, and the Trust restored it in the early 1970s. The cottages are private homes, with no access to them or their gardens. Opposite is Rack Isle, the Trust's water meadow, and the leaflet's last choice is to walk back beside it to the bridge or past the cottages to the river.

Paths, gates and dogs

The paths are unsurfaced and need basic fitness, but there is only one possible stile on the whole loop. The leaflet was last checked by its authors in July 2020, so check the route page before you set off. Underfoot there is a tarmac private road, tracks, woodland paths, meadow and a stretch of pavement by the B4425. The route page lists the walk as stile free, but the leaflet's directions mention a gate or a stone stile into the meadow below Oxhill Wood. Walkers on AllTrails reported deep mud and slippery paths after heavy rain in November 2025, and reported cattle on the loop in 2025 and 2026, once a herd by a gate in May 2026; AllTrails' own route notes say it crosses a sheep pasture and a field that is sometimes grazed. The leaflet gives no rules for dogs; the National Trust asks for dogs on leads on the path in front of Arlington Row and round Rack Isle, which narrows in places. Our guide to the Cotswolds with a dog has more.

Parking, buses and food

Parking is the hard part of a day in Bibury, and the bus is the easier way in. The leaflet says to park by the river near the Swan, but it was last checked in 2020: the village now has no council car park, on-street space is limited and enforced, and Bibury Trout Farm charges for its car park. The 855 (Pulhams) runs roughly hourly from Cirencester through Bibury to Northleach and Bourton-on-the-Water, Monday to Saturday, with no Sunday bus. The leaflet also lists a Swanbrook 853 from Gloucester, Cheltenham and Oxford, but no current timetable we found shows it stopping in Bibury; our page on the Cotswolds without a car has the details. There are toilets near the start. For refreshments, the leaflet names two pubs and the Trout Farm, which has a café and a shop. Eleven Bibury, opposite Arlington Row, is a café open every day from 9am to 5pm.

Other walks from Bibury

Two more loops start in Bibury, and the Coln leads on to longer ones. Bibury, Oxhill Wood and Akeman Street covers much of this ground on a slightly different line, and Bibury and Ablington heads north over the wold and back down the river. Downstream, Coln St Aldwyns and Quenington face each other across the river, and the walk from Quenington to Fairford follows the valley for 5.75 miles. In Cirencester, 6 miles south-west, the walk through Cirencester Park to Pope's Seat is 5 miles on gentle slopes.