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Bourton-on-the-Water
The River Windrush runs shallow through the middle of the village under a run of low stone bridges. The county council puts visitors at around 10,000 a day at peak times, so arrive before ten.
- Nearest station
- Moreton-in-Marsh, then the 801 bus, about half an hour
- Parking
- Rissington Road car park (GL54 2BN), run by the district council: free before 10am, then £4.40 for 2 hours or £10.60 for 10 hours, card or PayByPhone only
- Best time
- Before 10am, when the car park is free; or a weekday in term time
- When it's busy
- Summer weekends and bank holidays; the county council puts visitors at around 10,000 a day at peak times
- Toilets
- Rissington Road car park (8am to 8pm in summer, 8am to 6pm in winter) and the Church Rooms (8am to 6pm), 50p, both with accessible toilet and baby change
- Dogs
- On a short lead at Birdland and the Dragonfly Maze; on a short lead (2 metres or less) at Greystones Farm from March to July; only service dogs in the Model Village
About Bourton-on-the-Water
Bourton-on-the-Water is a large village on the River Windrush, a few miles south of Stow-on-the-Wold, and the river is the reason to come. It runs wide and shallow down the middle of the village between broad greens, under a series of low stone bridges. The county council puts visitors at around 10,000 a day at peak times, so the hour you arrive matters more than the day.
The river and its bridges
Four of the bridges over the Windrush are listed Grade II. The earliest dated of the four is the Narrow Bridge on the High Street, built in 1756. Payne's Bridge was rebuilt in 1776, the Big Bridge is probably also eighteenth century, and the Victoria Street bridge came in 1911. By tradition Bourton Rovers play a football match in the river itself on the August bank holiday Monday; we found no notice of it for 2026, so check locally before you plan a day round it. On Riverside, the Kingsbridge straddles the Windrush, with a beer garden whose decking overlooks the river and the green, and food from noon to 8pm every day, and the Duke of Wellington on Sherborne Street serves food from noon to 9pm every day.
The Model Village and Birdland
In the garden of the Old New Inn is the Model Village, a one-ninth scale copy of Bourton as it was in the 1930s, which the landlord built in 1936. It was recognised as Grade II listed in its own right in 2013. It takes cards only, opens 10am to 5.30pm in summer time and 10am to 3.30pm in winter, and disabled visitors go in free through a side gate.
Birdland, the bird park, was open daily from 10am to 4pm when we checked in October 2026, with last entry at 3pm, and closes only on 24 and 25 December. In 2026 an adult ticket was £14.95 at the gate or £13.95 online, and dogs are allowed on a short lead. Our Cotswolds weekend with children gives a Saturday afternoon to both, after the Cotswold Farm Park. In the village, the Cotswold Motoring Museum fills an old watermill on the Windrush, the Dragonfly Maze on Rissington Road hides a golden dragonfly at the centre of a yew maze, and the Cotswold Perfumery on Victoria Street runs one-day perfume-making courses.
St Lawrence's and Salmonsbury
St Lawrence's church kept its fourteenth-century chancel when William Marshall rebuilt the rest in 1784. The tower, with its lead dome, dates from that rebuilding, and T. G. Jackson remodelled the nave in 1891.
East of the village, between the Windrush and the Dikler, is Salmonsbury Camp, an Iron Age enclosure of about 23 hectares. It lies inside Greystones Farm, a Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust reserve about five minutes' walk from the village. Its trails are level, without stiles, and the path from the farmyard to the replica Iron Age roundhouse takes wheelchairs and pushchairs; the meadows walk closes when the ground is wet. There is no car park at the farm.
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Walks from Bourton
The best short walk is to Lower Slaughter, about a mile and a half on the Wardens' Way, crossing the A429 at the traffic lights and then mostly across fields. Our circular walk takes in Upper Slaughter as well, out on bridleways and home down the River Eye through Lower Slaughter, 6 miles (9.7km) with a few stiles. For a day or more, the Wardens' Way runs from Bourton to Winchcombe by the Slaughters, Naunton and Guiting Power, and the Windrush Way comes back by a different line, so the two make a loop. Our short walks in the Cotswolds include the Salmonsbury loop.
When to come
Early. Before 10am the car park is free, the river is quiet and the light is low across the water. Summer weekends and bank holidays are the busiest. The village switches on its Christmas lights on Friday 27 November 2026 at 5.30pm, and in past years a Christmas tree has stood in the middle of the river. Staying the night lets you see it then: see where to stay in Bourton-on-the-Water. That is when our one-day trip begins, at 8.30am, and two days in the North Cotswolds comes down from Stow by 10am. Our guide to Christmas in the Cotswolds has the rest of the season. The Cotswolds in August has the rest of the busiest month.
Last verified 1 November 2026 by our editors
Part of
The North Cotswolds
The high wolds between Chipping Campden and Bourton-on-the-Water: the Fosse Way towns, the Windrush villages, the Slaughters and the escarpment at Broadway.
Things to do in Bourton-on-the-Water
Wildlife and nature · Bourton-on-the-Water
Birdland Park and Gardens
A bird park on the Windrush at Bourton-on-the-Water since 1957, with what it calls England's only breeding King Penguins, flamingos, pelicans and a nature reserve.
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The Model Village, Bourton-on-the-Water
Family days out · Bourton-on-the-Water
A one-ninth scale model of Bourton-on-the-Water as it was in the 1930s, itself listed Grade II, in the garden of the Old New Inn.
Family-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
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Cotswold Motoring Museum
Museums and galleries · Bourton-on-the-Water
A museum of twentieth-century motoring and toys in an eighteenth-century watermill on the Windrush in Bourton-on-the-Water, with seven galleries, over 800 enamel signs and Brum from the children's television series.
Family-friendly · Rainy days · Dog-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
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The Dragonfly Maze
Family days out · Bourton-on-the-Water
A yew hedge maze on Rissington Road in Bourton-on-the-Water, with 14 clues to a rebus and a golden dragonfly at the centre designed by Kit Williams.
Family-friendly · Dog-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Where to stay in Bourton-on-the-Water
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The Dial House
Hotel · Bourton-on-the-Water
A hotel with 13 rooms on Bourton-on-the-Water's High Street, five of them designed by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, with a restaurant, a garden and parking for guests.
Verified Nov 2026
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Old Manse Hotel
Inn · Bourton-on-the-Water
A Cotswold-stone inn of 1748 on Victoria Street, Bourton-on-the-Water, with 15 rooms, three of them for dogs, and pub food all day, run by Greene King Inns.
Dog-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
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Chester House Hotel
Hotel · Bourton-on-the-Water
A family-owned hotel with 22 rooms on Victoria Street, Bourton-on-the-Water, with L'Anatra Italian Kitchen, a walled garden, a car park and rooms for small dogs.
Dog-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
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The Lansdowne Guest House
B&B · Bourton-on-the-Water
An adults-only guest house in Victorian buildings on Lansdowne Road, Bourton-on-the-Water, with 14 rooms plus cottage rooms and suites, breakfast included and free parking outside.
Verified Oct 2026
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The Mousetrap Inn
Inn · Bourton-on-the-Water
A nineteenth-century inn with eleven rooms at Lansdowne, Bourton-on-the-Water, with a restaurant and bar, a small car park and dogs in its ground-floor twins.
Dog-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
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Holly House
B&B · Bourton-on-the-Water
An adults-only bed and breakfast for couples on Station Road, Bourton-on-the-Water, with six en-suite rooms, parking for each and a cooked-to-order breakfast.
Verified Oct 2026
Where to eat and drink in Bourton-on-the-Water
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The Croft
Cafes and tearooms · Bourton-on-the-Water
A café and restaurant on Riverside in Bourton-on-the-Water, by the Windrush, serving breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea daily and dinner on Fridays and Saturdays.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
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The Willow
Pubs · Bourton-on-the-Water
A Fuller's pub on the High Street in Bourton-on-the-Water, open from 10am, with a garden and outside seating, food all day, and dogs and families welcome.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
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The Old New Inn
Pubs · Bourton-on-the-Water
A Grade II listed eighteenth-century inn in Bourton-on-the-Water with nine rooms, classic British food, a beer garden and the Model Village in its grounds.
Dog-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Walks in and around Bourton-on-the-Water
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Bourton, Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter
Walk · Starts in Bourton-on-the-Water · 2 hrs, 15 mins · Circular
A 6-mile (9.7km) circular walk from Rissington Road in Bourton-on-the-Water, two to two and a half hours of moderate walking with a few stiles. It heads west on bridleways, up a quiet lane to Upper Slaughter, and down the River Eye to Lower Slaughter's mill.
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Bourton-on-the-Water, the Slaughters and Naunton
Walk · Starts in Bourton-on-the-Water · 5 hrs · Circular
A 10-mile (16.4km) circular walk from Bourton-on-the-Water, four to five hours of moderate walking with stiles and steep slopes. It follows the Wardens' Way through Lower and Upper Slaughter to Naunton, then comes home down the Windrush valley on the Windrush Way.
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Bourton-on-the-Water and Wyck Rissington
Walk · Starts in Bourton-on-the-Water · 2 hrs · Circular
A 4-mile (7km) circular walk from the war memorial in Bourton-on-the-Water, about two hours, easy and without stiles but muddy at times. It passes a roundhouse on Greystones Farm, crosses the Eye and the Dikler to Wyck Rissington's church, and returns by Rissington Mill.
Sights in and around Bourton-on-the-Water
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Bourton-on-the-Water war memorial
Sight · Monument · Bourton-on-the-Water
Bourton-on-the-Water's war memorial is a tall stone cross of 1920 on the green beside the Windrush, raised by the village for its 27 men who died in the First World War, with 12 names added after the Second. Listed Grade II; open at all times.
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Narrow Bridge, Bourton-on-the-Water
Sight · Bridge · Bourton-on-the-Water
Narrow Bridge is the oldest dated of the low stone footbridges over the Windrush in Bourton-on-the-Water, built in 1756 with three rusticated arches and low parapets. Listed Grade II with three of its neighbours, it is crossed free at any time.
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St Laurence's Church, Wyck Rissington
Sight · Church · Bourton-on-the-Water
St Laurence's is the Grade I church of Wyck Rissington near Bourton-on-the-Water, consecrated in 1269, where the young Gustav Holst was organist in 1892 and 1893. It keeps a Norman corbel table, diamond-shaped lights and a mosaic of a rector's lost maze. Open daily in daylight.
Stories about Bourton-on-the-Water
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Christmas in the Cotswolds
Story · Guides · 10 minute read
Christmas in the Cotswolds: Blenheim's and Sudeley's light trails, Christmas markets at Cogges and Stroud, steam trains to Broadway's late-night shopping, candlelit carols, Boxing Day mummers, winter walks and inns with fires.
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Gustav Holst and the Cotswolds
Story · History · 8 minute read
The composer of The Planets was born in Cheltenham, was organist at Wyck Rissington as a teenager and wrote a symphony called The Cotswolds: where to see and hear his Cotswold years.
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The accessible Cotswolds
Story · Guides · 12 minute read
The honest picture of access in the Cotswolds: which villages are level and which are cobbles and hills, the step-free days out, every Changing Places toilet we can confirm, Blue Badge parking, stile-free walks, accessible stays and getting about by train, bus and taxi.
Quieter places near Bourton-on-the-Water
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Naunton
Village · The North Cotswolds
A long, quiet village on the floor of the upper Windrush valley, with a sixteenth-century dovecote by the river, a Donnington pub and the Windrush Way on the hill above.
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Lower Slaughter
Village · The North Cotswolds
A small village along the River Eye, crossed by low stone footbridges, with a red brick watermill at its western end and a field path to Upper Slaughter.
Getting to Bourton-on-the-Water
- By bus
- The 801 runs between Cheltenham, Bourton, Stow, Moreton-in-Marsh station and Chipping Norton, about hourly every day, Sundays included.
- By train
- Moreton-in-Marsh, on the line from London Paddington, is the nearest station; the 801 from outside it takes about half an hour.
- By car
- Off the A429. Park at Rissington Road, where charges run from 10am to 8pm every day and Blue Badge holders park free for up to 10 hours. The car park has eight charging bays.
Access
The village centre and the greens by the river are level. Disabled visitors get into the Model Village free through a side gate, but mobility scooters, powered chairs and pushchairs cannot go inside.
| Stow-on-the-Wold | 3.7 mi |
|---|---|
| Moreton-in-Marsh station | 8.1 mi |
| Cheltenham | 15.5 mi |
Places near Bourton-on-the-Water
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Upper SlaughterA village of stone houses round a ford on the River Eye, about a mile above Lower Slaughter, with a twelfth-century church, a Grade I manor house and almost nothing to buy.
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Stow-on-the-WoldA hilltop market town on the Fosse Way, more than 230m up, with a broad Square, a church that held 1,600 prisoners after the last battle of the Civil War, and a horse fair.
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Cold AstonA village round a green on the high wold 3 miles west of Bourton-on-the-Water, also called Aston Blank, with a Grade I Norman church, a restored seventeenth-century inn with four rooms, and paths west to Notgrove and down to the Windrush.