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Things to do · Broadway
Broadway Tower
James Wyatt's folly of 1798 on Beacon Hill above Broadway, with a museum in the tower, a red deer park, two cafés and a Cold War nuclear bunker.
Family-friendly · Dog-friendly · Walker-friendly
Walk up from Broadway on the 4-mile circuit rather than driving: the climb is the best way to arrive. The nuclear bunker tour is one of the oddest things to see in the Cotswolds, but it is reached by ladder and no one under 10 can go down.
- Good: Red deer in the park; dogs welcome on leads in the park
- Good: Nuclear bunker tours from April to October
- Good: Two cafés, one with a log fire
- Worth knowing: Bunker by ladder only, minimum age 10
- Worth knowing: No dogs in the tower museum
- Worth knowing: Car park gates locked at 5.15pm
About
Broadway Tower is a folly on Beacon Hill, about a mile south-east of Broadway, at the top of the Cotswold escarpment. James Wyatt designed it for the 6th Earl of Coventry, to an idea credited to Capability Brown, and it was finished in 1798. William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones later stayed there.
Inside is a museum of its history. A ticket for the tower includes the roof platform and the grounds, a country park with a herd of red deer and a circular walk; a cheaper ticket covers the grounds and picnic areas only. Online, an adult tower ticket is £14.82 and a grounds ticket £4.24, each with a small booking fee included, and under-6s go free. Walkers without a ticket are asked to keep to the two signposted public footpaths.
The nuclear bunker, a Royal Observer Corps post from the Cold War, opens for guided tours of up to 45 minutes from April to October at weekends, bank holidays and on some other days. It is reached by ladder, so it has no access for visitors with impaired mobility or sight, and the minimum age is 10; under-16s must come with an adult. Bunker tours run from 10.30am to 4pm. Nearby, a stone marks where a Whitley bomber crashed in 1943.
Dogs are welcome on leads in the park but not in the museum. There are two cafés, Morris and Brown and Tower Barn. The Broadway and Broadway Tower walk climbs from the village, and the tower sits on the Cotswold Way.
Opening hours and season
Closed, opens Mon 9, 10:00
| Mon | Opening | Café | House |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 10:00 to 17:00 | 09:00 to 17:00 | Closed |
| Tuesday | 10:00 to 17:00 | 09:00 to 17:00 | Closed |
| Wednesday | 10:00 to 17:00 | 09:00 to 17:00 | Closed |
| Thursday | 10:00 to 17:00 | 09:00 to 17:00 | Closed |
| Friday | 10:00 to 17:00 | 09:00 to 17:00 | Closed |
| Saturday | 10:00 to 17:00 | 09:00 to 17:00 | 10:30 to 16:00 |
| Sunday | 10:00 to 17:00 | 09:00 to 17:00 | 10:30 to 16:00 |
Café: Morris and Brown café and shop, April to October
House: Nuclear bunker: April to October at weekends, bank holidays and select days; book a tour
Tower: last entry 4.45pm, April to October. November to March: weekdays 10.30am to 4pm (last 3.45pm), weekends 10am to 4.30pm (last 4.15pm). Closed 25, 26 December, 1 January.
Facilities
- Morris and Brown café and shop9am to 5pm daily, April to October; November to March 10am to 4.30pm weekdays, 9am to 5pm weekends
- Tower Barn café and shop9am to 5pm daily, April to October; November to March 9.30am to 4pm weekdays, 9am to 5pm weekends
- Car park£3 for 4 hours, £6 all day; 8am to 5pm
- Dogs in the parkOn leads; not in the tower museum
The details
- Features
- Café · Shop · Views · Picnic area · Guided tours · Parking
- History
- Built 1798
- Parking
- Pay and display car park at the tower, open 8am to 5pm: £3 for four hours, £6 all day. Do not park on the A44.
Photos
The tower on Broadway Hill 
The tower at sunset 
The view over the vale 
The tower at dusk
Location
Places to stay nearby
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The Fish Hotel
Hotel · Broadway
Rooms, suites, huts and three treehouses on a hillside of the Farncombe estate above Broadway, with Hook restaurant by Martin Burge and dogs welcome in set rooms.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
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Dormy House
Hotel · Broadway
A hotel and spa on Willersey Hill above Broadway, on the 500-acre Farncombe estate it shares with the Fish and Foxhill Manor, with a pool, hot tub suites and dogs in set rooms.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly · Hot tubs
Verified Nov 2026
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Foxhill Manor
Hotel · Broadway
An eight-bedroom house on the Farncombe estate above Broadway, run as a small hotel where meals and drinks are included, with the spa at Dormy House and dogs welcome.
Dog-friendly · Hot tubs · Wedding venues
Verified Oct 2026
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- The Fish Hotel 1.6 km away
- Dormy House 1.8 km away
- Cotswold Lavender 2.3 km away
- Foxhill Manor 2.4 km away
Sights nearby
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Shenberrow Camp
Sight · Hill fort or barrow · Stanton
Shenberrow Camp is a small Iron Age hill fort on the Cotswold Edge above Stanton, a D-shaped enclosure of about 1.9 hectares inside two banks and ditches, nearly 300m up beside Shenberrow Buildings farm. The Cotswold Way runs through it. A scheduled monument.
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St Eadburgha's Church, Broadway
Sight · Church · Broadway
St Eadburgha's is Broadway's old parish church, out on Snowshill Road a mile from the village: a cross-shaped church of the twelfth century and about 1400, with a crossing tower, Tudor and Stuart brasses and medieval woodwork. Grade I; open daily, 10am to 4pm.
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Kiftsgate Stone
Sight · Monument · Chipping Campden
A small holed standing stone on the Cotswold edge west of Chipping Campden, the meeting place of the hundred of Kiftsgate, where the proclamations of new monarchs were read up to William IV in 1830. A scheduled monument about 30m from the Cotswold Way.
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St Barnabas's Church, Snowshill
Sight · Church · Snowshill
St Barnabas is Snowshill's village church, rebuilt in 1864 in coursed stone with a three-stage west tower and a clock, and keeping a fifteenth-century font. It stands beside Snowshill Manor, and it and the cottages round it were filmed for Bridget Jones's Diary. Grade II.