Nailsworth

What to see

The mills are the thing to see, and you can go into two of them. Egypt Mill, at the north end of the town where the railway station used to be, is listed Grade II*: an eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century rebuilding on older masonry, with a waterwheel from before 1820 still in place. By 1675 the site had two fulling mills, a gig mill and a dye-house; it became a dye works about 1870 and a corn mill, Station Mill, by 1936. Today it is a hotel, pub and restaurant with 28 rooms, serving food from breakfast every day.

Dunkirk Mill, down the valley towards Stroud, is the bigger building, rebuilt as a five-storey mill in 1798 by John Cooper and worked by the Playne family until the 1880s; from 1891 a Nottingham firm made hosiery in it. The Stroud Textile Trust (opens in a new tab) runs a museum in part of it, where an overshot waterwheel of 1855, about 4m across and made by James Ferrabee of Stroud, drives the machines that finished cloth after it left the loom. Visits last 45 minutes, at 2pm and 3pm on open days between April and September, and adults pay £7 (2026). The trust's page says the museum is closed until spring 2027, so do not plan a day round it before then. It is fully accessible for wheelchair users, with an accessible toilet and Blue Badge parking beside the museum.

Meanwhile the trust's Gigg Mill weaving shed on the Old Bristol Road opens on one Saturday a month through the autumn and winter (14 November 2026, then 23 January, 20 February and 20 March 2027 when we checked), with 45-minute guided visits at 10am and 11am and a chance to try a loom; book ahead, as space is limited. Adults pay £7, and the path beside the building is not recommended for wheelchairs.

In the town itself, the clock tower where the main roads meet was finished in 1952 as the war memorial and is listed Grade II. Its clock, by Gillett and Johnston, rings bells from an earlier clock that stood in a wooden tower by the road below St George's church; the stubs of that tower's girders are still beside the A46 opposite Mortimer Gardens. On Chestnut Hill the Quaker meeting house, listed Grade II*, was built in or shortly before 1680, when Friends had been meeting in each other's houses for twenty years. Up the hill at Forest Green is the New Lawn, the ground of Forest Green Rovers, which calls itself the world's greenest football club.

A day here

A day in Nailsworth is a walk down one street and up another, a long lunch and an afternoon on the valley path or the commons. Start at the clock tower and take Market Street, then Fountain Street, where William's has sold fish since 1975 and has a large outside terrace. The Visitor Information Point is in the library on Old Market (GL6 0DU), open from 10am to 1pm from Monday to Saturday and some afternoons, with walking, cycling and touring maps and the bus timetables. On the A46 in the Woodchester valley, Woodchester Valley Vineyard has a cellar door shop open from Monday to Saturday all year and on Sundays from March to December, with tours and tastings by booking.

Eat at midday: William's midweek set lunch is the best value in town, and Waterloo House on George Street does brunch from 9am from Thursday to Sunday. In the afternoon, either take the railway path north along the valley, or drive or climb to Minchinhampton Common and walk out across the turf among the cattle. Come back for dinner at Wilder on Market Street, which serves eight courses at one 7pm sitting from Wednesday to Saturday and needs booking, or at Egypt Mill, which serves dinner until 9pm from Monday to Friday, 9.30pm on Saturdays and 8pm on Sundays.

Walks from Nailsworth

The easiest walk is the Stroud Valleys Trail (opens in a new tab), 5 miles (8km) of old railway from Nailsworth to Stonehouse, level, almost entirely traffic-free and more than half of it tarmac; it is route 45 of the National Cycle Network, and the line it follows opened in 1867 and closed to goods in 1966. It passes Dunkirk Mill, follows the stream to Dudbridge and reaches the canal at Stroud after about 4 miles, where the 63 bus brings you back.

For hills, Woodchester Park and the boathouse is a 3.75-mile (6km) circuit without stiles from the National Trust car park west of the town, down past the unfinished Woodchester Mansion and along the chain of lakes, about two hours. On the common, Minchinhampton Common and Amberley is 5 miles from the Market House by the Bulwarks, the Old Lodge and Winstone's ice cream, and Rodborough Common and the fort is an easy 2 miles. The town council publishes leaflets of circular walks from the town and of plaque walks to its war memorials on its website, and the information point stocks walking maps.

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Food and drink

Nailsworth eats better than most Cotswold towns, and almost all of it is independent. William's is the anchor: a fishmonger, deli and seafood restaurant on Fountain Street since 1975, open from Tuesday to Saturday, with dinner on Friday and Saturday only. Wilder, a family-owned restaurant on Market Street, is the special occasion, with no menu and one sitting; its Friday lunch and Saturday brunch are the cheaper way in. Waterloo House is the bar, with burgers and pizza and live music on Thursdays, closed from Monday to Wednesday. There is a Hobbs House bakery on George Street for bread and lunch.

On George Street, the Olive Tree, family-run since 2004, serves breakfast, pizzas and Mediterranean lunches from Monday to Saturday, afternoon tea by booking and dinner on Friday and Saturday evenings.

For a pub lunch, Egypt Mill serves lunch and dinner every day by the water. Up on the common, the Old Lodge serves from breakfast to evening with the cattle grazing round it, and the Amberley Inn looks over the Woodchester valley. The town council's website lists an artisan market, a flea market and a Friday market, so check it for the current dates before you come for one. Food and drink in the Cotswolds has the wider picture, and where to stay in Nailsworth lists the beds.

Every place to eat in the town, with what each suits, is on our page of places to eat in Nailsworth.

When to come

Any time; Nailsworth is a working town, not a honeypot, and nothing here sells out except the festival's best nights. The liveliest week is the Nailsworth Festival (opens in a new tab) in May, which opens with a Saturday of markets and entertainment in and around Mortimer Gardens and runs for a week; in 2026 it began on Saturday 16 May, and it returns in May 2027. Dunkirk Mill's season is April to September, from 2027. October turns the beeches in Woodchester Park, and on a clear winter weekday the commons above the town are all but empty. The Old Market short-stay bays give you 2 hours, which is enough for lunch but not for lunch and a walk; the Town Hall and Comrades car parks allow 4, and New Market Road suits a whole day. Every other September, nearby Avening holds a church service and a procession to the Memorial Hall for Pig Face Day; it was last held in 2025 and is next due in 2027, date to be confirmed.