Things to do · Painswick
Painswick Rococo Garden
An eighteenth-century pleasure garden restored from a painting of 1748, with snowdrops in late winter, a café and dogs welcome on short leads.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly · Car-free
A small, unusual garden that the trust running it calls the UK's only surviving rococo garden. It is steep, so wear good shoes, and come for the snowdrops in late winter by booking ahead.
- Good: Dogs on short leads, in the café and shop too, with free dog weekends in November
- Good: Snowdrops in late winter, by advance booking
- Good: Maze and play area for children
- Good: Free parking, and an hourly bus from Stroud and Cheltenham, Monday to Saturday
- Worth knowing: Steep, uneven paths; not recommended for wheelchairs or scooters
- Worth knowing: May close at short notice in high winds
About
Painswick Rococo Garden was laid out in the eighteenth century as a pleasure garden at Painswick House, just north of Painswick. Benjamin Hyett asked the local artist Thomas Robins to paint it, in 1748. The garden was abandoned and planted with timber in the 1950s, then restored using the painting; the Painswick Rococo Garden Trust, a charity, has worked on it since 1988. The trust calls it the UK's only surviving rococo garden.
The garden sits in a steep combe, with follies, a maze, a play area and the Exedra Nursery, which grows perennials on site. Snowdrops are its best-known season, often at their peak in mid to late February, when tickets must be booked ahead. Dogs on short leads are welcome all year, and on three weekends in November they bring their owners in free.
The café serves breakfast, light lunches and cakes, with vegan and gluten-free options, and picnic tables stand by the car park and on the Bowling Green. The paths are steep and uneven, so it suits walkers and families more than anyone with limited mobility. The Cotswold Way passes close by, and our Painswick Beacon walk starts in the town below.
Opening hours and season
Closed, opens Mon 9, 10:00
| Mon | Opening | Café |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 10:00 to 17:00 | 10:00 to 16:30 |
| Tuesday | 10:00 to 17:00 | 10:00 to 16:30 |
| Wednesday | 10:00 to 17:00 | 10:00 to 16:30 |
| Thursday | 10:00 to 17:00 | 10:00 to 16:30 |
| Friday | 10:00 to 17:00 | 10:00 to 16:30 |
| Saturday | 10:00 to 17:00 | 10:00 to 16:30 |
| Sunday | 10:00 to 17:00 | 10:00 to 16:30 |
Café: Open on garden days. Breakfast from 10am, lunch from 12 to 2.30pm.
Daily to 1 November 2026, last entry 4pm. Dog weekends 7 to 8, 14 to 15 and 21 to 22 November, 10am to 4pm. Snowdrop season from mid-January (2026), booked ahead; 2027 dates not yet out.
Facilities
- Car parkFree, with three bike racks
- CaféCloses at 4.30pm; vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free options
- Dogs welcomeOn short leads, including in the café and shop
- ToiletsBy the café, with an accessible toilet and baby changing
- Maze and play area
- Shop and plant nursery
The details
- Features
- Café · Shop · Picnic area · Play area · Parking · Guided tours
- Awards
- VisitEngland Visitor Attraction Quality Assured
- History
- Eighteenth-century garden; restored by a charitable trust since 1988
- Parking
- Free car park at the garden (GL6 6TH), about 15 minutes' drive from junction 11a of the M5.
- Without a car
- Stagecoach 66 runs hourly from Cheltenham and Stroud, Monday to Saturday, to Gyde House, a short walk away; the 166 runs on Sundays. Stroud station is about 5 miles.
Photos
The Exedra 
The garden from the air 
The Red House 
The maze
Location
Accessibility
- Accessible toilet
Steep, uneven paths with handrails on the steepest slopes and 45 benches. The garden does not recommend them for wheelchairs or scooters. An access map is available, you can look round before buying a ticket, and carers go free.
Places to stay nearby
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St Anne's
B&B · Painswick
A three-room bed and breakfast in a former wool merchant's house on Gloucester Street, Painswick, suited to Cotswold Way walkers.
Dog-friendly · Walker-friendly · Car-free
Verified Oct 2026
-
The Falcon Inn
Inn · Painswick
A family-run inn with eleven rooms on New Street, Painswick, established in 1828 and under new owners since February 2026, with dogs welcome throughout.
Dog-friendly · Wedding venues
Verified Oct 2026
-
Barn Cottage, Painswick
Self-catering · Painswick
A three-bedroom barn conversion in Painswick, sleeping six in en suite rooms, with off-road parking, an enclosed courtyard and dogs welcome.
Dog-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- St Anne's 0.7 km away
- Painswick Golf Club Bar and Café 0.8 km away
- The Falcon Inn 0.8 km away
- Barn Cottage, Painswick 0.9 km away
Sights nearby
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Painswick Beacon
Sight · Hill fort or barrow · Painswick
Painswick Beacon is a hill north of Painswick, about 280m high, crowned by a large Iron Age hill fort with triple ramparts. Royalist troops camped here in 1643. It is open common land on the Cotswold Way, shared with a golf course, with views over the Severn Vale.
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St Mary's Church, Painswick
Sight · Church · Painswick
St Mary's is Painswick's Grade I parish church, of the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries with a tall stone spire, set in a churchyard of clipped yews and carved table tombs that is on the national Register of Parks and Gardens. Open daily; the clipping is each September.
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Quaker Meeting House, Painswick
Sight · Historic building · Painswick
Painswick's Friends Meeting House is a plain stone meeting house of 1706 off Vicarage Street, built on land given by the Loveday family and still used by Quakers every Sunday. Its walled garden, an old burial ground, is open for quiet reflection. Grade II.
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Court House, Painswick
Sight · Historic building · Painswick
The Court House is a gabled stone manor house of 1604 on Hale Lane, beside Painswick churchyard, with a panelled court room and a bedroom named after Charles I. Listed Grade I, it is a private home seen from the lane and the churchyard.