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Cotswolds Info
A tree-lined village street of stone houses with woodland rising behind

George Ciobra on Unsplash

The South Cotswolds

The southern wolds as they fall towards Bath and Wiltshire: Tetbury's Market House, Castle Combe's street by the By Brook, Malmesbury's abbey and Lacock beyond the edge.

Nearest station
Chippenham or Kemble, on the lines from London Paddington
Best time
Weekdays at Castle Combe and Lacock; autumn for Westonbirt
When it's busy
Castle Combe in summer and on bank holidays, when its car park can fill

About the South Cotswolds

The South Cotswolds are where the hills lower and soften towards Bath and the Wiltshire vale. The region runs from Tetbury, close to Highgrove and Westonbirt, through the wooded valley of the By Brook at Castle Combe, to Malmesbury and Lacock just beyond the edge of the National Landscape. It is within easy reach of Bath and the M4.

Where the South Cotswolds begin and end

The region starts where the Five Valleys and the Coln Valley end, at Tetbury, and runs south over the M4 to the By Brook valley at Castle Combe and Box and along the last of the escarpment above Bath at Dyrham and Marshfield, where the Cotswold Way comes down into the city. Gloucestershire has Tetbury, South Gloucestershire has Chipping Sodbury, Badminton, Marshfield and Dyrham, and Wiltshire has Malmesbury, Sherston, Castle Combe, Biddestone, Box and, beyond the National Landscape's edge, Lacock.

The towns

Tetbury has its Market House of 1655 on stone columns, a Georgian Gothic church and the Woolsack Races up Gumstool Hill each May. Malmesbury, on a hill ringed by the Avon, has the great Norman nave of its abbey, King Athelstan's empty tomb and the story of Eilmer, the monk said to have flown. For a bed, see where to stay in Tetbury and Malmesbury. Country-house hotels round Malmesbury, such as Whatley Manor, host weddings; see getting married in the Cotswolds.

Chipping Sodbury, under the Edge near Bristol, is a planned medieval market town with one long wide street, a Grade I church and a mop fair in March and September. Sherston, on its own branch of the Avon west of Malmesbury, has a Grade I church with a tower of 1730, and Marshfield, on the hills above Bath, keeps its Paper Boys, the mummers who play in the Market Place at 11am on Boxing Day in costumes of torn paper.

A grassy valley floor below a steep wooded hillside
The By Brook valley below Common Hill Photo: Neil Owen, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The villages

Castle Combe is the region's best-known village, one street running down from a market cross to a bridge over the By Brook. Biddestone, a few miles away, has a large green and a duck pond and far fewer visitors. Lacock, most of it owned by the National Trust, lies a few miles south of the National Landscape, with the abbey where Fox Talbot made the earliest surviving photographic negative.

Badminton is the village of the Dukes of Beaufort, whose house opens its gardens by timed ticket three times a year and its park for the horse trials in early May. Dyrham, south of the M4, has the National Trust's Dyrham Park, the house rebuilt for William Blathwayt with a west front completed by 1694 and William Talman's east front by 1703, on the Cotswold Way. Box, in the By Brook valley on the road into Bath, is where Brunel's Box Tunnel opened on the Great Western Railway in 1841, its classical west portal listed Grade II*. Near Tetbury, Ozleworth's church has a rare six-sided Norman tower. Between Nailsworth and Tetbury, Avening lies in a steep valley under Gatcombe Park and keeps its Pig Face Day every other September, with a procession from the church to the Memorial Hall, and Cherington, on the plateau north-east of Tetbury, has a green, a Grade I Norman church and snowdrops in the woods by its lake in late January and February.

Sights worth a detour

Malmesbury Abbey, the Norman nave with its carved south porch and King Athelstan's empty tomb, is free, and the Athelstan Museum tells Eilmer's story. Lacock Abbey has the Fox Talbot Museum, and Rodmarton Manor near Tetbury is the Arts and Crafts house Ernest Barnsley built from 1909 to 1929. Tetbury's Market House of 1655 still has markets under its pillars, with a free police museum on Long Street.

Close view of carved seated apostles in the Norman porch of an abbey
The carved apostles in the south porch of Malmesbury Abbey Photo: Tilman2007, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Gardens and arboretums

Westonbirt, the National Arboretum, is about 3 miles from Tetbury, and its peak season is autumn. Highgrove's gardens open only for booked guided tours, on selected dates from April to September with walks in spring and autumn, and each season's tours go on sale in March. For more, see things to do in the Cotswolds. On selected evenings from 27 November to 31 December 2026, Christmas at Westonbirt lights a trail through the arboretum after dark.

Two red Japanese maples beside a path in a sunny glade of conifers and autumn trees
Maples in autumn at Westonbirt Photo: Michael Dibb, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In early May the Badminton Horse Trials bring five days of eventing to the park of Badminton House, the home of the Dukes of Beaufort, on the southern edge of the hills. Saturday, the cross-country day, is the busiest, and every ticket, car passes included, is bought in advance.

Walks

The towns have short loops and the valleys long ones. Tetbury town walk is 1.7 miles (2.7km) on paved paths, Tetbury and Ashley 6.5 miles on the old railway, and Malmesbury and the River Avon rings the town in an hour. Ford, Long Dean and Castle Combe comes into the village through the By Brook woods, the Biddestone heritage trail reaches Slaughterford, and Lacock, Naish Hill and Bowden Park follows the Wilts & Berks Canal. Old Sodbury, the hill fort and the church is stile-free on the Cotswold Way.

Eating and staying

Tetbury has the country-house hotels, Calcot Manor on its estate and the Close on Long Street, with the Gilbertine Kitchen for breakfast and the Trouble House on the London road. Near Malmesbury, Whatley Manor has the Michelin star. In Castle Combe the Manor House and the Castle Inn are the beds and the White Hart the pub. The White Horse on Biddestone's green and the George in Lacock are the village pubs. The full lists are on where to stay in Tetbury and Malmesbury.

Getting around

Chippenham and Kemble stations are on lines from London Paddington. The X34 runs from Chippenham to Lacock every day, the 95 and 95A to Castle Combe from Monday to Saturday, and the 99 to Malmesbury. The 882 links Kemble station with Tetbury on some journeys, and the 620 runs from Tetbury to Westonbirt and Bath. By car, our South Cotswolds weekend links Tetbury, Westonbirt, Malmesbury, Castle Combe, Biddestone and Lacock in about 45 miles of driving.

Bath Spa is about 1 hour 18 minutes from Paddington, with a train every half hour, and the 620 runs from Monday to Saturday, reaching Westonbirt about four times a day each way on weekdays and Tetbury more often. From Chippenham the X34 to Lacock runs every 30 minutes on weekdays and nine times on Sundays, but the 95 and 95A reach Castle Combe about five times a day from Monday to Saturday and not at all on Sundays, and Biddestone has only the 635 and 636 on weekdays and the X79 on Thursdays. Yate station, 2 miles from Chipping Sodbury, has the Y6. Getting here, the buses page and the Cotswolds without a car have the times.

When to come and where it is busiest

Castle Combe is busiest in summer and on bank holidays, when its car park can fill, and quiet on a winter weekday. Westonbirt's peak season runs from late September to mid-November, when it charges £19 on weekdays and £22 at weekends by car but £13 and £15.50 to anyone arriving by bus, train or bike (2026). Badminton runs in early May (5 to 9 May in 2027, dates the organisers call provisional). The quiet corners are Sherston, Biddestone and the valleys round Ozleworth, on any day.

Last verified 28 October 2026 by our editors

  • Stone and timber-framed houses where two village streets meet under a blue sky
  • A pale market house raised on stone pillars and arches in a town square
  • A great abbey church rising above rooftops and a green water meadow
  • A baroque country house in its valley seen from the deer park, the vale stretching beyond
  • A broad street lined with stone houses and parked cars, a church tower at the far end

Places in the South Cotswolds

  • A stone church with a battlemented central tower in a sunlit churchyard under a blue sky

    Avening

    Village · The South Cotswolds

    A village in a steep valley between Nailsworth and Tetbury, with a Grade I church its legend says a queen built in penance, a pig's head carried in procession every other September, and Gatcombe Park on the hill above.

  • The pale stone Palladian front of Badminton House above a striped lawn under a blue sky

    Badminton

    Village · The South Cotswolds

    The estate village of the Dukes of Beaufort on the southern edge of the Cotswolds: a private house you glimpse from the park, a Grade I church of ducal monuments, a three-mile avenue to a Kent lodge, three garden days a year and the horse trials each May.

  • The Roman Baths' terrace and statues with Bath Abbey's tower rising behind under a blue sky

    Bath

    Gateway · The South Cotswolds

    The city where the Cotswold Way ends, at a stone disc outside the abbey door: Bath Spa station, the park and ride on Lansdown, the buses on to Tetbury, and the trains to Chippenham for Castle Combe and Lacock.

  • A village duck pond edged with yellow irises below stone cottages and a large tree

    Biddestone

    Village · The South Cotswolds

    A Wiltshire village round a large green and a duck pond of 1661, with a Norman church, an eighteenth-century pub, a manor garden that opens for charity and far fewer visitors than Castle Combe, 3 miles away.

  • A wooded valley with a village among trees and green fields rising beyond

    Box

    Village · The South Cotswolds

    A Wiltshire stone village in the By Brook valley on the road from Bath to Chippenham, where Brunel's Box Tunnel opened in 1841, the hill above is hollow with old stone mines and the church stands on a Roman villa.

  • A street of honey-coloured stone cottages curving downhill between green trees

    Castle Combe

    Village · The South Cotswolds

    A small Wiltshire village running down a single street from a medieval market cross to a bridge over the By Brook. Park at the top, walk down, and come early.

  • Stone houses and a lane beside a green verge under summer trees

    Cherington

    Hamlet · The South Cotswolds

    A small village on the plateau north-east of Tetbury, round a green where three roads meet, with a Grade I Norman church, a Georgian manor seen from the lane and a lake in the valley below where snowdrops fill the woods in February.

  • A wide market street of stone and white-fronted Georgian houses under a blue sky

    Chipping Sodbury

    Market town · The South Cotswolds

    A planned medieval market town below the southern Cotswold edge, with a long, wide market street, a Grade I church and a mop fair twice a year, near Bristol.

  • Parkland falling to a great house among trees, with the flat vale beyond

    Dyrham

    Hamlet · The South Cotswolds

    A hamlet under the Cotswold edge north of Bath, at the gates of Dyrham Park, with a Grade I church beside the house, the Cotswold Way through its lane and the battle of 577 somewhere in the fields.

  • Stone and timber-framed houses where two village streets meet under a blue sky

    Lacock

    Village · The South Cotswolds

    A Wiltshire village mostly owned by the National Trust, with an abbey made from a medieval nunnery, where Fox Talbot made the earliest surviving negative in 1835.

  • A great abbey church rising above rooftops and a green water meadow

    Malmesbury

    Market town · The South Cotswolds

    A hilltop town almost ringed by the Avon, with the great Norman nave of its abbey, King Athelstan's empty tomb, a flying monk and a market cross built for shelter.

  • A stone cottage and a white-rendered house with potted trees on a sunny lane

    Marshfield

    Village · The South Cotswolds

    A former malting town at the Cotswolds' southern tip, 9 miles from Bath, one long street of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century fronts, with a Grade I church, almshouses of 1612, a coaching inn of 1680 and the Paper Boys' mummers' play on Boxing Day. Dyrham Park is 6 miles off.

  • A wide village high street of stone houses strung with bunting under a blue sky

    Sherston

    Village · The South Cotswolds

    A former borough on a spur above the Sherston branch of the Avon, about 5½ miles west of Malmesbury, with a High Street wide enough to have held a market, a Grade I church, the Rattlebone Inn and its legend, and a boules festival on the street each July.

  • A cobbled path beside a stone building edged with grass and plants

    Tetbury

    Market town · The South Cotswolds

    A wool market town with a Market House on stone pillars, a Georgian Gothic church, Highgrove's gardens nearby and Westonbirt Arboretum 3 miles away.

Things to do in the South Cotswolds

The South Cotswolds: things to do
Walkers beneath red and orange Japanese maples in autumn at Westonbirt

Parks and gardens · Tetbury

Westonbirt, The National Arboretum

The National Arboretum near Tetbury: 15,000 trees, a 300m treetop walkway, dog-friendly Silk Wood and a peak season of autumn colour.

  • Sunlight through the traceried windows of Lacock Abbey's medieval cloisters

    Lacock Abbey, Fox Talbot Museum and Village

    Historic houses and heritage · Lacock

    The National Trust's abbey made from a medieval nunnery, where Fox Talbot made the earliest surviving photographic negative in 1835, with its museum and village.

    Car-free · Dog-friendly · EV charging

    Verified Oct 2026

  • The long Arts and Crafts front of Rodmarton Manor across its lawn under a blue sky

    Rodmarton Manor

    Historic houses and heritage · Tetbury

    An Arts and Crafts house built from 1909 to 1929 by Ernest Barnsley and local craftsmen, with an eight-acre garden of outdoor rooms, open in summer.

    Verified Nov 2026

  • A gabled stone town hall with arched doorways and hanging baskets on a street

    Athelstan Museum

    Museums and galleries · Malmesbury

    Malmesbury's free museum in the Town Hall, with the stories of King Athelstan and Eilmer the flying monk, a wheelchair lift and dogs welcome.

    Dog-friendly · Rainy days · Family-friendly

    Verified Oct 2026

Where to stay in the South Cotswolds

The South Cotswolds: places to stay
  • Whatley Manor's gabled stone house above a flower border and lawn

    Whatley Manor

    Hotel · Malmesbury

    A country house hotel and spa with 23 rooms in 12 acres with 22 gardens at Easton Grey, near Malmesbury, with a Michelin-starred restaurant and seven dog-friendly rooms.

    Dog-friendly · Wedding venues · EV charging

    Verified Nov 2026

  • The Georgian stone front of The Rectory Hotel above its walled kitchen garden

    The Rectory Hotel

    Hotel · Malmesbury

    A hotel in an early 18th-century rectory at Crudwell, near Malmesbury, with 15 rooms in the house, a three-bedroom garden cottage and a heated outdoor pool in summer.

    Verified Oct 2026

  • A shallow stream crossing a lane under a willow, with stone houses behind, in Crudwell

    Pettifers

    Hotel · Malmesbury

    A dog-friendly bed and breakfast hotel at Crudwell, near Malmesbury, with 18 rooms in the main building and a courtyard, walled gardens and a two-bedroom cottage next door.

    Dog-friendly · Wedding venues

    Verified Nov 2026

  • A swimmer resting at the edge of Calcot's outdoor pool before the spa building

    Calcot Manor and Spa

    Hotel · Tetbury

    A hotel and spa on a 220-acre estate near Tetbury, with family suites, a cottage and treehouses among its rooms.

    Family-friendly

    Verified Nov 2026

  • The Great Tythe Barn's glazed stone front behind lavender

    Great Tythe Barn

    Self-catering · Tetbury

    Lodge rooms, a house and ten cottages at Great Tythe Barn, an event estate on the edge of Tetbury, open for stays outside weddings too.

    Wedding venues

    Verified Oct 2026

  • Carved chairs at a window table looking onto the manor's stone balustrade and steps

    The Manor House

    Hotel · Castle Combe

    A hotel in a manor house of seventeenth-century origins at Castle Combe, part of the Exclusive Collection, with the Bybrook restaurant.

    Dog-friendly · Wedding venues · EV charging

    Verified Oct 2026

Where to eat and drink in the South Cotswolds

The South Cotswolds: eat and drink
  • A high-roofed stone barn with fairy lights in the beams, Flying Monk Brewery banners, a bar and armchairs

    The Flying Monk Café and Restaurant

    Cafes and tearooms · Malmesbury

    A café, kitchen and bar at Bradfield Manor Farm, Hullavington, about 5.5 miles by road south of Malmesbury, open Wednesday to Sunday since August 2026.

    Verified Nov 2026

  • A dining room with a stone fireplace, a horse painting and velvet chairs

    The Cat & Custard Pot Inn

    Pubs · Tetbury

    A village pub with eight en suite bedrooms at Shipton Moyne, about 2.5 miles from Tetbury, with well-behaved dogs welcome throughout.

    Dog-friendly

    Verified Nov 2026

  • A cream-painted stone pub with a red telephone box beside it at a street corner

    The Three Cups Inn

    Pubs · Malmesbury

    A dog-friendly pub on the Triangle in Westport, Malmesbury, with a meat-free kitchen named best vegan pub in Wiltshire by Vegan Food and Living, and music and events.

    Dog-friendly · Family-friendly

    Verified Nov 2026

  • Cobbled beer garden with wooden tables beside the pub's white walls

    The White Hart, Castle Combe

    Pubs · Castle Combe

    A Grade II listed Wadworth pub on The Street in Castle Combe, open from 9am with pastries, with a courtyard garden, and dog friendly.

    Dog-friendly

    Verified Nov 2026

  • The bar at the George, with an old dog-wheel beside a big open fire

    The George Inn

    Pubs · Lacock

    A Wadworth pub on West Street, Lacock, which says it dates to around 1361, serving food from midday to 8pm, with dogs welcome.

    Dog-friendly · Family-friendly

    Verified Oct 2026

  • The White Horse's whitewashed front lit at dusk, with benches outside

    The White Horse, Biddestone

    Pubs · Biddestone

    A dog-friendly pub on the green at Biddestone serving pub classics, with a garden at the back, curry night on Thursdays and a quiz on the first Tuesday of the month.

    Dog-friendly · Walker-friendly

    Verified Oct 2026

Walks in and around the South Cotswolds

All walks starting here
  • The grassy double ramparts of the Iron Age hill fort above Old Sodbury

    Old Sodbury, the hill fort and the church

    Walk · Starts in Chipping Sodbury · 2 hrs · Circular

    A 2.5-mile (4km) circular walk from Old Sodbury, easy and stile-free with moderate slopes, in one and a half to two hours: up the Cotswold Way to the Norman church on the hill, over the double ramparts of Sodbury Camp, and back across the fields past medieval fish ponds.

  • Malmesbury Abbey seen across its churchyard on a sunny day

    Malmesbury and the River Avon

    Walk · Starts in Malmesbury · 1 hr · Circular · Dog-friendly

    A 2.5-mile (3.9km) circular walk from Cross Hayes in Malmesbury, easy and about an hour, mostly level with some stiles: down from the Market Cross past Daniel's Well, along the Avon by the meads and the silk mills, and back round under the abbey.

  • The Broad Ride through Cirencester Park between avenues of trees in autumn colour

    Cirencester Park, Pope's Seat and Stratton

    Walk · Starts in Cirencester · 2 hrs · Circular

    A 5-mile (8km) circular walk from Cirencester's parish church, easy and taking one and a half to two hours: up Cecily Hill and a mile along the Broad Ride to Pope's Seat, past the polo grounds to Stratton, and back by the streams past the open-air pool.

Sights in and around the South Cotswolds

All sights
  • A green meadow below a town with a church spire, a stone bridge across the valley

    Bath Bridge, Tetbury

    Sight · Bridge · Tetbury

    Bath Bridge carries the Bath road, now the A433, over the valley south of Tetbury and up into the town: four arches of rubble stone, each a different size, built by Thomas Webb in 1774 to 1776 as part of the town's Georgian improvements. Grade II.

  • The weathered stone walls and tower of a medieval castle with a stair turret

    Beverston Castle

    Sight · Castle or ruin · Tetbury

    The ruin of a thirteenth-century castle at Beverston, west of Tetbury, built by Maurice de Gaunt and enlarged by the Berkeleys, twice besieged in 1644 and now part of a private house, its gatehouse, towers and moat seen from the lane and churchyard.

  • A wide village green beside a lane lined with stone cottages under a blue sky

    Biddestone green and pond

    Sight · Common or park · Biddestone

    Biddestone's green is the large open heart of a Wiltshire stone village near Castle Combe, with a duck pond made in 1661, a pub of the eighteenth century, a war memorial and houses from the seventeenth century on. Free and open at any time.

  • Bowden Park, Lacock

    Sight · Historic building · Lacock

    James Wyatt's neoclassical house of 1796 on Bowden Hill above Lacock, with a full-height bow behind massive Ionic columns, later bought by the brother of W. E. Gladstone. Private; Grade I, seen from the public path across the park.

  • A clear stream running past a stone bridge and cottages in a wooded village

    By Brook

    Sight · River · Castle Combe

    The By Brook is the wooded valley stream that runs through Castle Combe and south by Long Dean, Ford and Slaughterford, in north-west Wiltshire. It once had some twenty watermill sites, for corn, cloth and paper, and public footpaths follow much of it.

  • A small stone bridge over a stream below a row of honey-coloured cottages

    Castle Combe bridge

    Sight · Bridge · Castle Combe

    Castle Combe bridge carries the village street over the By Brook at the bottom of the hill: three low skew arches rebuilt for the Scropes in the early nineteenth century, with grooves in its buttresses for the iron screens that kept livestock in. Grade II.

Stories about the South Cotswolds

All stories
  • Stone cottages reflected in a calm river in golden evening light

    Cotswolds itineraries: one day to a week

    Story · Guides · 12 minute read

    Cotswolds itineraries from one day to a week: how many days you need, a day by car or by train, two days in the north, three days north to south, five days across two regions, a week with two bases or on the Cotswold Way, and themed weekends for gardens, walks, dogs and winter.

  • A long gabled Elizabethan stone house across a wide mown lawn under summer clouds

    Poldark at Chavenage House: visiting Trenwith

    Story · Guides · 5 minute read

    Chavenage House near Tetbury played Trenwith in the BBC's Poldark: which rooms you see on screen, the other dramas the house names, its Civil War ghost, and how to book a tour while filming limits the dates.

  • Lamp-lit dining room with stone walls, wooden tables and a window seat

    The best pubs with rooms in the Cotswolds

    Story · Guides · 13 minute read

    The best pubs with rooms in the Cotswolds, region by region: the Kingham Plough and the King’s Head at Bledington, the Lion at Winchcombe, the Falcon at Painswick and the Red Lion at Lacock, with the rooms, the food, the dog rules and the walk from the door.

History of the South Cotswolds

A monastery grew at Malmesbury from the seventh century under Aldhelm, was sacked by the Danes around 878, and rebuilt its church in the twelfth century. King Athelstan was buried there, and Eilmer the monk is said to have flown from its tower. Tradition puts a monastery at Tetbury in 681 too, and the town became a wool market, though without running water it never made cloth. Its Feoffees, founded in 1633, built the Market House in 1655. Castle Combe took its name from a castle of about 1140 and made cloth by the fifteenth century, some of it bought by Sir John Fastolf for his soldiers. Ela of Salisbury founded Lacock's nunnery in 1232, Fox Talbot made the earliest surviving photographic negative there in 1835, and Matilda Talbot gave the abbey and village to the National Trust in 1944. Chipping Sodbury was laid out as a market town in the early thirteenth century, and the Cotswolds National Landscape's walk leaflet says Edward IV sheltered at Sodbury Camp before the battle at Tewkesbury in 1471. Brunel's Box Tunnel opened in 1841. In 1962 a national newspaper named Castle Combe the prettiest village in England, and the coaches have come ever since.

Questions about the South Cotswolds

Is Lacock in the Cotswolds?

Not quite. Lacock lies a few miles south of the Cotswolds National Landscape's edge, in the Avon valley below the hills, but it is close enough to visit with Castle Combe and Biddestone in a day, and the X34 bus from Chippenham reaches it in about 15 minutes every half hour on weekdays. The National Trust owns most of the village.

What is a quieter alternative to Castle Combe?

Biddestone, about 3 miles away by road, with its large green, duck pond of 1661, Norman church and the White Horse on the green, or Sherston, west of Malmesbury, which has a Grade I church and a tower of 1730. Both have the same stone and none of the queue. Castle Combe itself is quiet early on a weekday and on any day in winter.

When is Westonbirt Arboretum at its best?

In autumn, when its peak season runs from late September to mid-November. Entry costs more then, £19 on weekdays and £22 at weekends by car (2026), and less if you come by bus, train or bike. Silk Wood is dog friendly all year, and Christmas at Westonbirt lights a trail on selected evenings from 27 November to 31 December 2026.

Is Bath in the Cotswolds?

Bath is the gateway at the southern end rather than part of the hills: the Cotswold Way ends there after 102 miles from Chipping Campden, and the Cotswolds National Landscape takes in the escarpment above the city at Dyrham and Marshfield but stops at its edge. Bath and North East Somerset holds about 4% of the National Landscape.

Which villages are in the South Cotswolds?

The towns are Tetbury, Malmesbury and Chipping Sodbury, with Bath as the gateway. The villages are Castle Combe, Biddestone, Sherston, Badminton, Marshfield, Dyrham and Box, with Lacock just beyond the National Landscape's edge, and Beverston, Ashley, Westonbirt and Ozleworth round Tetbury.

Where is the best base in the South Cotswolds?

Tetbury, for its hotels, its market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, Highgrove and Westonbirt close by and the 620 bus to Bath, or Malmesbury, for the abbey and the 99 bus to Chippenham. Castle Combe is lovely to sleep in once the day visitors have gone, but awkward to leave without a car.

Getting to the South Cotswolds

Map of The South Cotswolds
© OpenStreetMap contributors

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