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Stroud's roofs and the spire of St Laurence's above a junction, with wooded hills behind

Des Blenkinsopp, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Stroud

The cloth town where five valleys meet, with a Saturday farmers' market, a free museum in Stratford Park, a canal coming back to life and Laurie Lee's Slad next door.

Nearest station
Stroud, in the town, with direct trains to London Paddington
Parking
Stroud District Council's town-centre car parks, free on Sundays and bank holidays; London Road from 90p an hour, Blue Badge free
Best time
Saturday morning for the farmers' market
When it's busy
Saturday mornings, when the farmers' market fills Cornhill and the streets around it

About Stroud

Stroud is a town of about 13,500 people at the western edge of the Cotswolds, where five steep valleys cut by the River Frome and its streams come together. By the early eighteenth century the district was famous for its cloth and its dyes, and Stroud is still a working town, at its busiest on a Saturday. The Cotswolds in April spends a day on the Stroud edge.

The farmers' market

Every Saturday from 9am to 2pm, Stroud's farmers' market fills Cornhill Market Place and the streets around it; the town council calls it one of the biggest and busiest in the country. In winter the town holds the Stroud Wassail, and our guide to food and drink in the Cotswolds has more. For the makers themselves, see Cotswold food and drink: farm shops, breweries, distilleries and markets.

Market stalls under striped awnings beside a stone colonnade, with shoppers between them
Saturday's farmers' market on Cornhill

The town

St Laurence's church was rebuilt in 1866 to 1868, keeping only its tower and spire; the top of the old spire stands in the churchyard. On the approach to the church, the Shambles market, run by the district council, trades every Friday and Saturday from 9am to 3pm, except Good Friday and the weekend between Christmas and New Year. The Subscription Rooms were built in 1833 to designs by George Basevi, the work overseen by Charles Baker of Painswick. For a bed, see where to stay in Stroud. In May, Randwick, near Stroud, holds the Randwick Wap: cheeses blessed and rolled round the churchyard on the first Sunday of the month, then a costumed procession and a fair on the green on Wap Day.

Houses climbing a wooded hillside under tall white clouds, seen past a stone cornice
Stroud's hillsides from the Subscription Rooms Photo: Acabashi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Museum in the Park

In Stratford Park, a house built or remodelled in 1674 by Giles Gardner is now the Museum in the Park. It is free, and opens Tuesday to Friday from 10am to 4.30pm and at weekends and on bank holidays from 11am to 4.30pm; it is closed on Mondays, and over the winter from 21 December 2026 to 22 January 2027, reopening on Saturday 23 January. Parking in the main Stratford Park car park is free. The park also has a lido, opened in 1938, and a miniature railway run by the Stroud Society of Model Engineers on its public running days. Our guide to free things to do in the Cotswolds has more like it. On a Saturday in February (the 2027 date is to be confirmed) the museum's grounds hold the town wassail, with morris sides, songs and a beast dance for children.

A pale stone house behind a lawn, framed by a dark cedar
The Museum in the Park Photo: don cload, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The canals

The Stroudwater Navigation reached the Severn in 1779, and the Thames and Severn Canal joined it to the Thames in 1789. Both fell out of use, and since 1972 the Cotswold Canals Trust has been bringing them back, in what it calls the largest canal restoration in the country. The trust's trip boat Perseverance sails from Wallbridge Lock, and in 2026 volunteers were digging the "Missing Mile" that will join the Stroudwater to the national network. The trust's lunch cruise goes to Stroud Brewery, an organic brewery and taproom beside the canal at Thrupp. The last lunch cruise listed for 2026 was on Thursday 5 November.

An old stone mill and a brick mill reflected in still canal water
The canal at Stroud Photo: Des Blenkinsopp, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Laurie Lee and Slad

Two miles up the Slad valley is the village where the writer Laurie Lee grew up and which he described in Cider with Rosie. The Woolpack in Slad describes itself as a tiny, dog-friendly pub. Our story of famous people with Cotswold connections begins with him.

Last verified 1 November 2026 by our editors

A deep green valley of houses, mills and trees seen from a grassy hillside

Part of

Stroud and the Five Valleys

The steep valleys that meet at Stroud: old cloth-mill country, with Painswick's churchyard of yews, Nailsworth's mills and the commons above Minchinhampton.

  • A stone clock tower with flowers at its base in a town square
  • A lake with ducks below autumn trees and tall conifers
  • A restored canal lock with a basin and a road tunnel beyond, under blue sky
  • A carved handshake between two posts marked Thames and Stroudwater
  • Baskets of crusty loaves and pastries on a market stall

Things to do in Stroud

Stratford Park mansion, home of the Museum in the Park, framed by cedar branches

Museums and galleries · Stroud

Museum in the Park

Stroud's free museum in a seventeenth-century house in Stratford Park, with a walled garden and a café, closed on Mondays and for a few weeks in winter.

  • A green trip boat on the canal beside the towpath under trees in spring

    Cotswold Canals Trust boat trips, Stroud

    Tours and experiences · Stroud

    Volunteer-crewed trips on the restored Thames and Severn Canal from Wallbridge in Stroud, run by the Cotswold Canals Trust, including a lunch cruise to Stroud Brewery.

    Family-friendly

    Verified Nov 2026

  • Drinkers at barrel tables outside Stroud Brewery's grey-clad taproom, its folding doors open and hung with greenery

    Stroud Brewery

    Breweries and distilleries · Stroud

    An organic brewery and taproom beside the Thames and Severn Canal at Thrupp, Stroud, founded in 2006, with wood-fired pizza, monthly brewery tours and tasting sessions.

    Dog-friendly · Family-friendly

    Verified Nov 2026

Where to stay in Stroud

Stroud: places to stay
  • The Old Nelson, the Brewers Fayre restaurant at Premier Inn Stroud: a pale stone house with a glazed extension and outdoor tables by the car park

    Premier Inn Stroud

    Hotel · Stroud

    A Premier Inn in the Grade II-listed Stratford Lodge, opposite Stratford Park in Stroud, with free parking and a pub next door for meals.

    Verified Oct 2026

  • A pub room with terracotta walls, a cushioned bench seat and bar stools

    The Clothiers Arms

    Inn · Stroud

    A pub with seven rooms at the bottom of Rodborough Hill in Stroud, a pub since 1891, with a beer garden, an adventure play area next door and a family suite.

    Family-friendly · Car-free

    Verified Nov 2026

  • The bright dining room at the Bell Inn with wooden tables and red pendant lights

    The Bell Inn, Selsley

    Inn · Stroud

    A chef-owned 17th-century inn, listed Grade II, with two bedrooms at Selsley, two miles from Stroud, with two AA Rosettes and dogs welcome throughout.

    Dog-friendly

    Verified Nov 2026

Holiday cottages in and around Stroud

Where to eat and drink in Stroud

Stroud: eat and drink
  • Plate of fritters topped with micro herbs and drizzled with chilli sauce

    Woodruffs

    Cafes and tearooms · Stroud

    A café on Stroud's High Street for brunch, lunch, coffee and cake, open every day, with dogs welcome.

    Dog-friendly · Family-friendly · Car-free

    Verified Oct 2026

  • Baskets of labelled apple varieties on a market stall

    Stroud Farmers' Market

    Farm shops and delis · Stroud

    A farmers' market on Cornhill Market Place and the streets round it in Stroud every Saturday from 9am to 2pm, run by Made in Stroud and nominated for the FRA's Best Farmers' Market of the Year.

    Verified Nov 2026

  • Three crusty sourdough loaves, one seeded, on a dark perforated baking tray

    Salt Bakehouse

    Farm shops and delis · Stroud

    A bakery on Slad Road, Stroud, Baker of the Year 2016 at the BIA awards, selling from a kiosk on Union Street and at the Saturday farmers' market.

    Verified Nov 2026

Walks in and around Stroud

All walks starting here
  • Open limestone grassland on Rodborough Common sloping down to trees under a spring sky

    Rodborough Common and the fort

    Walk · Starts in Stroud and the Five Valleys · 45 mins · Circular · Dog-friendly

    A 2-mile (3.4km) circular walk on Rodborough Common above Stroud, easy, nearly level and about 45 minutes: up to the battlemented folly of Rodborough Fort, down the open western edge, and back past the Bear and an ice-cream stop. Grassy, and grazed by cattle.

  • The grassy edge below Haresfield Beacon looking out over the Stroud valleys

    Haresfield Beacon and Standish Wood

    Walk · Starts in Stroud and the Five Valleys · 2 hrs, 15 mins · Circular

    A 4.5-mile (7.2km) circular walk from the National Trust's Shortwood car park, moderate and two to two and a half hours: south through the beeches of Standish Wood, down across the fields below the escarpment, and a long climb back to the hillfort on Haresfield Beacon.

Sights in and around Stroud

All sights
  • A clear river running between a white-painted mill building and green banks

    River Frome, Stroud

    Sight · River · Stroud

    The River Frome runs along the bottom of Stroud, where four streams join it to make the town's five valleys. It drove the mills of the Stroud cloth trade, and today a riverside path through Frome Banks and the canal towpath follow it below the town.

  • A Victorian stone church porch and gables behind clipped shrubs under a blue sky

    St Laurence's Church, Stroud

    Sight · Church · Stroud

    Stroud's parish church, beside the Shambles: a fourteenth-century tower and spire with a High Victorian church of 1866 to 1868 behind it, carved by Joshua Wall, with a Weatherley rood screen, a screen by Peter Waals and about 80 brass plates on its north wall.

  • A castellated stone fort on a hilltop above cow parsley under a blue sky

    Rodborough Fort

    Sight · Historic building · Stroud and the Five Valleys

    Rodborough Fort is a battlemented house on the brow of Rodborough Common above Stroud, begun as a folly for Captain Hawker in 1761 and enlarged in 1870 with a four-storey tower, turreted curtain walls and a small chapel. Grade II; a private house, seen from the common.

Stories about Stroud

All stories
  • A tree in golden autumn leaf among dark conifers at Westonbirt Arboretum

    Autumn in the Cotswolds

    Story · Guides · 10 minute read

    Autumn in the Cotswolds, from Westonbirt's maples and Batsford to the beech woods of the escarpment, Blenheim's park and the Slad valley: when the colour comes, the best autumn walks, the October events, how to miss the half-term crowds, what to wear and where to stay for a fire.

  • Tall grey beech trunks rising from a leaf-strewn woodland floor where two paths divide

    Bluebell woods in the Cotswolds

    Story · Guides · 10 minute read

    The best bluebell woods in the Cotswolds, from Westonbirt's Silk Wood and Lynches Wood below Dover's Hill to Standish Wood, Frith Wood, Siccaridge Wood and Foxholes: when they flower, who looks after each wood, where to park, the dog rule and the walk that goes through it.

  • The gabled farm shop at Daylesford lit up at dusk

    Cotswold food and drink: farm shops, breweries, distilleries and markets

    Story · Guides · 10 minute read

    What the Cotswolds make and where to buy it: Cotswold lamb, the Gloucester cheeses, Donnington and Uley beer, whisky from Stourton, wine from Woodchester Valley, the farm shops, the markets at Stroud, Moreton and Cirencester, and the tastings worth booking.

History of Stroud

Stroud was first recorded in 1221 as la Strode, probably the marshy ground where the Slad brook meets the Frome. By 1608 the parish had 19 clothiers, 76 weavers and 33 fullers, and by the early eighteenth century the district was famous for its cloth and its dyes. The canals came in the 1770s and 1780s and the railway in 1845, but most of the remaining cloth mills closed in the depression of the late nineteenth century.

Questions about Stroud

When is Stroud farmers' market?

Every Saturday, 9am to 2pm, on Cornhill Market Place and the streets around it.

Is the Museum in the Park free?

Yes. It opens Tuesday to Friday from 10am to 4.30pm and at weekends and on bank holidays from 11am to 4.30pm. It is closed on Mondays, and from 21 December 2026 to 22 January 2027.

Can you get to Stroud by train from London?

Yes, direct from London Paddington, about every hour, in about an hour and a half.

Where is parking free in Stroud?

The district council's town-centre car parks are free on Sundays and bank holidays. On other days London Road starts at 90p an hour, and Blue Badge holders park free in any bay.

Where is Cider with Rosie set?

In Slad, the village 2 miles up the valley from Stroud where Laurie Lee grew up.

Getting to Stroud

By train
Stroud station has direct GWR trains to London Paddington, about every hour, in about an hour and a half.
By bus
From Merrywalks: the 66 to Painswick and Cheltenham, the 63 to Nailsworth and Gloucester (Sundays too), the 40 to Wotton-under-Edge and the 620 to Minchinhampton and Tetbury.
Parking
London Road, Parliament Street and Cheapside charge from 90p an hour, Monday to Saturday, by coin, card or MiPermit, and are free on Sundays and bank holidays.
Distances from Stroud
Slad1.9 mi
Gloucester9.9 mi
Cirencester13 mi
Cheltenham14.3 mi
Map of Stroud
© OpenStreetMap contributors

Places near Stroud

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