How we research and check
Every fact on Cotswolds Info that a visitor acts on comes from a source we can name, and the page carries the date it was checked. This is how we research a page, how we check it before it goes live, and how we keep it right afterwards.
We are an independent guide, and the only reason to read us over a bigger site is that what we say is true, current and fair. So every page is researched from primary sources, checked again before it goes live, dated, and corrected fast when it goes wrong. Nothing on the site is paid for in its words. Where a business pays for a placement, the page says so, and where a link to a booking site earns us a commission, the page says that before the first such link.
Where our facts come from
We use primary sources first: the business, the venue, the organiser, the council, the bus or rail operator, and the custodian of a building or a path. For history we use Historic England's list, the Victoria County History (opens in a new tab), the National Trust and English Heritage, and the parish and county records. For the landscape we use the Cotswolds National Landscape Board (opens in a new tab). We do not use other guides, review sites, forums or AI answers as sources, and we use Wikipedia only to find its references. Where the primary source is silent, we may use a booking platform's own listing data, such as check-in times or a minimum stay, and on walks the conditions that two or more walkers have recently reported, such as mud or a diverted path. We never use ratings or opinions from them, and the page says where the fact comes from.
Every page has a source ledger: a record of each fact a reader might act on, where it came from, the date we read it, and whether it was confirmed on a current page or only an older one. A fact we cannot confirm is left out, or the page says plainly that it is unconfirmed.
Before a page goes live
A page starts as a draft built from those sources. Before it is published, every fact a visitor might act on is checked again against its primary source, separately from the writing, and anything we cannot confirm comes out. Most pages are researched first and visited after, and a page never claims a visit that has not happened. A business can confirm its own facts through our members' portal. A walk goes on the site only with a route that walkers have already walked and published; someone of ours then walks it with the route file, and its checked date waits for that walk. Photographs are our own, the owner's, or licensed and credited in the caption.
Only when the facts have been checked do we set the date you see as "verified". A page without one has not had that check yet.
Keeping it right
Facts go stale, so each kind of page is rechecked on a cycle: businesses every year, parking, buses, toilets and access on place guides every six months and each spring, events every week, seasonal guides a month before each season, and walks every year or after a reported diversion. Refreshing means checking every fact again, not changing the date.
Our practical pages, from parking in the busiest villages to the buses route by route, carry the date of each figure, and the care code explains why we send people to the quieter village as well as the famous one.
Rankings and picks
Every list of the best villages, pubs or places to stay says how we chose. Picks are made on merit from places we have checked, and nobody can pay to be on one. A commission from a booking site never decides what is on a list or its order. A business that is a member of the directory gets a labelled placement, never different words.
Corrections
To tell us something is out of date or wrong, use our contact page or email [email protected] with the page and what has changed. We read every report, check it against the source, and fix confirmed errors as soon as we can. A correction that matters, such as a wrong date or a safety fact, gets a dated note at the foot of the page, and every correction goes in our log so we can see what keeps going wrong.
Guides checked, every month
The pages we have rechecked and corrected, and the new ones, once a month.
Questions
Does Cotswolds Info visit the places it writes about?
Yes, but most pages are researched from primary sources first and visited after, and a page never claims a visit that has not happened. Every page is fact checked against its sources before it is published. Walks follow routes that walkers have already published; we walk each one ourselves and date it when we have.
Can a business pay to be recommended?
No. Nobody can pay for our words, our picks or a place on a list. Members of the directory can have a labelled placement on a page, which says it is paid, and some links to booking sites earn us a commission, which the page says, but the guide's text and choices are the same for every business, member or not.
How do I report something out of date?
Use our contact page, or email [email protected], to tell us what is wrong and where you saw it. We check every report against the business, council or operator, fix confirmed errors quickly, and note significant corrections at the foot of the page with the date.
What does the checked date on a page mean?
It is the date someone last confirmed the facts a visitor acts on, such as hours, prices, parking and buses, against their primary source. It changes only when the facts have been checked again, not when the page is edited.