Martin Dawes, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- No car
- Walkers
- Couples
The Cotswolds without a car: three days by train, bus and on foot
Three days in the Cotswolds without a car, based at Moreton-in-Marsh station: the walk to Batsford and Stow on day one, Bourton and the Slaughters on day two, Bibury by two buses on day three. Bus times from the operator's 2026 timetables.
- 3 days
- No car needed
- Base: Moreton-in-Marsh
- Buses: Pulhams 801 and 855
- About 17.5 miles (28km) on foot
Day 1: Moreton, Batsford and Stow
A stile-free walk from the station, then the 801 to Stow and another walk
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Morning
Morning Train
Train to Moreton-in-Marsh
About 90 minutes from London Paddington on GWR's Cotswold Line, through Oxford. Check times and fares on GWR's journey planner. Leave bags at the hotel.
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10.30am
10.30am On foot
A stile-free 4-mile (6.4km) loop from the war memorial on the High Street, west through field gates to Batsford, below the deer park, and back by Dorn.
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12.30pm
12.30pm Eat and drink 1 hour here
Lunch at the Redesdale
A pub with rooms on the High Street, open from 8am every day. Across the road is Redesdale Hall of 1887; the Curfew Tower is on the corner of Oxford Street.
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1.45pm
1.45pm Bus
801 bus from Moreton-in-Marsh station to Stow
Leaves the station at 1.45pm every day and reaches Stow-on-the-Wold Library at 2.05pm.
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2.15pm
2.15pm On foot
A 3.75-mile (5.5km) walk from the Cross, with gates instead of stiles: by Maugersbury to the Fosse Way, down to Hyde Mill and back up by Nether Swell. Cross the Fosse Way (A429) with great care, by the traffic island.
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4.15pm
4.15pm Market town 1 hour here
Stow-on-the-Wold
St Edward's church on the Square, open daily, then tea. The Porch House on Digbeth Street serves lunch until 3pm (5pm on Sundays) and dinner from 5pm.
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5.33pm
5.33pm Bus
801 bus from Stow back to Moreton station
From Stow Library at 5.33pm, arriving at Moreton station at 5.45pm. It runs every day, and on Sundays it is the last bus back; on other days there are later ones.
Day 2: Bourton-on-the-Water and the Slaughters
The 801 to Bourton, the walk through both Slaughters, Birdland and back
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9.45am
9.45am Bus
801 bus from Moreton station to Bourton
Leaves Moreton station at 9.45am every day, by Stow, and reaches the middle of Bourton-on-the-Water at about 10.20am.
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10.30am
10.30am On foot
Walk to Upper and Lower Slaughter
A 6-mile (9.7km) circuit from Rissington Road with a few stiles, by Upper Slaughter's ford and down the River Eye to Lower Slaughter. Walkers report mud after rain, a mile of lane with no pavement and two A429 crossings that need care.
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1pm
1pm Eat and drink 1 hour here
Lunch by the river at the Croft
A café on Riverside, walk-in only for breakfast and lunch at weekends. If it is full, the Willow on the High Street serves food from late morning into the evening.
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2pm
2pm Things to do 2 hours here
Birdland
Adult £14.95, child £11.50 at the gate (2026), and 20 per cent off with a same-day bus or train ticket. Penguins fed at 3pm; last entry 3pm, and it closes at 4pm.
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4.15pm
4.15pm Bus
801 bus from Bourton back to Moreton station
From the Edinburgh Wool Shop stop at 4.15pm every day, reaching Moreton station at 4.45pm. On Sundays the last is 5.15pm; on other days there are buses into the evening.
Day 3: Bibury, Monday to Saturday
Two buses to Bibury, the River Coln walk and lunch by the bridge
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8.45am
8.45am Bus
801 bus from Moreton station to Bourton
Leaves Moreton station at 8.45am and reaches Bourton's Moore Hospital stop at 9.21am. Change there for the 855, with time for a coffee.
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9.58am
9.58am Bus
855 bus from Bourton to Bibury
From Bourton's Moore Hospital stop at 9.58am, by Northleach, to Bibury, The Square, at 10.32am. Monday to Saturday only; no 855 on Sundays or public holidays.
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10.45am
10.45am Village 30 minutes here
Bibury and Arlington Row
Arlington Row, the weavers' cottages above the mill stream, then St Mary's, a Saxon church that keeps some thirteenth-century glass in a small window by the altar.
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11.15am
11.15am On foot
Bibury and the River Coln walk
A 4-mile (6.5km) loop from the bridge by the Swan, with one climb and a muddy stretch: up through Oxhill Wood to Akeman Street and back by Arlington Row.
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1.15pm
1.15pm Places to stay 1 hour here
Lunch at the Swan
The hotel by the bridge over the Coln, with a brasserie from breakfast to dinner and, the hotel says, food all day in the bar. Ring 01285 740695 to check food times on the day.
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2.21pm
2.21pm Bus
855 bus from Bibury back to Bourton
From Bibury, The Square, at 2.21pm, to Bourton's Edinburgh Wool Shop stop at 2.47pm. Monday to Saturday.
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3.15pm
3.15pm Bus
801 bus from Bourton to Moreton station
From the Edinburgh Wool Shop stop at 3.15pm, reaching Moreton station at 3.45pm, in time for a train home.
In more detail
You can see the Cotswolds without a car, and Moreton-in-Marsh is the place to do it from: its station is about 90 minutes from London Paddington, and the Pulhams 801 bus leaves from outside it for Stow-on-the-Wold and Bourton-on-the-Water every day of the week, Sundays included. This three-day plan uses the 801, the 855 to Bibury and four walks, and every bus time in it is from Pulhams' own timetables.
How this car-free itinerary works
Days one and two work on any day of the week. Day three needs the 855, which runs Monday to Saturday only, so on a Sunday take the Kingham walk below instead. The 801 runs about hourly from Moreton station to Stow (20 minutes) and Bourton (about 35 minutes), and back. The times follow a pattern. Towards Bourton, buses leave Moreton station at 45 minutes past the hour from 8.45am to 1.45pm on weekdays and Saturdays, less regularly after that, and all day on Sundays. Towards Moreton, they leave Bourton's Edinburgh Wool Shop stop at 15 minutes past the hour from 9.15am to 5.15pm every day, with more in the evening except on Sundays.
Single bus fares in England are capped by the government, so most local journeys cost no more than the national cap. Since July 2026 Pulhams buses take contactless by tap on and tap off: touch your card or phone on the reader as you board and again as you get off. Keep your ticket: Birdland gives 20 per cent off with a same-day bus or train ticket, and Court Barn in Chipping Campden halves its price. Our guide to getting to the Cotswolds without a car covers the stations, coaches and fares in full.
With only a day, our day trip from London takes the train to Moreton-in-Marsh, the 801 bus to Bourton and the walk to the Slaughters, and is home the same evening.
Day one: Moreton, Batsford and Stow
From the station, walk up to the war memorial on the High Street for the stile-free walk to Batsford, which passes the Batsford estate and comes back by Dorn and the mound of a Roman fort. Batsford Arboretum is on the way if you want to add it: adult £12 with Gift Aid (2026), open daily, best in spring and autumn. Back in town, look at Redesdale Hall and the Curfew Tower, with its clock of 1648.
After lunch, the 801 takes 20 minutes to Stow. The walk by Maugersbury and the Swells starts at the market cross and has no stiles; the loop to Lower Swell is the alternative, past the Lutyens war memorial. Before the bus back, see St Edward's church, where more than 1,600 prisoners were held after the battle of 1646.
Day two: Bourton and the Slaughters
The 9.45am bus reaches Bourton at about 10.20am, by which time it is busy, so walk straight out. Neither Upper Slaughter nor Lower Slaughter has a bus; the 6-mile circuit from Bourton takes you through both, past the Old Mill and up to St Peter's above the ford. For something shorter, the 2-mile loop round Salmonsbury and the lakes is flat. In the afternoon, Birdland is two minutes from the middle of the village, and the Model Village is behind the Old New Inn.
Day three: Bibury by two buses
From Monday to Saturday the 855 links Bourton, Northleach, Bibury and Cirencester about hourly, and it meets the 801 in Bourton. In Bibury, see Arlington Row and St Mary's, then walk the Coln. For lunch, the Swan is by the bridge. The same bus also stops in Northleach, whose wool church is open from 9am to 5pm, if you would rather break the journey there.
Walks from the stations
Several stations put a walk within reach without any bus at all. These are the ones we can stand behind, and the links to check.
- Moreton-in-Marsh: the Batsford walk starts at the war memorial on the High Street, a short walk from the platform.
- Kingham: the Kingham and Daylesford walk is about 700m north of the station up Station Road; it is flat, 4.4 miles, and often wet in winter. The Kingham Plough on the green is open daily from 8.30am. Kingham is the next station from Moreton towards Oxford.
- Stroud: Stagecoach West's 66 runs to Painswick for the walk up Painswick Beacon, hourly Monday to Saturday and every two hours on Sundays; check its times on stagecoachbus.com.
- Kemble: the 882 runs to Cirencester and Tetbury about five times a day, Monday to Saturday; check Stagecoach West's timetable before relying on it.
- Charlbury: the X9 runs to Chipping Norton; check its times before you go.
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Where to stay without a car
Stay in Moreton, a walk from the station and at the start of every bus. The White Hart Royal is a seventeenth-century coaching inn on the High Street where, the inn says, Charles I stayed during the Civil War, with an accessible room and no parking of its own, which suits arriving by train. The Manor House, also on the High Street, has a lift and welcomes dogs. In Kingham, the Wild Rabbit and the Kingham Plough both have rooms in the village, a walk from the station. See also places to stay in Moreton-in-Marsh. For other bases by station, from Charlbury to Stroud and Kemble, see where to stay in the Cotswolds without a car.