Christmas in the Cotswolds

Christmas in the Cotswolds begins in mid-November, when Blenheim Palace opens its Christmas light trail, and runs into January with the wassails. In between come Sudeley Castle's evening trail of lights, Christmas markets at Cogges and in Stroud, the lights switch-on at Bourton-on-the-Water, steam trains to Broadway's late-night shopping, carols by candlelight and the Marshfield mummers on Boxing Day.

Most of the big events need tickets booked ahead, and their dates change each year, so we give the 2026 dates where the organisers have published them and the season where they have not. What follows is drawn from our guides to each place, with the walks and inns that make a weekend of it.

When does Christmas start in the Cotswolds?

Christmas in the Cotswolds starts in mid-November. Blenheim's light trail opens then and runs to early January, Sudeley's trail opens in late November, and the Christmas markets, the tree lightings and Father Christmas at the farm park follow from the end of November. December is the busiest month for evening events, so book the trails early. Our guides to the Cotswolds in November and the Cotswolds in December have the rest of each month.

Christmas light trails

Blenheim Palace. The best-known Cotswold Christmas is at Blenheim Palace, on the edge of Woodstock, where a light trail runs through the park from mid-November to the first weekend of January (from 13 November in 2026), open 10am to 8pm, and the palace has its own Christmas display inside. Entry is timed and capacity limited, so book a date and time online, and the usual Blenheim discounts do not apply. Parking is charged and every visitor books it ahead with their ticket.

Sudeley Castle. At Sudeley Castle, on the edge of Winchcombe, the Spectacle of Light is an evening trail through the gardens on selected evenings from 20 November to 30 December 2026, with adult tickets from £25 (opens in a new tab) (£30 on standard nights). It opens at 4.45pm, last entry is 7.15pm and the walk takes about an hour, so dress for a cold evening.

Westonbirt. At Westonbirt, the National Arboretum, near Tetbury, Christmas at Westonbirt is an illuminated trail after dark on selected evenings from late November to New Year's Eve, with timed entry from 4pm to 8pm. Every visitor needs a ticket for a date and time, parking is booked separately, and dogs are not allowed on the trail, apart from assistance dogs.

Christmas markets in the Cotswolds

Cogges, Witney. Cogges, the thirteenth-century manor farm on the edge of Witney, holds its Christmas Market on 28 and 29 November 2026, 10am to 4pm. From 2 November the farm opens only in the mornings, from 9.30am to 1pm, with the grounds alone. Parking is free.

Stroud. Made in Stroud, which runs the town's Saturday farmers' market, also holds Christmas markets on Cornhill in Stroud: the Goodwill Evening on Friday 4 December 2026, 4pm to 9pm, and three days of makers' stalls from Wednesday 16 to Friday 18 December, 9am to 4pm. Around the start of December, St Laurence's beside the Shambles holds a Christmas Tree Festival, free to visit, with trees from more than 100 community groups and music at 11am, 1pm and 3pm. In 2026 it runs from Friday 27 November to Saturday 5 December, 10am to 5pm (from 10.30am on Saturdays), stays open to 9pm for the Goodwill Evening on Friday 4 December, and closes with the town carol service on Sunday 6 December.

Broadway. On Friday 27 November and Friday 4 December 2026, from 4.30pm to 8.30pm, Broadway has late-night Christmas shopping (opens in a new tab), and the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway runs evening shuttles for it from Toddington, a steam and a diesel engine top and tail; Broadway's parking is heavily restricted on those evenings. The railway's Santa Specials run from Toddington between 28 November and 23 December, and festive steam trains between Christmas and New Year, from 27 December in 2026. Toddington lies on the line between Cheltenham and Broadway, with a large free car park.

Bath. The nearest of the big city Christmas markets is in Bath, at the southern end of the Cotswolds, from Thursday 26 November to Sunday 13 December 2026.

Christmas lights in the villages

At Bourton-on-the-Water the village switches on its Christmas lights on Friday 27 November 2026 at 5.30pm. The parish council stands a 9m Christmas tree in the Windrush for the season, beside the low bridges such as Narrow Bridge. Chipping Campden's tree goes up in the High Street beside the 1627 Market Hall. Both are free, and both villages are far quieter than in summer.

Carols and Christmas services

Many Cotswold churches hold carol services in December and services by candlelight on Christmas Eve, and visitors are welcome. The most memorable is at St Nicholas's, Lower Oddington, a Grade I church in the woods near Stow with a huge fourteenth-century Doom on its north wall and no electricity: it holds a service on St Nicholas Day, 6 December, and one by candlelight on Christmas Eve. The estate church of St Mary's at Batsford holds carol services as well. For a great wool church at Christmas, see our guide to the wool churches of the Cotswolds; check each parish's own page for the times, which are set each autumn.

Christmas days out with children

Adam Henson's Cotswold Farm Park near Guiting Power has Father Christmas at weekends from late November. At Lacock Abbey the abbey rooms close for the winter clean from 1 November, but the Great Hall opens again for Christmas from 28 November to 31 December. The Cotswold Wildlife Park near Burford is closed on Christmas Day, and for about a month from early January it closes on weekdays for maintenance, opening at weekends only. Our guide to the Cotswolds with children has more for the holidays.

Christmas food: farm shops and markets

For the Christmas table, the Cotswold farm shops are worth the drive. Daylesford, near Kingham, has farmed organically since 1977 and sells bread and cheese from its own bakery and creamery. When we checked, its farm page gave Christmas hours with the farmshop closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and open 8am to 4pm on Christmas Eve. Outside Cirencester, the Organic Farm Shop at Abbey Home Farm has been farmed organically since 1990, and posts its Christmas and New Year hours separately on its website. At Hailes, below the escarpment near Winchcombe, Hayles Fruit Farm sells its own Hayles cider and has a farm shop and the Orchard Kitchen café; it opens Tuesday to Sunday, 9am to 5pm, and is closed on Mondays.

Stroud's farmers' market runs every Saturday morning on Cornhill, and the Shambles market beside St Laurence's trades on Fridays and Saturdays all year except Good Friday and the weekend between Christmas and New Year. The farmers' market has not published its Christmas and New Year days, so check before you go. Williams in Nailsworth is a fishmonger as well as a restaurant.

Boxing Day, New Year and Twelfth Night

Mummers. On Boxing Day morning (opens in a new tab) the Paper Boys of Marshfield, on the southern edge of the Cotswolds, perform their mummers' play in the Market Place at 11am, after carols, and along the High Street. Boxing Day 2026 is a Saturday; the Mummers have yet to confirm the day and times. Our story on mummers' plays in the Cotswolds tells the history.

Racing. Cheltenham Racecourse holds its Christmas Meeting on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 December 2026 and races on New Year's Day, a cheaper day out than the March Festival.

Wassails. The season ends with the wassails, held at Twelfth Night, on Old Twelfth Night (17 January) and into February, when the orchards are toasted with cider and song. Our story on wassailing in the Cotswolds lists where. Stroud has its own, the Stroud Wassail, with morris sides and a beast dance for children at the Museum in the Park on a Saturday in February; the museum announces the date in the new year.

Christmas walks in the Cotswolds

A winter walk is the best of a Cotswold Christmas, and the short days favour routes of two to three hours with a pub at the end. Paths are muddy from November, and some valley meadows flood, so wear boots. Our winter weekend in Broadway and the north is built for the short days, with the walk to Broadway Tower, an afternoon by the fire and what is closed.

The walk from Broadway to Broadway Tower, 6.5km and stile-free, climbs Coneygree Lane to the tower and comes back down the Cotswold Way to the village's late-night shops. From Combe, the 10.8km walk into Blenheim Park uses the public footpaths past Fair Rosamund's Well and Queen Pool. Most of it is on public rights of way, but about 570m beside Queen Pool runs on an estate road with permissive access, not a public footpath, and Blenheim does not publish whether the park opens on Christmas Day. Walkers reported deep mud and flooded patches on this walk in the winter of 2025 to 2026. The 9.7km loop from Bourton to Upper and Lower Slaughter is at its quietest on a winter weekday; walkers report mud on its bridleways after rain and name the Fosse Way crossings as the hazard. In the south, the 3.4km Rodborough Common walk passes the Bear of Rodborough. Westonbirt is open every day but Christmas Day, so it makes a Boxing Day walk among the trees.

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Where to stay in the Cotswolds at Christmas

For Christmas, choose an old inn with a fire and a dining room you need not drive to. In Broadway, the Lygon Arms, first recorded in 1377, has log fires in the bar and lounges and a spa with an indoor pool, and the Broadway Hotel has open fires in its Jockey Bar. In Woodstock, the Bear, which the hotel describes as a thirteenth-century coaching inn, a few minutes' walk from Blenheim, serves afternoon tea by the fire, and the Feathers is close to the palace gates. In Burford, the Lamb Inn has fires in the bar, and on the green at Kingham the Kingham Plough has a fire inside and Kingham station about a mile away. In Chipping Campden, the Eight Bells has open fires and real ale by the church.

Book early: Christmas and New Year packages sell out, many inns set minimum stays, and some places close. Stow Lodge, for one, closes for about six weeks over Christmas and the new year. Our guide to where to stay in the Cotswolds has more.