The Cotswolds in April

April in the Cotswolds is Easter, blossom and bluebells, and the first real crowds of the year. The bluebells start in the middle of the month and are usually at their best from late April into early May. The gardens that closed for the winter are nearly all open again by the end. And the Easter weekend brings crowds to the famous villages whenever it falls. The Met Office's averages for Little Rissington (opens in a new tab) give a high of nearly 13°C and a low of 4°C, 56mm of rain on 10 days, and nearly six hours of sunshine a day. With the clocks forward the evenings are long: sunset moves from about 7.40pm to 8.30pm through the month, and daylight grows from about 13 hours to nearly 15.

The figures are for the high wolds above Bourton-on-the-Water. April weather is kind but changeable, warm in the sun and cold in the wind on the escarpment, with a shower most weeks, so a waterproof stays in the bag.

What is in flower in April

Bluebells, blossom and the last daffodils. The Woodland Trust gives the bluebell season as mid-April to late May, and in the Cotswold woods the last week of April and the first week of May are the surest. Our guide to bluebell woods in the Cotswolds has every wood and its walk.

The woods do not all turn at once. Silk Wood at Westonbirt is the one wood on the list with hard paths fit for wheelchairs and pushchairs, and a café. On the escarpment above Stroud, Standish Wood and Frith Wood carry bluebells and wild garlic together, and walkers in Standish Wood found carpets of both in April 2026. On the north edge, walkers on our Blockley and Norcombe Wood walk have found the woods full of bluebells in late April.

The gardens are in blossom. Batsford Arboretum has its Japanese flowering cherries, and at Kiftsgate Court, next to Hidcote, the grass under the old limes along the drive is yellow with daffodils in spring, and the bluebell wood across the drive is at its best in early May; the garden opens on set days only, so check before you go. Keep to the path in any bluebell wood: trampled bluebells can take years to recover, and uprooting wild plants without the landowner's permission is against the law.

What is on in April

Easter is the event of the month, whenever it falls. Easter Sunday can be any date from 22 March to 25 April, so in most years Good Friday and Easter Monday, both bank holidays (opens in a new tab), fall in April, with the two-week Easter school holidays around them. In an early Easter year both fall in March and the school holidays start in March too, so check the year's dates. Book Easter Sunday lunch well ahead, and expect the honeypot villages to be busy on all four days.

The Cheltenham Jazz Festival runs for six days up to the early May bank holiday (29 April to 4 May in 2026), so it usually opens in the last days of April. The festival village in Montpellier Gardens is free to enter, with a free stage, though the main concerts need tickets. Check the year's dates on the festival's own site. The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway runs again from spring on set days, with steam and diesel trains between Cheltenham Race Course and Broadway.

The markets keep their rhythm: Stroud Farmers' Market every Saturday, Stow Farmers' Market on the second and last Thursdays, and the charter markets at Cirencester, Moreton-in-Marsh and Witney.

What opens in April, and what is still closed

April is when almost everything opens. Bourton House Garden at Bourton-on-the-Hill reopens in early April, Tuesday to Friday and not on public holidays. Kelmscott Manor, William Morris's home by the Thames, opens for its season from April to the end of October. Miserden, between Stroud and Cirencester, opens Wednesday to Sunday and on bank holidays. The Highgrove garden tours start in April by booking. Woodchester Mansion, the unfinished house in the valley near Nympsfield, opens on Good Friday, then from Friday to Sunday and on bank holidays.

Burford's Tolsey Museum opens daily in the afternoons from April, Broadway Tower opens its Morris and Brown café daily and runs its nuclear bunker tours from April to October, and a coffee kiosk at the entrance to the Old Mill in Lower Slaughter is licensed to trade from April to October. Still to come are Rodmarton Manor, which opens at the start of May, Stanway House in June and the lavender at Snowshill in mid-June. Each listing has the latest dates we have. Check the place's own site before you drive.

Walks for April: the bluebell woods

April's walks are through the beech woods of the escarpment, and the best of them are steep and muddy after rain, so wear boots. Keep dogs on a lead near livestock: walkers report sheep in the fields below Standish Wood, cattle around Norcombe Wood and rare-breed cattle on the Slad valley slopes.

• Haresfield Beacon and Standish Wood, 4.5 miles (7.2km) from the National Trust's Shortwood car park, through the beeches and back to the hill fort on Haresfield Beacon. The climb back is long, the wood is slippery after rain, and walkers report several double stiles that are hard to lift a dog over
• Blockley and Norcombe Wood, 3 miles from the top of Blockley, with one long climb, muddy woods and fallen branches to step round
• Westonbirt Arboretum walk, 2.5 miles through Silk Wood, nearly level and about an hour, inside the paid arboretum, where dogs may run off the lead under control
• The Laurie Lee Wildlife Way, 5 miles round the Slad valley from Bulls Cross, with steep climbs and poems on posts; Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust warns of an ash dieback diversion early on, so follow the signs

Go on a weekday if you can, and early on a weekend: the bluebell woods with car parks are the first places people head for on a fine Easter Saturday.

Where to stay and eat in April

April suits a stay on the Stroud edge or near Tetbury, close to the bluebell woods and away from the honeypots at Easter. Book Easter itself early, as rooms and Sunday tables go weeks ahead. Our places to stay in Stroud page has the town and the commons above it, and the Bear of Rodborough, on the National Trust's common, takes dogs. For Westonbirt, the Hare and Hounds at Westonbirt is a hotel close to the arboretum with dogs welcome.

For lunch after Standish Wood, the Vine Tree at Randwick, below the wood, has a tiered garden over the valleys and dogs welcome. Our guide to eating and drinking in the Five Valleys has more.

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School holidays and bank holidays in April

Good Friday and Easter Monday are bank holidays, and in most years both fall in April. The Easter school holidays last two weeks. Gloucestershire (opens in a new tab) sets its break around Easter, and Oxfordshire (opens in a new tab) and Wiltshire publish their own dates, so check the council's page for the year.

The Easter weekend is the first big crowd of the year. Bourton-on-the-Water and Bibury are busy on all four days, and the car parks fill. Go before 10am or after 5pm, or go to the next village up the valley. Our guide to the Cotswolds without the crowds has the alternatives. The weeks either side of the holidays are quiet on weekdays, and the last week of April, with the bluebells at their best and the schools back, is one of the best weeks of the year.

If you only have a day in April

Make it a weekday in the last ten days of the month. Park at Shortwood for the 10am start of the Haresfield Beacon and Standish Wood walk, have lunch at the Vine Tree in Randwick, and spend the afternoon in Painswick, with the Rococo Garden or the churchyard's yews.

With children or a wheelchair, go to Westonbirt instead and walk Silk Wood for the bluebells. Our guide to when to visit the Cotswolds has the rest of the year.