The Cotswolds in March

March is the month the Cotswolds wake up: lambs in the fields, daffodils on the verges, the first gardens reopening and, on the last Sunday, the clocks going forward (opens in a new tab). The weather turns with it. The Met Office's averages for Little Rissington (opens in a new tab), on the wolds, give a high of nearly 10°C and a low of about 2°C, rain on 10 or 11 days and 54mm in all, and about four hours of sunshine a day, twice January's. The days lengthen from about 11 hours to nearly 13, and once the clocks change the sun sets after 7.30pm. The villages are still quiet on weekdays. The one crowd is the Cheltenham Festival in the middle of the month, and in years when Easter is early, the Easter weekend at the end.

The averages describe the high ground above Bourton-on-the-Water. The vale is a little warmer and greener sooner. March weather swings between the two seasons in a week, so pack for January as well as April.

What is in flower in March

Daffodils, blossom and the first spring bulbs, with the snowdrops gone over by the first week. The daffodils come out along the verges and in the churchyards, the blackthorn flowers white in the hedges, and the gardens that open this month open for their bulbs and early shrubs.

Batsford Arboretum near Moreton-in-Marsh lists daffodils and the blossom of its magnolias among its spring flowers, after the snowdrops and hellebores, and it is open every day. Sezincote, the Indian-style house near Bourton-on-the-Hill, opens its garden in March on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and on bank holiday Mondays, closing at 4pm in March; weekends are closed for weddings. Sudeley Castle at Winchcombe opens its gardens and rooms daily from the middle of the month (from 14 March in 2026; check the castle's site for the coming season). Hidcote, the National Trust's Arts and Crafts garden near Chipping Campden, moves to its main season price in mid-March as the garden comes back into flower.

Lambs are everywhere by the end of the month, on the wolds and in the riverside fields, and that is the reason to keep a dog on its lead on every walk. Our guide to Cotswold gardens gives each garden's season, and our bluebell woods guide takes over from the middle of April.

What is on in March

The Cheltenham Festival is the event of the month and of the jump racing year: four days at Cheltenham Racecourse, from Tuesday to Friday in the middle of March, with 28 races and the Gold Cup on the Friday. Tickets are sold by the Jockey Club, car parking passes must be bought before the day, and on racedays Stagecoach shuttle buses run from Cheltenham Spa station and the town centre to the course. If you are not going racing, stay away from the Cheltenham side that week: every hotel, pub room and cottage for miles around is taken and priced for it.

Mothering Sunday falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent, three weeks before Easter Sunday, so in most years it is in March. It is the first busy pub lunch of the year, so book a table as soon as you know your plans.

The Chipping Campden Music Festival holds its fortnight in St James' Church in May, but its programme can open early with a single concert in the church in March, as the current one does. The festival's page lists each concert. The markets run as usual: 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 through the week.

What opens and what is still closed in March

March is when the season starts. By the end of the month Sudeley, Sezincote and the rooms of Lacock Abbey, shut from November, are open again, and Buscot Park near Lechlade reopens on set afternoons from late March. The National Trust's Lodge Park opened on selected long weekends through 2026; check the National Trust's page for the coming year. The Cotswold Farm Park and the Cotswold Falconry Centre have been open since mid-February, the Farm Park with its lambing barn from the February half term.

Still shut until April are Bourton House Garden, Kelmscott Manor, Miserden, Burford's Tolsey Museum and the Highgrove garden tours. Woodchester Mansion is normally open from the beginning of April to the end of October (its 2026 season began on Good Friday, 3 April). The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway runs on set days by its colour-coded timetable; its dates for the coming season were not yet published when we checked in October 2026. Broadway Tower keeps its shorter winter hours (tower 10.30am to 4pm on weekdays, 10am to 4.30pm at weekends) until April. Each listing has the latest dates we have. Check the place's own site as well.

Walks for March

March walking is the best since October on a dry day and the muddiest of the spring on a wet one. The valley paths are still wet after the winter, and the river meadows can be under water into the month, so choose a walk with a firm climb and a dry top, and keep dogs on a lead wherever there are sheep.

• Broadway and the Tower, 4 miles (6.5km) from the war memorial, steep in places with no stiles, past St Eadburgha's and up to Broadway Tower. Muddy by the field gates after rain
• Hailes and Beckbury Camp, 3.5 miles from Hayles Fruit Farm, with three stiles, up the monks' track to Beckbury Camp and back past Hailes church and the abbey ruin
• Lower to Upper Slaughter, 2 miles there and back beside the River Eye, nearly level. Muddy after rain, with sheep and lambs in the riverside fields

The Slaughters walk is the one to do in March, before the Easter crowds arrive, when the river path is quiet even at a weekend.

Where to stay and eat in March

March suits a weekend in the north Cotswolds, away from Cheltenham in Festival week, with a garden in the morning and a walk in the afternoon. Winchcombe is the base for Sudeley and Hailes, with rooms at the Lion Inn on North Street, but in Festival week Winchcombe fills with racegoers too, so go the week before or after. In the Slaughters, the Slaughters Country Inn in Lower Slaughter takes dogs in selected rooms, for £10 a dog a night. Its Field Kitchen in the garden opens between April and September. Hayles Fruit Farm, at the start of the Hailes walk, has the Orchard Kitchen for brunch (served until 3pm, walk-ins only at weekends) and its Hayles cider in the farm shop, and is closed on Mondays.

For Mothering Sunday, book the pub when you book the room. Our guide to pubs with rooms in the Cotswolds has the choice, and places to stay in Broadway the other side of the north edge.

The Cotswolds Info newsletter

Events, new places and the best of the season, about once a month. Unsubscribe at any time.

Leave this field blank

Your name

Your email address

Yes, send me the Cotswolds Info newsletter

Sign me up

School holidays and bank holidays in March

There is usually no bank holiday in March. Good Friday falls in March only when Easter is early, as Easter Sunday can be any date from 22 March to 25 April. In those years the Easter weekend and its bank holidays, Good Friday and Easter Monday, fill Bourton and Bibury whenever the weather is fine.

The Easter school holidays are two weeks long. Gloucestershire's (opens in a new tab) run around Easter and can start in the last days of March, and Oxfordshire (opens in a new tab) and Wiltshire publish their own. Check the council's own page for the year. Outside Festival week and an early Easter, March weekdays are as quiet as February's, and the clocks going forward on the last Sunday gives an extra hour of evening light for a walk after work. Our guide to the Cotswolds without the crowds has the busy hours.

If you only have a day in March

Pick a weekday other than Monday after the middle of the month, when Sudeley is open and the racing is over. Walk the Hailes and Beckbury Camp loop in the morning from Hayles Fruit Farm, with brunch at the Orchard Kitchen at the end (it serves brunch until 3pm), then drive the 3 miles or so through Winchcombe for an afternoon in Sudeley Castle's gardens, where last admission is 3pm.

If it rains, swap the walk for Batsford's magnolias and an hour at the falconry centre next door. Our guide to when to visit the Cotswolds has the rest of the year month by month.