The Cotswolds in September

September is the best month to be in the Cotswolds, and most people who live here will say so. The schools go back in the first week, the famous villages empty on weekdays, and the weather holds: on the wolds the average high is 18°C and the low about 10°C, with rain on about ten days and nearly five hours of sun a day: warmer than May, with as many wet days but less sunshine, by the Met Office's averages for Little Rissington (opens in a new tab). The sun sets just before 8pm at the start of the month and before 7pm by the end. Weekends stay busy while the weather is good, but a Tuesday in September is as close to having Bibury to yourself as the daytime gets. The shows and customs come thick in the first three weeks, and the first maples turn at Westonbirt before the month is out.

Our month-by-month guide to when to visit puts September beside the rest of the year, and our guide to autumn in the Cotswolds takes over where this one ends.

What is in season in September

September is the gardens' late summer and the orchards' harvest. The borders at Hidcote and Bourton House Garden are at their fullest, the dahlias are out at Miserden, and the Westonbirt maples begin to colour in the last week, when the arboretum starts its peak autumn season (25 September in 2026) with higher prices and booking advised.

Apples and pears are in at Hayles Fruit Farm near Winchcombe, where the farm lists plums, apples and pears for picking in September, with strawberries into September. Pumpkins follow in October. Our guide to the Cotswold gardens has each garden's season.

What is on in September

September's events fall in the first three weeks, and most of them are free or cheap. There is no bank holiday, so each one is a weekend you choose.

The Moreton Show, the north Cotswolds' agricultural show, is on the first Saturday of September on the Batsford Estate: livestock, heavy horses, sheepdogs and the Shetland Pony Grand National, with children 12 and under free. In the middle of the month, for ten days, Heritage Open Days opens buildings across the Cotswolds for free, from Cirencester's amphitheatre and lock-up to Chastleton House and North Leigh Roman villa; the programme changes every year and some events need booking.

Over four days in mid-September, Thursday to Sunday, the Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials bring top-level eventing to the park at Woodstock, with the cross country on the Saturday. They are ticketed separately from the palace; children under 12 go free, and dogs are welcome on a lead. On the third Sunday of September the congregation of St Mary's join hands round the church for the Painswick clipping, among the clipped yews, during the Painswick Feast. In 2025 the service began at 3pm in church; check the time with the church nearer the day.

In odd-numbered years Avening holds Pig Face Day on a Sunday in mid-September (the parish puts it on the first Sunday after 14 September, and in 2025 it fell on Sunday 14 September), with a service, a procession in costume to the Memorial Hall and pulled pork; the next date had not been announced when we checked in October 2026. The steam railway runs on set days through September; its timetable lists them.

What closes at the end of September

September is the last month for several houses and gardens, so it is the month to see them before the winter. The National Trust houses and the big gardens stay open into the autumn; the private houses with short seasons do not.

Rodmarton Manor, the Arts and Crafts house near Cirencester, opens on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons until the end of September. The garden tours at Highgrove end in September, and Buscot Park closes for the winter after its last open afternoons at the end of the month. The Mosaic House at North Leigh Roman villa opens only on volunteer open weekends, the last of them in September, and in a normal season Dunkirk Mill's open days near Nailsworth end with the month (the mill was closed when we checked in October 2026, so check the Trust's site).

After that, the deadlines come in October: Bourton House Garden closes in the middle of the month, Kelmscott Manor at the end of it, and Sudeley Castle at the start of November. Check each place's page for its last day.

One place gets busier, not quieter. Westonbirt, the National Arboretum near Tetbury, starts its peak autumn season in the last week of September and runs it to the middle of November, with a higher price, more at weekends, and booking strongly advised. If you want an October weekend there, book it in September.

Walks for September

September is the best walking month of the year: the paths are usually dry after the summer, the cattle and sheep are still out in the fields, and the views from the edge are clear on a fresh morning. Shorter days mean starting earlier for a long walk.

The Chipping Campden and Dover's Hill walk climbs the Cotswold Way from the Market Hall to Dover's Hill, where the Olimpicks are held, dropping through Lynches Wood and climbing back up the side of the hill on the way: 4.5 miles (7.2km) with steep steps in the wood and no stiles, or a 3-mile version that skips the wood. On clipping Sunday, the Painswick Stream walk starts through the churchyard and follows the stream past five old mills: 3 miles, with stiles and one steep climb back up.

On the southern edge, the Wotton Hill and Tyndale Monument walk is an easy 3.5-mile ridge walk to the Tyndale Monument on Nibley Knoll, through woods popular with dog walkers. Walkers on AllTrails warn of loose stones and of mud after rain. All three suit the soft light of a September afternoon.

Where to stay and eat in September

September suits a walker's stay: a B&B on the Cotswold Way, two or three nights, with dinner in a pub you can walk to. Midweek prices are lower than in August, and rooms that were full all summer come free once the schools are back.

St Anne's in Painswick is a three-room B&B in a wool merchant's house, made for Cotswold Way walkers. Cleeve Hill, above Winchcombe, is a B&B hotel with a door onto Cleeve Common and the Way; it serves breakfast only. For a night out of the ordinary, this is the last month: the converted freight wagon and caravan pitches at Elms Farm, near Winchcombe, close in the first week of October (4 October in 2026). Our places to stay in Chipping Campden covers the start of the Way.

For dinner, the Woolpack at Slad, Laurie Lee's local, cooks from its walled garden, and the Coach and Horses at Longborough, a Donnington pub above the green, has a garden for the last warm evenings.

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School holidays and the September crowds

The schools go back in the first days of September, and the change is immediate. Gloucestershire's council-run schools (opens in a new tab) started on 1 September in 2026, and Oxfordshire's (opens in a new tab) on 2 September; academies may differ. There is no bank holiday in September.

From then on the famous villages are quiet on weekdays and still busy on fine weekends, when the shows and the good weather bring people out. The quietest days are midweek in the second half of the month, before Westonbirt's autumn weekends begin.

If you only have a day in September

Spend it on the edge. Walk from Chipping Campden up to Dover's Hill in the morning, with the vale below you, and have lunch back in the town. Drive south to Painswick for its churchyard of yews and table tombs in the afternoon light, then on to the Woolpack at Slad for dinner. If it is the first Saturday, swap the morning for the Moreton Show.