The Cotswolds is our favourite UK break destination. It’s such a beautiful part of the country and only about two hours for us from Surrey so it’s the perfect place to go for a few days. Pack the car up with everything you need, which is a lot with a 10 month old, and off you go.
This was our third visit to the Cotswolds together. You can read about our past trips here (to No.131 Cheltenham) and here (to The Painswick).
When Sykes Cottages got in touch and asked if we’d like to stay in one of their cottages I of course said yes and choose The Cotswolds out of the locations we were given. The cottage we chose was in Burford, which is so beautiful. We’d been the previous year for a wedding and we were dying to go back and explore the village more. Burford is often referred to as the ‘gateway’ to the Cotswolds, it’s just stunning. I’ll let the photos do the talking! The cottage was called Muffety Cottage, which was in central Burford down a village lane surrounded by fields and hill top views. The location was just perfect with a 3 minute walk into the high street with some great pubs. May is such a beautiful time of year with all the plants in full bloom.
On the way up we stopped off at Burford Garden Centre which is a must visit if like me you love a good garden centre!
We arrived at the cottage, which was so pretty. It is a fabulous location for families or couples with two double bedrooms and one bathroom it sleeps 4. As said above it is a 3 minute walk to Burford high street and it surrounded by fields and views as it’s on a hill. There is a beautiful private garden with BBQ area, private parking on the drive and the cottage is equipped with a travel cot and highchair.
This is the front of the cottage. How cute!
The view from the front of the cottage.
And the rear private garden.
Did I mention how beautiful Burford is? The cottage we stayed in was on the rear land of these gorgeous houses on the hill going down into Burford village.
There are two very good pubs at the end of the lane from the Cottage. The Lambs Inn and the Baytree Hotel. They are both owned by the same company, the Cotswolds Inn’s Hotels.
Burford is the kind of village you stand in and imagine what it was like hundreds of years ago with no cars, but horse and cart and that real sense of community amongst these beautiful old buildings.
The Lambs Inn –
The Bay Tree Hotel, which is the second great pub at the end of the lane with a beautiful garden where we had breakfast one of the mornings in the May sunshine.
More photos of the beautiful houses in Burford.
How cute is this old fashioned little sweet shop in Burford!
During our stay in the Cotswolds we also visited a couple of other Cotswolds villages. Bourton-on-the-Water was a 20 minute away and is so beautiful and idyllic. It is known for its low bridges and stone houses. Although it is quite a popular tourist destination so I would avoid visiting on a weekend. A quieter week day is the best bet.
We stumbled across the Model Village which was absolutely amazing, we were blown away by the detail and beauty that has gone into the model village. It is a one-ninth scale replica of Bourton-on-the-Water and is the only grade II listed model village in the country. Highly recommend a visit!
This little bear loved the model village.
We also visited Bibury, which was one of my favourite Cotswolds spots. It was once described by the famous William Morris as the most beautiful village in the Cotswolds. The village is famous for Arlington Row which looks over the river and water meadow. Arlington Row is a group of ancient cottages with steeply pitches roofs dating back to the 16th Century.
It was a Sunday when we visited so a good roast lunch was in order at The Swan.
How cute is the little duck race stream.
We had such a lovely few days in the Cotswolds visiting Burford, Bibury and Bourton-on-the-Water. I highly recommend a visit to all three of them.
Thanks for reading.
Claire
*Our 3-night trip was gifted to us by Sykes Cottages in exchange for social media exposure and this blog post. As always all opinions and writing are my own, I would never promote a product or service that I didn’t agree with.
