An Alternative Guide To The Cotswolds: Beyond The Chipping Norton Set

The area is known for coach tours and A-lister escapes, but beyond the honeypots lie delightfully alternative communities, ancient walking trails and brilliant pubs

Think of the Cotswolds and you’ll probably conjure up images of chocolate-box villages in honeyed stone surrounded by dreamy patchworks of green fields, possibly farmed by Jeremy Clarkson. The region covers parts of six counties – most is in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, but also corners of Warwickshire, Wiltshire, Worcestershire and Somerset – is a postcard-pretty holiday destination, and has been a hub for the wealthy since the heyday of the wool trade in the late middle ages.

More recently, the region I call home had a PR coup when Taylor Swift and her entourage based themselves near Chipping Norton this summer for her London tour dates. Then there are the stars of Bridgerton filming on the streets of nearby Bath, and traffic jams outside Clarkson’s farm shop, made famous by his TV show.