On our Cotswold tours, we love taking our visitors to some of the most picturesque places we know.
Bourton on the water, just 4 miles from Stow-On-The-Wold fulfils that criteria and is known as Venice of the Cotswolds.
And while you might not go around on a boat, it certainly is a magical place which we love to take our visitors to.
Bourton has a tranquil river – the River Windrush – which runs through the centre of the village with several arched stone bridges dotted around for you to cross. It’s a lovely safe river for children to paddle in as it has an average depth of only ten inches through the village.
The bridges include Bourton Bridge, Mill (or Broad) Bridge, High Bridge – in the middle of the village green, New (or Moore) Bridge; which vehicles can go across and Coronation Bridge.
Regularly voted one of the prettiest villages in England, Bourton on the Water has a unique appeal to visitors and residents alike.
There are many traditional Cotswolds buildings which provide plenty of interest for tourists with shops, tea rooms and various places of interest.
We love some of the tourist attractions such as:
Birdland
Filled with over 500 exotic birds, you won’t want to miss feeding time for the penguins! It’s a lovely place to wander through and relax as the setting is so beautiful – a mixture of woodland, river and gardens. As well as the entertaining penguins, you’ll find graceful flamingoes, hear parrots and come face to face with birds of prey.
The Cotswold Perfumery
A wonderful place to pick up a gift for yourself, or someone special. You can take a workshop to learn the art of perfumery for yourself or go on a factory tour to see the process first hand.
Cotswold Motoring Museum
If you love vintage and classic vehicles, you’ll love this museum. And you’ll even get to see Brum from the children’s TV programme. You can see vintage caravans and motorcycles as well as toys and original enamel signs; it’s a great trip down memory lane.
Model village
Get to see all the sights of Bourton with it’s 1/9 scale model village. They even use traditional building materials in the village! The model village took five years to build and was opened in 1937. We love the attention to detail; you’ll see the model village within the model village, a flowing river with a working water wheel and churches where you can hear people sing!
If you’re taking Cotswold Tours in the summer months, you won’t want to miss the annual football in the river match! Yes, just as it sounds, two football teams get INTO THE RIVER to compete for the winning team. It’s great fun and spectators are bound to get wet too.