We are a local, independent, family run company, specialising in self-guided and guided walking and cycling tours. We strive to showcase the best the Cotswolds has to offer. Your walk, your way.

(Photo above: Painswick Rococo Garden) It’s easy to imagine Cotswold gardens are all roses and hollyhocks set against the backdrop of honey-coloured houses and gently rolling hills. In fact, while there are many beautiful cottage garden plots, the range is far more diverse. Eastern-inspired, contemporary and even a Royal garden, the Cotswolds illustrates every type of English gardening style. It’s long been a place that attracts gardeners. Leading designers Chris Beardshaw and the late Rosemary Verey have made their home here, there are hundreds of amateur garden clubs, and more than 100 gardens opening for National Garden Scheme charity. The gardens have been shaped by the passions of their creators, not least the plant-collectors of the Cotswolds. Robert Holford started what is today the National Arboretum at Westonbirt, home to five national tree collections – Gloucestershire has 33 National Plant Collections in total. Plant-hunter Henry John Elwes of Colesbourne Park discovered Galanthus elwesii, the parent for countless snowdrop varieties, while Ernest Wilson from Chipping Campden was responsible for introducing more than 2,000 species to the UK, including the kiwi fruit, mahonias and jasmines. It's resulted in gardens that are inspiring to visit. For beautifully planted borders set against a strong framework of hedges and walls, there’s little to rival the Arts and Crafts design of Lawrence Johnston’s Hidcote Manor Garden and Rodmarton Manor, home of the Biddulph family. Both have the ‘garden rooms’ and attention to detail so indicative of the style.

(Photo: Chad Williams / Creative Visual Design - www.creativevisualdesign.com) 30 years of Cotswold walking and as my wife might say…you haven’t got very far; you're still here! Seriously though, I have been involved in the business since 2007 and 16 years later I am still as passionate about the area as ever. I always knew when we took over the business that we wanted to concentrate on this area alone, as it was so special in terms of the walking, history, food and attractions. Since the end of Covid, running a service business has become more challenging with the number of accommodations decreasing as people retire and the rise of AirBnB/holiday lets, less food outlets and services in general as people switched away from hospitality to a more normal, regular lifestyle mix. I can’t blame them as we regularly see a turnover of staff throughout the establishments we deal with. One thing that remains constant is the drive to provide the best possible experience and our customer service to showcase the best the area has to offer. We have made a few changes during the year. We have expanded our team in the office and moved to bigger premises so the former home office has been gratefully occupied by my wife and her creative talents; more on that next month. We are merging Hikes and Bikes with Cotswold Walks to simplify our product offering and maintaining the self-guided and guided cycling which we plan to expand on in the future. We are looking to offer new tours and guided options for next year so please keep up to date in the next edition of our newsletter. This year has been extremely busy and an increase on 2022 and 2024 is looking the same. We are so grateful for the support shown to us by our existing customers and their generous feedback that provides so many referrals for future trips. All this is made possible by our amazing team here at Cotswold Walks, Adam and Barbara (now married), Jo in accounts and Julie who has recently joined us over the summer to help with the office administration. So much of what we do for clients is customised and that can only be done when you have local knowledge and are actually based in the Cotswolds. I often come across clients from other walking companies and they are normally lost or complaining about their route notes as being out of date. We are able to update our route notes whenever needed and the use of our digital walking app, to allow clients to track their position as they walk, makes things even more walker friendly. We have hosted many larger walking groups this year and this adds to the complexity of requests and possible solutions. We have had clients that have never left the USA before some coming to the Cotswolds which seems like a real adventure in its truest sense. We appreciate we only have one chance to get things right due to specialising in only one area of England but we are confident that added pressure is more than compensated for by the amount of positive feedback we get from clients. We have listed some of their testimonials below and hope you will join us in the future to see for yourself. My main piece of advice would be to book early if you are intending on visiting the Cotswolds in 2024. The term is “Revenge Travel” to get back to being active after Covid robbed us not just of loved ones, but precious time as well. There are walks to suit all abilities and days off to pursue cultural highlights as well. May I wish all those celebrating Thanksgiving in the coming days a joyful time spent with loved ones and wish everyone a peaceful and safe holiday season for the weeks ahead. Walk in Focus - The Cotswold Ring We have been lucky enough to discover the creative talents of Chad Williams and Carey Wodehouse from the USA and they were keen to walk in the Cotswolds following on from previous adventures in the UK. They have kindly allowed us to share their self-guided walking experience by producing 7 humorous and inspiring videos to capture their time with us. We hope you enjoy and please let us have your feedback on the YouTube channel and feel free to subscribe as we will be releasing a new video each week starting from today to take you through the holiday season and into the New Year!