The Cotswolds works best when you plan the minimum amount possible.
Book a room with a fireplace. Pick a pub. Walk between them on Saturday. That's the trip.
## Where
Avoid Bibury. It's the postcard and it knows it — coach tours pull up all day and the narrow road has 30 people taking the same photo. Go half a mile in any direction and you have the Cotswolds to yourself.
**For quieter**: Lower Slaughter, Stanton, Ebrington, Blockley. Pick any. You can't lose.
**For a better pub**: The Wheatsheaf at Northleach. The Lygon Arms (now Porter Arms) at Broadway. The Bell at Langford. Book ahead for Saturday dinner.
**For a walk**: the Macmillan Way between Chipping Campden and Broadway — four miles, gentle, ends at a pub. Do it the other way and end in Chipping Campden, prettier for tea.
## What we always forget
The Cotswolds is England in miniature. It rains. The villages close at 5pm. The *good* pub is the one with no website. Cash isn't as useful as you think — but a booking is.
## When
April to early June, or September–October. Bluebells are mid-April to mid-May if you time the woods right. August is fine but every village has someone's wedding.
## One rule
Two nights is the right number. One is too short to stop checking your phone. Three is too long unless you're walking big distances. Book two, eat three meals, take one photograph. Leave.