Mr BETTS says...
A really wonderful holiday, staying in some great accommodation. But June is a very busy month in the Cotswolds and the area is very undulating so be ...
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The Cotswolds are England's largest Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and comprise 787 square miles of scenic rolling hills and meadows above a bedrock of Jurassic limestone. It is this stone that is quarried and produces the golden-coloured stone used in the construction of local buildings and gives the stone-built villages of the Cotswolds a beautifully distinctive and traditional 'British' look.
This self-guided 5-night cycling tour is a fairly easy circular bike ride through some of the most picturesque villages and some of the best scenery that the Cotswolds has to offer. You'll visit world-famous villages including Bourton-on-the-Water and Chipping Campden as well as the ancient Saxon capital of Winchcombe with Sudeley Castle, the resting place of Katherine Parr (Henry VIII's 6th wife), close by. You'll also have the chance to visit Broadway Tower Country Park and Snowshill Manor, a National Trust property full of extraordinary treasures.
At the end of each day you'll stay in delightful Bed & Breakfast accommodation in beautiful Cotswold villages and towns. These properties have been chosen as they offer good quality accommodation and a friendly welcome in the heart of the villages and provide a quaint insight into the Cotswolds. This holiday includes breakfast daily and there are plenty of places recommended by our local agent to go for lunch and dinner each day.
Arrive in Moreton-in-Marsh, a thriving market town packed with antique shops, art galleries, tea shops and restaurants.
Stay overnight at The White Hart Royal Hotel or similar
Depending on your day of arrival, you will be met at 9am and given a brief instruction into the use of the GPS unit. You will be provided with your bikes for the holiday, adjusted to your specifications, and you will be given a short training run through.
Once you are fully kitted out, you will begin your cycle through picturesque country lanes into Chipping Campden, a beautiful town with its much photographed market hall. Here you will find numerous pubs, restaurants and sandwich shops ideal for a lunch stop.Your cycle tour will then continue on through Broadway Tower Country Park, worth a detour for the amazing views of the Cotswolds. The route passes through the lavender fields at Snowshill, an amazing kick to the senses around harvest time (early July). You may wish to stop and visit Snowshill Manor, a National Trust property full of the extraordinary treasures collected by Charles Wade. For more information visit the Snowshill website: click here.
Your cycle will continue on through Stanway and on to Winchcombe.
Breakfast included
Stay overnight at The White Hart Inn or similar
Today your route will take you through the charming villages of Guiting Power, Lower Swell and the Slaughters, all of which will offer ideal chocolate-box photo opportunities. There will be plenty of chances to stop for refreshments, from the 'post office' in Guiting Power offering superb tea and cake, to the wonderful Slaughters Country Inn with its lovely garden. Take your time and arrive in Bourton-on-the-Water, just as the day visitors leave, and marvel at its quaintness.
Breakfast included
Stay overnight at The Manor Close B&B or similar
Today's cycle route will take you through some of the best 'off the beaten track' routes in the Cotswolds. You will cycle through the beautiful villages of Great Rissington and Great Barrington. There is an option to visit Burford (adding another 11km to the route) with its charming high street sloping down to the Windrush river and Northleach with its beautiful wool church and museum of Mechanical Music.
Breakfast included
Stay overnight at The Manor Close B&B or similar
The route today heads towards the Evenlode valley, with hidden picturesque villages off the beaten track. It is a fairly easy ride back to Moreton-in-Marsh; however, you may wish to extend your cycling by either a detour to historic Stow-on-the Wold (11km) or the villages of Bledington, Kingham and Churchill (15km).
Breakfast included
Stay overnight at The White Hart Royal Hotel or similar
Breakfast included
During your holiday you stay at the following hotels. If you'd like to extend your time at any of these or, if you'd like to enhance your stay with an upgraded room, just let us know at the time of booking. If you'd like to keep your bikes with you for any extra nights we can arrange this for you for just £ per adult per day and £ per child per day.
To find out more call our sales team on 1-800-267-3347, use our live webchat or email usa@exodustravels.com
Find out more on the hotel website.
Read customer reviews on Tripadvisor.
Set in a 17th-century former coaching inn, the White Hart Royal Hotel is located in Moreton-in-Marsh’s historic town centre and boasts regal connections as King Charles I took shelter here during the English Civil War. A four-poster bed, private garden, spacious wet room and a roll-top bath feature in some of the individually designed bedrooms. Flagstone floors and an original inglenook fireplace are in the traditional Snug Bar and guests can also make use of the hotel’s two period lounges. Fresh, local ingredients are served on the traditional British menu in the Courtyard Restaurant.
Find out more on the hotel website.
Read customer reviews on Tripadvisor.
NEARBY:
Set in Winchcombe, just over half a mile from Sudeley Castle, The White Hart Inn offers accommodation with a restaurant, free private parking, a bar and a garden. Among the facilities at this property are a 24-hour front desk and luggage storage space, along with free WiFi throughout. The inn features eight ensuite bedrooms. All guest rooms come with a flat screen TV and tea & coffee making facilities. Full English Breakfast is included daily.
Find out more on the hotel website.
Read customer reviews on Tripadvisor.
The Manor Close B&B offers a warm and friendly welcome and brings the best of Bourton-on-the-Water to your doorstep. With its English country house feel, guest rooms offer amenities such as a flat screen TV and complimentary WiFi. The property also features a Full English Breakfast with all ingredients being locally sourced wherever possible including the eggs that are both locally sourced and free range. Guests arriving by vehicle have access to free parking.
If you'd like to extend your trip with extra nights at the start or end, or if you'd like to arrange a stop off point en-route, then we recommend the following hotels.
Find out more on the hotel website.
Read customer reviews on Tripadvisor.
NEARBY:
Find out more on the hotel website.
Read customer reviews on Tripadvisor.
NEARBY:
Find out more on the hotel website.
Read customer reviews on Tripadvisor.
Set in a 17th-century former coaching inn, the White Hart Royal Hotel is located in Moreton-in-Marsh’s historic town centre and boasts regal connections as King Charles I took shelter here during the English Civil War. A four-poster bed, private garden, spacious wet room and a roll-top bath feature in some of the individually designed bedrooms. Flagstone floors and an original inglenook fireplace are in the traditional Snug Bar and guests can also make use of the hotel’s two period lounges. Fresh, local ingredients are served on the traditional British menu in the Courtyard Restaurant.
Call now to speak to our specialist team at 1-800-267-3347 or email us at usa@exodustravels.com for enquiries or to book your trip.
Everyone who goes on a Headwater holiday will be emailed a link to our post-holiday questionnaire where they can give us an honest assessment of all aspects of their holiday - everything from how quickly we answer the phone to how clean the hotels were - plus an overall rating and comments about their holiday.
Any feedback collected is posted to our website, so that people can make an informed decision based on past experiences before heading off on holiday. We don’t edit the reviews, the only thing we do is proofread them and alter any typos, where necessary, to ensure they are easy to read for everyone. All reviews will be published (except in certain extreme circumstances), and a member of the Headwater team will respond to any constructive criticisms/comments under the reviews, at their discretion. So, for the real tales, twists and turns of our holidays, look no further than the reviews from our previous travellers.
A really wonderful holiday, staying in some great accommodation. But June is a very busy month in the Cotswolds and the area is very undulating so be prepared to encounter a lot of traffic on occasions and get off and walk now and again.
Headwater response:
Thank you Mr Betts for your holiday summary, lovely to hear you had a wonderful UK cycling break with us, we look forward to arranging many more for you.
Customer Service Team
We were spoilt with dry sunny weather, the routes chosen were so pretty and quiet, we could visit the tourist spots then disappear into rural Cotswolds again. We had the best meal ever in Winchcombe '5 North St". We would definitely recommend visiting end of May with buttercup pastures / rapeseed oil splashing yellow everywhere, cow parsley lined roads, no tractors yet (silage wasn't being cut yet- we were lucky not encountering any wide vehicles on some very narrow roads)) and an abundance of wildlife-we saw various deer & lots of kites. The manager of Hikes & Bikes met us on our first day and gave us ideas of walks to do in the towns we visited and what to look out for on the way. We needed his help on the last day as our bicycle at nav/ guidance stopped working and failed to let us log in. We guess there had been an admin error that the app was only available for 3 days and not the 4 we had booked? However it was soon sorted with an e mail & phone call on Bank holiday Monday !!.
Headwater response:
Thank you Mr Wilson - a lovely summary of your holiday with us, thank you for sharing. Sincere apologies regarding the App function, we are pleased to hear it was quickly rectified by our locally appointed agent.
Headwater Customer Service Team
Probably the best way to enjoy the scenery and do so at your own pace is on a bike
The Cotswolds is not France but pretty if you can ignore cold, blustery, overcast weather
You can be confident that our pricing includes all the standard requirements of your holiday and many additional extras. Always ensure that you are comparing like for like when booking your holiday.
This 5 night self-guided cycling holiday includes:
Hotel-to-hotel accommodation in a mix of hotels
Breakfast daily
Management by your local Headwater-appointed agent
GPS route directions and maps
Headwater navigation app
High quality bikes
Luggage transfers between hotels
How to book:
For further details, or to check availability, speak to our sales team on 1-800-267-3347 or complete our holiday enquiry form (we'll contact you at a time that's most convenient for you).
To enquire about this holiday, or for further information, call our sales team on 1-800-267-3347 or complete our holiday enquiry form.
We do not currently have departure dates and prices available on-line. The season may have ended for this tour, or we are still in the process of adding these details to our website. Please contact us for further details.
Children
Please contact us for child prices.
Holiday type
Self-guided cycling Managed locally by Headwater appointed agent.
Departures
Meals
Breakfast daily
Electric bikes
It is possible to hire electric bikes for this holiday at a supplement of £108 per person. As these are available on a first come first served basis, we recommend early booking to avoid disappointment.
This holiday does not include any flights or rail.
For further details, or to check availability, speak to our sales team on 1-800-267-3347 or complete our holiday enquiry form (we'll contact you at a time that's most convenient for you).
Call now to speak to our specialist team at 1-800-267-3347 or email us at usa@exodustravels.com for enquiries or to book your trip.
