Cotswolds Tours & Villages Cotswolds tours around local villages give a distinct air of beauty to the eye of any visitor to the area. You will often find locals waving and saying hello in the summer as they sit and watch the world go by, children play out on village greens and walkers stride through lanes and fields admiring the breath-taking scenery and views. Cotswold villages are a wonderful place to live and there are many villages which have several historical sites, making them famous landmarks, enticing people to the area. Many of the villages in the Cotswolds are dotted along the picturesque countryside, nestled on the rolling hills between magnificent market towns. Cotswolds tours regularly take visitors through the picture- perfect villages, showing them a somewhat picturesque vision of typical Cotswold life. Many villages and towns are built from the beautiful Cotswold stone which could be described as a warm honey-coloured limestone, typical of the area. Cotswold Villages – The Slaughters Upper and Lower Slaughter are two awe-inspiring villages which offer visitors a perfect Cotswold scene of honey-coloured Cotswold stone cottages that beautifully line the streets and lanes. Known as ‘The Slaughters’, the villages in Gloucestershire are close to Stow-on-the-Wold and Bourton-on- the-Water. They are twin villages where the River Eye divides them and runs through the centre of the villages and the word ‘Slaughter’ comes from the word ‘Slohtre’, an Anglo-Saxon phrase for ‘muddy place’. A street called Copse Hill Road in Lower Slaughter has been named by Google Maps as being the ‘most romantic street in England’. The 19th century corn mill in Lower Slaughter still operated until 1960 and has its original water wheel. Now open to visitors as The Old Mill Museum, the mill offers a craft shop and a relaxed café on site. Although a few cottages were renovated in 1906 by Sir Edwin Lutyens, no new houses have been built in Upper Slaughter since 1904. Bibury Near Burford The beautiful village of Bibury sits in the Cotswold hills between Burford and Cheltenham and is situated next to the River Coln. The village is famous for a set of old buildings called Arlington Row, a cluster of Cotswold cottages that date as far back as the 16th century. The weaver’s cottages were developed in 1830 as a purpose-built monastic wool store where cloth was produced then transported to Arlington Mill to be hung out on timber frames. Arlington Row is famous in the region and flocks of people from all around the world regularly visit on Cotswolds tours to see this historical site. The row of cottages has now been preserved by the Royal College of Arts and throughout time has been a popular filming location for blockbuster movies such as Bridget Jones’s Diary. Bibury has a pretty village church called St Mary’s that was founded in the 8th century, boasting a beautiful mix of architecture with Medieval windows and Norman carvings. Bibury village was once announced as “the most beautiful village in the Cotswolds” by designer and artist William Morris. Cotswolds Tours Cotswolds tours are well worth booking for a special daytrip to the area. You can take in all the picturesque and stunning places of the area to get a true sense of English countryside at its best. The Cotswolds region has been named as the second largest ‘area of outstanding natural beauty’ in England, stretching across several counties and 800 square miles with a population of 139,000 people. The Secret Cottage Tour operates 7 days a week, giving a unique and personal tour of the Cotswolds. On our incredible 6-hour Cotswold tour you will be taken to all the best places in the area, showing you some beautiful country estates and stately homes, pretty market towns and some of the most picture-perfect countryside you will ever see. The tour picks our guests up from Moreton-in- Marsh train station which has a direct train from London taking only one hour and forty minutes. Relax in our 7-seater luxury minibus and let us take you to all the hidden gems, showing you magical countryside and the best places in the area. You can enjoy a hot drink and pastry at The Secret Cottage in the morning, then we return for a home cooked delicious buffet lunch, also treating our guests to a traditional tasty Cotswold cream tea in the afternoon. Once the tour has finished, we return you to the train station so that you can be back in London in time for your evening meal. We advise guests to book soon as we get booked up very quickly!.