UK Tourist & Leisure Attractions - Cotswolds

Our Cotswold cottage was a spacious apartment above a coffee shop, right in the centre of Broadway.  After Belinda had brought up the luggage we retired to said coffee shop before exploring this 'quintessentially English' village.  From our...

...holiday cottage we walked through a delightful little mews area full of craft and gift shops out onto Broadway's broad High Street.  Opposite this memorial is the Broadway Hotel which we visited one evening and had a fairly, well, mediocre meal.

Broadway (and indeed the Cotswolds) has many picturesque buildings, this one an antique shop.  As pretty as a picture and worth a shot!

Another of Broadway's pubs we dined at one evening was the Horse and Hounds where we enjoyed a really tasty Lamb Shank - and a Cotswold pint or two three.

Many buildings in Broadway are built of the distinctive honey-coloured Cotswold stone.  We came across this attractive one at the far end of the village called Shakespeare's cottages (although we think unconnected with the playwright himself).

Gorgeous!  And the ice creams weren't bad either!  Back in the village's main part these ice cream sellers were a welcome sight on a warm Cotswold day.  Broadway also has quaint tea and coffee shops, inviting bistros and pleasing pubs aplenty.

We were pleased to find Broadway had an Indian Restaurant, Sheikhs Tandoori, which was sooo good we visited twice during our week's Cotswold holiday!

Both the service and food were excellent at Sheikhs Tandoori, as you can see here with Belinda tucking in wholeheartedly to her meal.

To do our bit for green tourism we always try to have a car-free day, and as the Cotswold Way conveniently ran right through Broadway, on the first full day of our Cotswold holiday we went off walking...

...up Fish Hill (puff!) to Broadway Tower.  At about half way up we took a rest at this viewpoint, admired the view back towards Broadway and watched some Cotswold stone wall restoration going on.

Phew - almost there now!  Broadway Tower was built as a folly by the earl of Coventry in 1800 simply to be seen from his family seat at Worcester.  Views across the Vale of Evesham, the Severn Valley and to the Welsh mountains are possible on a clear day.

Broadway Tower is a well-known landmark and viewpoint in the West Midlands and Cotswolds standing at 312 meters above sea level.  It was possible to climb to the top and view an exhibition inside - we didn't bother as it cost £4.

The tower duly visited, we headed back to Broadway along a different route.  Unfortunately the weather had deteriorated - but at least it was downhill all the way.

During our holiday planning to Broadway, the Cotswolds and elsewhere in the UK we've amassed many handy tourism resources for the areas and places we visit - you guys feel free to check them out!

We've reviewed our digital camera used to take many of these Cotswold photos and written other tourist related product reviews too.

Now here's the wonderful Crown and Trumpet Inn, our nearest pub in Broadway, handily just a few minutes walk from the Cotswold holiday cottage.  The food and service was impeccable, we couldn't fault it.

Unfortunately we tried the nearby Swan on another evening but were very disappointed with the place.  You may be interested our Broadway pub reviews we've posted on Beer In The Evening - check them out!

We enjoyed a terrifically tasty meal at the Crown and Trumpet in Broadway - just look at that yummy plateful!

Mike needs his steam train fix on every holiday so it was off to Toddington and a ride on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway (GWR).

Well the GWR proved a very popular preserved steam railway and was full of coach loads of tourists - we had trouble finding a seat in the carriage!

The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway runs from Toddington to Cheltenham and we arrived... just as the heavens opened!

Ohmigod, the seriously heavy downpour didn't stop Mike jumping out to capture the engine shunting procedure for the return journey on the GWR.

An unlimited travel adult ticket on the GWR cost £11 and the 10 mile return journey took around an hour.  Toddington is the HQ of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway where there's a tea room, shop and museum coach.  We broke...

...our trip on the GWR at Winchcombe to nose around the station (home of the Carriage and Wagon works), explore the town and take in a visit to Sudeley Castle.  The original Winchcombe station was demolished when it closed in 1960.

Mike was a tired but happy chappie after our ride on the heritage Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.

At the time of our visit the GWR was planning to extend the line up to Broadway, using the existing disused railway trackbed.

Broadway proved to be pretty much the perfect place to stay for touring the Cotswolds and our centrally located Broadway holiday cottage (or rather apartment) proved an excellent choice!

Follow us to the next page of our Cotswold holiday and the Shakespeare trail at Stratford >>>