This Pub-to-Pub Hike Is 102 Miles of English Countryside, Cottages, and Castles

At the end of a country lane, under a tunnel of trees, past fields full of lavender and sheep, sits a pint of beer calling my name. Even out here in the countryside, it’s almost impossible not to eventually round a corner and see a whimsical pub—this is England, after all. And a drink near a stone hearth is the perfect reward for the day’s exertion.

I’m hiking in the Cotswolds, a region about 90 minutes by train from London, where I spent a few whirlwind days in the spring exploring the boisterous city before escaping to quiet, rolling hills and cottages. The hike follows an ancient trail called the Cotswold Way, stretching 102 miles across the region. Although the whole length would take one or two weeks to walk, many companies like Butterfield & Robinson or Active England offer shorter options over four or five days, covering around seven miles every day.

This is not intense hiking by any means. Compared to the many hut-to-hut treks I’ve taken across steep mountains, sleeping on about an inch of air via a squeaky-tough pad on the floor, this is pretty much luxury hiking. I stay in a different elegant hotel every night, and Active England drives my luggage to my next destination while I ramble bucolic landscapes. Walking the Cotswolds is more like village-to-village, storybook-to-storybook, or—if I’m being honest—pub-to-pub hiking.

My dirt-smeared trousers should be at odds with each stately inn, yet the locals seem to welcome an outdoor lifestyle into indoor spaces. “We’re used to it,” laughs the woman checking me into the Painswick hotel, shrugging off my apology for the dried mud that’s flaked off my boots down the hallway. The unpretentious, homey atmosphere is immediately inviting. Across the Cotswolds, darling villages like Painswick and Tetbury sit among green slopes, each one a jumble of honeystone cottages housing dreamy inns, shops selling antiques or books, and award-winning restaurants like Lygon Arms and the Woolpack Inn, Slad.

“It’s the quintessential British countryside,” says Lucy Clark, a British experience designer at Butterfield & Robinson, which prioritizes connections with locals and personalized experiences while walking the Cotswolds. “It’s like a kind of chocolate box scenery. It’s that very cute, quaint image of England that lots of people have in mind.”

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Many who do this experience combine a trip here with visits to London, Oxford, and perhaps nearby Stonehenge, hitting many of the country’s highlights in one trip. On Butterfield & Robinson’s bespoke tours, guides will pick you up from Heathrow airport, take you sightseeing in London, and then drive you to Oxford and arrange activities for you there (such as exploring the university, taking a boat on the river, and visiting Blenheim Palace where Winston Churchill was born) before the walking journey begins. Or you can join a preset itinerary and meet your guide at the train station in Oxford, which is also offered by various companies like Active England, Cotswold Walks, and the Cotswold Walking Company.

The hike itself starts near the town of Chipping Campden, passes through various villages like Stanton and Wotton-under-Edge, before ending in Bath, a famous destination with spas, ancient Roman ruins, and Jane Austen history. Tour operators drive guests to the most quintessential villages along the trail, where they can wine, dine, and sleep after hiking some of the most picturesque segments of the path. Broadway, Snowshill, Stow-on-the-Wold, and Bourton-on-the-Water are particularly popular villages, whereas slow-paced destinations like Painswick and Tetbury see fewer visitors. “It’s the kind of place you’ll have people turning up from a dog walk in their wellies,” Clark says. “You feel like a local, like you’re sort of part of the village.”

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The region got its name because sheepfolds were called “cots,” and “wolds” means “rolling hills” in Middle and Old English. Today, the Cotswold Way is a National Trail, one of 16 in the country, which are managed and maintained by the government. It’s also one of hundreds of trails across the United Kingdom that has designated rights of way, a legally protected status since 1949 that means the path can never be cut off from public access, even if it goes through private land.

Dan Guest, a freelance guide who’s leading my trek and has lived in the Cotswolds for over 15 years, explains that these trails can uphold their protected status as long as there’s an argument that the public walks there. “It’s beholden upon people like us to keep using them,” he says.

The protected path allows you to have moments with just yourself, the sheep, and the morning mist settling in valleys. Guest pauses at an overlook and, with magician-like flair, offers fresh strawberries and fizzy water infused with elderberry from his backpack. When it comes to the views from the trail, Guest says, “It’s about as isolated as you get in the Cotswolds.”

Where to eat and drink on the Cotswolds Way

Foamy pints flow along the way, where the pubs almost act like trail markers. “The Cotswolds is particularly good for this, because it’s a relatively small area, so you can almost hike pup-to-pub without any transfers at all,” says Clark. “It is very much known for these really characterful, beautiful, and yet quite posh pubs, where you can get London-style cuisine, but in this really beautiful countryside setting.”

Celebrate the start of your adventure at a pub in Chipping Campden, such as the award-winning Lygon Arms, serving elevated classics like ale-braised beef cheeks or burgers with smokey kimchi. Come evening, get your well-earned beer during dinner at the Wild Rabbit pub in Kingham, where duck is paired with hen of the woods mushrooms and the succulent beef is almost overshadowed by the purple sprouting broccoli. The following day, finish your morning hike by having lunch at the Lion Inn in Winchcombe, where the Truffled St. Ewe sandwich is a star dish with a runny soft-boiled egg and fresh sprouts; at the next day’s lunch at the Bell at Sapperton, the pie of the day is always an excellent idea. The next afternoon, you could easily walk from lunch at the Falcon in Painswick, with seasonal treats like a lamb rump with warm pea and asparagus salad, to dinner at the Woolpack Inn, Slad, offering one of the most creative, garden-heavy menus, with head-turning pairings and ingredients like wood pigeon, dandelions, anchovies, and cider.

Cultural activities on the Cotswolds Way

Hikers can opt to visit cultural stops along the way. You could have excursions to Belas Knap, a Neolithic burial monument; Sudeley Castle, where Catherine Parr, the last wife of King Henry VIII, is buried; Cotswold Sculpture Park, a locally owned garden filled with art framed by nature; or Painswick Beacon, the remains of an Iron Age fort. Opt for a cooking experience at Daylesford Farm (which can vary from easy scones to a full roast dinner) or afternoon tea at the Painswick Rococo Garden.

Courtesy of the Wild Rabbit/James McDonald

Where to stay on the Cotswolds Way

Spend a few nights at grand estates like the Hare & Hounds, where the surrounding outdoor grounds and nearby Westonbirt Arboretum are as sumptuous as the grand halls inside; boutique inns like the Painswick, where many of the rooms have a wood-burning fireplace; and newcomers like the rustic and decadent the Pig in Barnsley. Plus many of the aforementioned dining options (like the Lion Inn) double as charming hotels—because how else to round off a British pub-to-pub hike if not by sleeping in the pub itself? “The Wild Rabbit is actually more of a pub with rooms,” says Clark. The fact that you can walk to so many of them on your own two feet shows the wealth of the region. As Clark says, “We’re quite spoiled for choice in the Cotswolds.”