Find the best places to visit with kids to keep the whole family happy on a trip to explore the charming Cotswolds.
The Cotswolds is choc-a-block full of quaint villages and quirky towns to get your fix of cute tearooms, cobbled streets, and rose covered cottages – but are any of these places worth a visit with your kids? Or will they be bored out of their brains and getting restless while you try to take in the vibe?
The Cotswolds are generally seen as a destination that is more adult friendly than child friendly, and indeed its true that there are lots of older adults walking the gentle hills, refined tea rooms and country pubs that might make you think there is of little to interest your average child here.
We are generally advocates of taking our kids with us to most places we want to see whether they are traditionally geared towards kids or not – we think it’s OK for them to adapt, to discover places how they are and to find enjoyment, patience and an appreciation for different experiences along the way. However; We all know there are some times when we want and NEED to go places we know the kids will be entertained! We want to know there will be things for them to do and that are, specifically there for them to have a good time.
Especially if you are visiting the Cotswolds for a short time, or the first time, and want to make sure your little ones have just as much fun as you do, these are our top picks of the best family friendly villages and towns the Cotswolds has, with things to do for all ages, not just the grown ups.
Top Village Picks for Families
Villages and small towns with activites of interest for children – I’ve listed my top picks.
- Bourton on the Water
Bourton-on-the-Water is our number one pick for a beautiful Cotswold village with the kids. If you haven’t been, it really is a must visit. The shallow river running through the pretty stones buildings, with historic stone buildings cross crossing over really are very unique and pretty.
It’s also the village with the most on offer for the children – here you will find a model village, Birdland, the dragonfly maze, and a small toy & motor museum. Being the most popular and most famous (and therefore busy) Cotswold Village, means there are pubs, cafes and resturants aplenty, most with children’s menus. There is also an old fashioned sweet shop and plenty of ice cream parlours so treating the kids and keeping them happy here is pretty easy!
For more information on visiting Bourton-on-the-Water with kids read our family guide by clicking the link below.
2. Broadway
Broadway is one of our favourite places for a morning with the kids, we love this beautiful village so much. It’s absolutely gorgeous, has wonderful options for eating and drinking and has some really lovely things to do here as well. If you were planning on doing one of the activites you could easily spend all day in this English countryside gem.
Our favourite place to go is the huge Broadway Activity Park – a huge, free, adventure playground tucked behind the high street, nestled in the middle of rolling hills beneath the Broadway Tower. Broadway also has a tiny castle ( on top of the huge hill) , resident deer, a vintage steam railway, and even a small museum. It often has fetes and events on during the year such as the Village Show, Festive shopping with entertainment and the awesome supercar show in the summer, which we always take our kids to and they love it!
Find out more by clicking the button below
3. Winchcombe
Winchcombe is a small market town in the Cotswolds which has a nice town centre with the historic cotswold stone buildings you would expect – for me it doesn’t have the ‘wow factor’ of Bourton-on-the-Water or Broadway, but it does have nice eating and drinking options, traditional pubs, and a really good castle located bang in the town centre – pretty impressive! Sudeley Castle has a fantastic adventure playground and award winning formal gardens – it’s so nice to go for a stroll, a play and a picnic. Inside the castle itself might be a bit dull for little ones unless they are super in to history (the castle has links with the tudors) but they do put on kid’s trails and have some activites on offer such as dressing up.
If you catch it at the right time, Sudeley Castle hosts the amazing Giffords Circus – a traditional touring vintage circus extravaganza that has been described as being closer to a West End Show than the circus!
Winchcombe also has a station stop on the heritage steam railway line, The Gloucester and Warwickshire Steam Railway which do steam train trips and various events throughout the year.
4. Stow-on-the-Wold & Cotswold Farm Park
Stow-on-the-Wold is a really pretty small town in the Northern Cotswolds, a great place to walk around, grab a coffee at Huffkins or The New England Coffee shop, or eat at one of the great pubs – we love The Stag. We found Stow-on-the-Wold didn’t have that much for the children, bit they were happy for a time going for a quick walk/ explore- me and James wanted to see the Door of Durin (from the Lord of the Rings books) located in the village centre at the historic St Edwards Church. We kept seeing it on instagram and wanted to see it in real life!
If you want to see Stow-on-the-Wold for yourself but you are worried the children will be bored, the brilliant Cotswold Farm Park is only a 12 minute drive and an excellent day out filled with fun for the kids.
For all the details of our trip to Stow-on-the-Wold and Information about Cotswold Farm Park, click the button below which will take you to our full guide.
5. Bibury & Cotswold Wildlife Park
Burford is normally the toen of choice when other blogs suggest a trip to the wildlife park, but we prefer Bibury for a number of reasons. Burford is pretty and is close (3 miles away- approx 8 minute drive) but we found although it’s a great photo opportunity from the top of the hill, it was very busy, quite a bit of traffic too and was mainly a (great) shopping street but there weren’t many areas to let the kids ‘ loose’. They did, however, love the window display of the sweet shop! It’s still worth a look if you have time, but if you have a tight schedule I would choose Bibury over Burford – it’s utterly beautiful, there are grassy areas along the river to let the kids wander a little bit, and a lot less cars to contend with. There is also the Bibury Trout Far, which has a cafe and park. Its a 20 minute drive to Cotswold Wildlife Park, which is fabulous – the best zoo I have ever been too and although small, it is quite gorgeous, with lots of open grassy spaces and roaming wild animals (in open style closures with lots of space)
Click on the buttons below to find out more about Cotswold Wildlife Park and our guide to Bibury.
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There are lots of other villages of course, with delicious ice cream, stunning walks, streams and playgrounds to enjoy – discover more of the Cotswolds with our Cities, Towns and Village guides.
Looking for more things to do with the kids? Check our top days out in the Cotswolds Area
Cotswold Little Explorers 
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