NORTH COTSWOLD TOUR

NORTH COTSWOLDS

TOUR INFORMATION

PRICES
Usually single-day tours, but 2 -3-day tours available upon request at a discounted price.
Full-day Tour from as little as £525/day depending upon the time of year. All tours are fully inclusive but do not include lunch tea or admission to attractions or sites.
Full payment by card is requested on the day of the tour.

 

DURATION 
8 Hours

STARTING LOCATION
From your Hotel, train station, B&B or wherever you are staying in the Cotswolds.

The name does not hide a grisly past but is derived from the word Sclostre meaning muddy. Situated on the River Eye banks, also called the Slaughter brook, the 19thC mill is a much-photographed and visited icon. The mill wheel is still in situ but no longer working. There are a small shop and museum over one of the footbridges. The 13thC church of St Mary the Virgin is situated adjacent to the magnificent Lower Slaughter Manor, a house granted to Sir George Whitmore in 1611 and sold in 1964. It is now a luxury hotel.

BROADWAY TOWER

Standing 65ft, high Broadway Tower is the second-highest point in the Cotswolds. The Tower was built for the Earl of Coventry in 1798 by renowned 18th Century architect James Wyatt.
Known as the Highest Little Castle in the Cotswolds, Broadway Tower has a Saxon look with circular arches over the windows and entrance. There are three turrets, three canted sides and numerous gargoyles and balconies. On a clear day, you can see up to 16 counties from the top of the Tower.
Broadway Tower was a countryside retreat for members of the Arts & Crafts movement, and in the late 19th Century, Sir Edward Burn-Jones rented the Tower with his friend William Morris. Morris mounted expeditions to Broadway Tower and frequently visited with his daughter May. William Morris was so inspired by Broadway Tower and other ancient buildings that he founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings in 1877.

STANTON & STANWAY

Stanton, a name derived from Stone Stone, is adjacent to the 700BC Saxon Hillfort of Shenberrow Hill. Katherine Parr owned Stanton Manor until she died in 1548. Stanton Court, built for the Izod family in the mid-17th. C was purchased along with the whole village in 1906 by Sir Philip Stott, a wealthy engineer and architect. He became the village benefactor improving it and restoring it until his death in 1937. Another Jacobean House in Stanway House, a Jacobean Manor, can only be visited in mid-summer. Home to the tallest fountain in Europe at 300ft, the fountain is driven by a reservoir 1 mile away at the top of Stanway hill.  With its famous thatched pavilion on staddle stones, the cricket pitch was JM Barrie’s gift, who stayed at the Manor in the 1920s. HG Wells and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle played at the same time.

Sudeley Castle is set in its own 1200 acre estate in the proximity of the small market town of Winchcombe. The burial site of Katherine Parr, Henry V111’s sixth wife, the castle was very prominent in history between the 1440s when it was built until the end of the 1500’s – Richard 111, Henry V111, Lady Jane Grey, Elizabeth 1 and Charles 1 all feature in its history. The castle fell into ruins until the 19thC when it was saved by Victorian Glove makers, the Dent family, who introduced the remarkable collection of art furniture and textiles. The present owners remain in residence. The castle is a venue with something for everyone – History, Splendour, 10 award-winning gardens, and a Pheasantry with 16 rare and endangered species.