We’ve had an excellent June showing visitors around the Cotswolds – the weather has been beautiful, our guest’s enthusiasm for our part of the world has been great and we’ve received some very generous reviews on TripAdvisor (over 50 excellent reviews on there now – thank you so much!).

Looking out across the barley fields on the way to Donnington.

We stop at seven different places on our tour throughout the day – two of which are for over an hour at Chipping Campden and Stow-on-the-Wold – allowing Go Cotswolders the opportunity to go off and explore these fantastic Cotswolds town for themselves with maps/recommendations given to them by us.

But what do I do in this time? Well, it does vary (and can certainly be weather dependent!) but most days you’ll find me walking the paths in and around Stow-on-the-Wold and Chipping Campden.

Arriving in Donnington just before checking the time!

The Cotswolds has over 3,000 miles (5,000km) of off road walking trails and are mapped excellently by the Ordnance Survey Explorer maps. I love walking and being outdoors so the hour or so our guests are exploring the towns is an excellent opportunity to explore nearby paths. I think I’m destined to forever be a tourist – even in my own back yard!

On Wednesday I had a route planned. I parked up in Stow-on-the-Wold and decided to walk to the village of Donnington which, on the map, looked a short and pleasant stroll across the fields.

It was a lovely walk but it turned out to be a bit longer than I imagined! As I daydreamed listening to a playlist of Frank Turner, The Cure and The Killers it wasn’t until I got to Donnington that I checked the time and to my horror realised it was only 20 minutes until I had to pick the our guests up. It had taken me longer than that to get there!

Rehydrating when we arrived in Bourton-on-the-Water!

I had to run back but I got back just in time to pick up our visitors from the centre of Stow-on-the-Wold who all looked significantly less red faced and out of breath than I did..

Go Cotswolds day tours of the Cotswolds leave Stratford-upon-Avon at around 9.30am (exact pick up times arranged at time of booking) on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays and offer visitors a relaxed day exploring the highlights of the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The cost is £35pp (£25 for children under 16 and £95 for a family ticket – two adults, two children) – to book online visit the bookings page of our website (http://gocotswolds.wpengine.com/calendar). For keen walkers joining the scheduled day tour paths and suggestions are marked on the maps that you receive but feel free to ask Tom if you’d like to go a little further afield.