Cotswolds, GB

A proper village free house off the green in Kingham that takes its food seriously without losing the pub feel. The kitchen does elevated British plates and a strong Sunday roast, and the bar still pours a pint for the locals. Good for a relaxed dinner where you want ambition on the plate but flagstones underfoot.

A handsome 17th-century coaching inn in under-touristed Northleach, with a kitchen that does generous British plates and a bar that actually has atmosphere. It's the sort of place that draws people from neighbouring villages for dinner. Good for a livelier evening away from the Bourton crowds.

A 16th-century inn reworked by the crew behind a celebrated Notting Hill pub, all flagged floors, timbered ceilings and serious ingredient sourcing. It pulls a London-leaning crowd to a small Oxfordshire town. Best for a date-night dinner or a long lunch where the cooking is the point.

A family-run hilltop pub above Moreton where the kitchen does inventive British plates well above the village-pub norm. Light, airy bar, restored dining room, real ales. Good for a celebratory dinner that still feels unstuffy.

A 1600s pub overlooking the green in tiny Ebrington, with low beams, fireplaces and its own beer brewed nearby. The food is solid modern-British and the vegan and gluten-free options are genuinely thought through. Good for a proper country-pub evening a couple of miles from Chipping Campden's bustle.

A beamed coaching inn on Winchcombe's high street with log fires, real ales and a kitchen that does dependable modern-pub plates and a good roast. Winchcombe is the walking base for Cleeve Hill and Sudeley Castle, and this is its solid dinner option. Good for refuelling after a hill walk.

A converted butcher's shop in Stow run as a lively bistro, with a menu that changes daily and leans hard on fresh fish and shellfish. It's the grown-up dinner option in a town better known for tea rooms. Good for a seafood-focused meal when you've had your fill of pub roasts.

The original Daylesford organic farm shop, with a bright cafe serving salads, wood-fired pizzas and bigger plates from the estate's own produce. Half the appeal is browsing the deli, butchery and creamery afterward. Good for a daytime lunch, a coffee stop, or stocking the cottage fridge with proper ingredients.

A tiny tea room in a 1693 building on Chipping Campden's high street, doing home-baked cakes, scones and a hearty full English. It's the kind of unfussy, family-run spot that anchors a morning of wandering the village. Good for breakfast before a Dover's Hill walk or a cream tea after.

A Cotswold bakery running for well over a century, set in a listed building on Burford's sloping high street, doing classic afternoon tea and a counter of handmade cakes and scones. It's a proper tea-room break, not a coffee-chain stop. Good for a mid-walk sit-down or a rainy-afternoon treat.

A small-batch gelato shop in Cirencester churning its own Italian-style ice cream and sorbet daily, with a rotating board of flavours. It's the dessert reward after wandering Cirencester's market town. Good for a warm-day treat or a stop with kids.

A family-run Thai kitchen in a 300-year-old Moreton building, turning out fresh, properly spiced dishes that locals rate as among the best Thai for miles. It's a welcome change of pace from roasts and ploughman's. Good for an evening when you want something other than British comfort food.

A sit-down Indian restaurant in Moreton doing carefully cooked, freshly spiced plates a notch above the standard high-street curry house. Attentive service and a calm room. Good for a relaxed dinner when the group wants a curry night out.

The classic central-Cotswolds loop, following the River Windrush out of Bourton through Lower and Upper Slaughter and back through fields. Mostly flat and well-trodden, it strings together three of the prettiest villages without much climbing. Good for a half-day walk that ends back at Bourton's cafes.

An easy loop along the Coln Valley around Bibury, taking in Arlington Row, the water meadow and the quiet lanes the day-trippers never reach. Mostly flat with a couple of gentle rises. Good for an easy morning that shows you far more of Bibury than the car park does.

A short, satisfying loop from Chipping Campden up to Dover's Hill, the natural amphitheatre where the Cotswold Olimpicks are still held. A steady climb gives you the escarpment view, then drops you back into the village. Good for a half-morning leg-stretch with a strong payoff.

A breezy circuit over Cleeve Common, the highest ground in the Cotswolds, with open views toward the Malverns and Wales on a clear day. It's exposed grassland walking rather than enclosed lanes, a different flavour from the valley village walks. Good for walkers who want height, sky and distance.

A field-and-lane loop linking Bourton with hilltop Stow, swapping riverside meadow for higher ground and back. It's a good way to combine two towns into one walk and arrive in Stow hungry. Good for walkers who want distance without leaving the central villages.

A 160-acre wildlife park around a Victorian manor, with rhinos, lemurs, big cats and a narrow-gauge train, plus serious gardens that make it a draw for adults too. It's the region's standout full-day family outing. Good for kids who need space to roam and a wet-or-dry day out.

A single-estate distillery north of the villages running guided tours, tastings and a gin-making school, with a cafe and shop on site. The tours are genuinely well run and end in a generous tasting. Good for an adult afternoon, a rainy-day plan, or a gift-buying stop.

A 60-acre arboretum holding the country's largest private collection of trees and shrubs, laid out across a hillside with a stream, follies and a cafe. It's a year-round walk that peaks for autumn colour and spring blossom. Good for an unhurried, low-effort outdoor half-day in any season.

A working rare-breeds farm park with hands-on animal encounters, tractor rides, a maze and an adventure playground. It's pitched squarely at families with younger kids. Good for a high-energy day where children can pet, feed and run.

A small independent theatre in a converted building in Chipping Norton, programming drama, comedy, music and a much-loved Christmas pantomime. It's the region's go-to indoor cultural night out, intimate enough that there's not a bad seat. Good for an evening when the weather rules out walks.

A Victorian watermill brewery beside a millpond near Stow, still brewing traditional real ales with its own spring water. Tours are limited and special, run by people who clearly love the place and its history. Good for ale-minded visitors who want heritage over a slick taproom.

A working Victorian tower brewery, family-owned for generations and one of the best-preserved of its kind in the country. The tour walks you through the gravity-fed brewing floors and finishes with a tasting in the cellar bar. Good for a structured indoor afternoon with a pint at the end.

A crammed museum of vintage cars, caravans, advertising signs and old toys in a former Bourton mill, home to Brum, the little car from the children's TV show. It's a nostalgic, browse-at-your-own-pace indoor stop. Good as a rainy-day fallback or for kids who'll hunt for Brum.

A row of 14th-century weavers' cottages in honey stone, fronting a water meadow on the River Coln in Bibury. People come for the one image everyone associates with the Cotswolds, but the wider village and the Coln-side stroll are the better reason to linger. Best paired with a walk rather than treated as a photo-and-go.

A folly tower on the second-highest point of the Cotswolds, with a viewing platform that looks across a string of counties on a clear day. There's a deer park, a cafe and a nuclear-bunker exhibit on the grounds. Good as the destination at the top of a Broadway walk, or a quick stop with a long view.

A one-ninth-scale replica of Bourton built from local stone in the 1930s, complete with a tiny model-of-the-model inside it. It's a genuinely odd, charming bit of village history rather than a slick attraction. Good for an hour with kids or anyone who likes the quietly eccentric.

The only private castle in England with a queen buried on site, Katherine Parr, set among ten gardens including a rose-filled Queen's Garden. The ruins, chapel and grounds make for a proper half-day. A natural pairing with Winchcombe and Cleeve Hill.

One of the most complete Romano-British villas in the country, with 4th-century mosaics preserved where they were laid, plus bath houses and underfloor heating under a modern cover building. It sits in a quiet wooded valley that's a pleasure in itself. Good for a history half-day away from the village crowds.

A 16th-century manor crammed with the collections of Charles Wade, a magpie collector who filled room after room with samurai armour, bicycles, clocks and curiosities. The Arts-and-Crafts garden and the approach walk are part of the charm. Good for anyone who finds a stately-home tour dull but loves the strange.

A startling Mughal-Indian-style country house built in 1810, with onion domes and a water garden tumbling down the hillside, said to have inspired Brighton Pavilion. It's an unexpected sight among the honey-stone villages. Good for garden lovers who want something that breaks the Cotswold template.

A trio of prehistoric monuments straddling the Oxfordshire-Warwickshire border: the King's Men stone circle, the lone King Stone and the Whispering Knights. Lichen-covered and atmospheric, with none of the crowds or fences of bigger sites. Good for a short, evocative stop on a drive, or with kids who like a legend.

The high market square of the Cotswolds' highest town, ringed by stone buildings, antique shops and pubs, with the yew-tree door of St Edward's Church a two-minute walk away. It's a place to wander rather than tick off. Good as a base for browsing, lunch and an easy afternoon.