Hills, horses and history
Spatter your pals at Paintball Raiders. Ride the Cotswold hills on horses or ponies from the Tumpy Green Equestrian Centre. Discover Bath’s baths, Roman history and night life. Meet the meerkats at the Cotswold Wildlife Park, see farm animals at Cattle Country and do just about anything at the Cotswold Water Park.
Country kids
No shortage of fun at the Cotswold Water Park, with activities ranging from aerial adventure and angling to birdwatching and cycling, plus all manner of watersports including sailing, swimming, canoeing and paddleboarding. Or how about meeting Humboldt penguins, giraffes and meerkats at the Cotswold Wildlife Park?
Discover over 500 birds, from magical owls, large cassowary and rare species such as the Waldrapp Ibis, to flamingos, pelicans, cranes and waterfowl at Birdland. See wild birds from all over the world at Slimbridge. Or head to Cattle Country Farm Park for farm animals, tractor rides, outdoor play and refreshments in the Graze café.
Chill the tone with guaranteed snow whatever the weather at Gloucester Ski and Snowboard Centre, which does exactly what it says on the tin. Uncover the archaelogy of the Cotswolds at the Corinium Museum, with significant Roman finds. Or ride through the world of 20th century cars at the Cotswold Motoring Museum.
Take an evening steam-train trip on the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway, complete with fish and chips. Figure your way out of the Dragonfly Maze at Bourton-on-the-Water, hear the story of the Gloster Aircraft Company at the Jet Age Museum, or give your lungs a workout with a stiff climb up to Broadway Tower.
For the grown ups
Book an adults’ bird-of-prey experience with Walks With Hawks. Enjoy clay-pigeon shooting at its finest with Lady’s Wood Shooting School. Spatter your pals with CO2-powered marker guns at Paintball Raiders. Or ride the Cotswold hills on horses or ponies from the Tumpy Green Equestrian Centre.
Pay and play 18 holes, or 19, at Wooton, Chipping Sodbury and Stinchcombe or, for the ambitious, the Ryder Cup venue Celtic Manor. Walk part – or all – of the Cotswold Way, which runs from Stratford down to Bath. Or take a tour of Gloucester Cathedral, with its stunning cloisters, beautiful stained-glass windows and intriguing whisperers’ corridor.
Head into Bath, the UK’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site, to visit the Roman Baths, dating back to AD43, to bathe in the rooftop Thermae Baths, or enjoy fine architecture such as the Royal Crescent and the Circus. See romantic Pulteney Bridge and the shops of Stall Street and Union Street set against the Georgian grandeur.
See Copse Hill Road, the most romantic street in Britain at Lower Slaughter. Climb Cleeve Hill and Broadway Tower or tackle the 20-mile Five Valleys Walk. Reward yourself with a pint in chocolate-box villages such as Blockley. Tour Blenheim Palace and Warwick Castle. Or just hunt for antiques in Cirencester.
Happy hens
There are few things hens enjoy more than a little pampering and Glo Pamper are happy to oblige, bringing spa-quality services such as mobile massages, facials and nail treatments to you at Cardynham House. Stay on site to splash in the garden pool, cook in the pizza oven and catch a movie on the projector screen.
Enjoy a Brewery Experience Day at Hillside Brewery that includes Beer Pilates, archery, axe throwing or shooting. Take a more sedate afternoon tea at Dormey House or Lucknam Park Hotel. Or take a craft workshop such as pyrography or willow-weaving at Lechlade Craft Barn.
Learn to dance in Cheltenham with the Salsa Squad. Stick around to plot your way out of epically themed rooms at Escape Hunt. Mix and muddle with the cocktail experts at The Cotswolds Distillery and enjoy a cloudy G&T on arrival. Or take a guided tour and taste the English wines at Woodchester Valley Vineyard.
Get your heels on and head out at night to eat seasonal game and quaff champagne at The Bell Inn in Selsley. Catch the latest productions at The Barn Theatre in Cirencester. Or enjoy the best of Bath’s night life including Fidel Rum Bar, The Drawing Rooms, The Dark Horse and Be At One Bath.
