Hundreds and hundreds of people may descend on Bourton-on-the-Water, or Chipping Campden by coach-load but the coolest Cotswolds secrets are hidden far down bumpy country lanes.
Snowshill
It is a tiny village sitting on the precipice of one steep hill after another, and opens up to some really breathtaking views into valleys.
Sapperton
Tucked away in a tree-filled valley, Sapperton beguiles with its Arts and Crafts ancestry. You’ll find a restored church: a house with Gimson furniture looks stunning, and the nearby Daneway Inn stands by the Thames and Severn Canal tunnel entrance.
It gets looked over far more often than it should considering its size, but what seems like little Winchcombe serves as the gateway to Sudeley Castle and boasts a splendid abbey church. These walking tracks provide panoramic hill-top views, and are always crowd-free. For Cotswolds Private Tours, visit cotswoldtour.co.uk/cotswolds-private-tours
Blockley
This row of buttermilk-coloured terraced cottages that once housed silk mill workers tumble down the hill. The village retains a truly working feel, locals outnumbering visitors most days of the week.
Guiting Power
Nestling in a special conservation area, this is a proper village with every cliche box ticked – ancient cross on the perfect Cotswold stone cottage ring-road green. The Hollow Bottom pub – serving seriously good food in a real village setting.
Eastleach
A pair of interconnected villages, with an ancient clapper bridge spanning the River Leach. There are plenty of quiet and riverside walks for your perfect out-of-the-tourist-place picnic.
Aldsworth
High on the hill, Aldsworth is quiet and isolated with sweeping views over bucolic countryside. The Norman church and centuries-old layout of the traditional village, is a reminder of this unchanged legacy.
These unsung corners provide wonderful opportunities to see the Cotswolds as it once was, and a welcome escape from throngs of tourists crammed into its most high-profile towns.
