Bourton-on-the-Water & The Slaughters

We had a quiet and comfortable night and woke to a beautiful sunny morning. After breakfast, and with some trepidation, we made our way out of the camping field into the pub car park where we emptied and filled our tanks before hitting the road.

We’re heading for Bourton-on-the-Water but instead of simply driving up the large A road that is the Fosse Way, we took the scenic route through the countryside. We passed through some very pretty little villages, squeezed over a couple of fairly narrow bridges before finally arriving in Bourton’s main street through a narrow gap between a couple old houses - not the most conventional way to enter the town!

We’re stopping tonight at the football club which has a small grassed parking area next to the pitch. The entrance is down a very narrow road which at first glance seemed to be too narrow. We breathed in and went for it, emerging in the car park to find plenty of space. We tested the grass before driving onto it but fortunately it was nice and hard. We parked up and had coffee before settling off to explore the town.

Bourton-on-the-Water is known as the Venice of the Cotswolds, thanks to the river Windrush which runs through the town crossed by several quaint little bridges.

After wandering around the town for a hour or so looking at the pretty sandstone buildings and little gift shops we returned to Kiki for lunch.

Suitability fortified, we set off again through the town and out the other side to the Fosse Way. Crossing the road we came to a bridleway which we followed across the fields to Lower Slaughter.

This tiny village of pretty sandstone houses is clustered alongside the river. 

At the end of the village we came to a mill which still has a working water wheel.

Following the road uphill out of the village for about a mile we came to the equally pretty village of Upper Slaughter. We dropped back down to the river, crossed a little stone bridge (we decided the ford was a bit deep) and then followed a footpath through water meadows back the Lower Slaughter. From here we retraced our footsteps back to Kiki.

I popped into the clubhouse to pay our £15 overnight parking fee whilst Emma prepared yummy stuffed Greek peppers for our evening meal. After eating we settled down for the evening watching the kids having their football practice.