Cotswolds Luxury Hotels and the National Garden Scheme

One welcome development in recent years has been the growth in National Garden scheme properties opening up in the Cotswolds. The scheme sees private gardens opening up for locals and visitors and has proved very popular with guests at Cotswolds Luxury Hotels. It's a chance to see a ‘real’ garden, chat to the proud owner and pick up a few ideas and hints.

Cotswolds Luxury Hotels and NGS Group Openings

Highlights for 2017 include the nicely named Awkward Hill Cottage, near Bibury, Barnsley House garden (which also happens to be one of the hotels in our collection of Cotswolds Luxury Hotels) and Beverston Castle , which is a romantic ruin near Tetbury, nearby Berkeley Castle also participates. We also like Eastleach House near Cirencester and the Arts and Crafts Garden at Cotswold Farm, also near Cirencester.

A few gardens are opening for the first time in 2017. Guests at The Dial House can pop over to nearby Greenfields. Downton House garden is near The Painswick Hotel and Brocklehurst is a romantic Garden at Hawling near Cheltenham. Incidentally if you’re bringing your dog to one of our Cotswolds Luxury Hotels, many National Garden Scheme gardens welcome dogs look for the logo in the brochure.

NGS gardens are great fun and you’ll often find tea on offer and a few plants for sale.

Cotswolds Country hotels for outdoor attractions

There are a surprising number of great outdoor attractions in the Cotswolds - there is so much to do for guests in Cotswolds Country Hotels. Not surprisingly, many of them focus on farming and wildlife.

More outdoor attractions from Cotswolds Country Hotels

Perhaps the best known outdoor attraction these days is the Cotswold Farm Park which is farmed by the BBC Countryfile presenter, Adam Henson. It has always been a hot spot for families with toddlers but these days attractions a much wider age group, including lots of ‘Adam’ fans.

Cotswolds Country Hotels reach across the region - to the Oxfordshire Cotswolds where the Wildlife Park offers the surreal sight of white rhinos on a Cotswold lawn, amongst many other animals - and soem superb gardens. A great day out.

Further south there’s Cattle Country, which might sound like a Wild West movie, but in fact turns out to be a large adventure park that is a real hit with families. A newer venture which provides an activity not usually associated with Cotswolds Country Hotels is 417 Bike Park on Crickley Hill, near Cheltenham. Basically a mountain biking haven, it is giving second thoughts to anyone who thinks of the Cotswolds as all abut historic gardens and afternoon tea.

In the South Cotswolds, visitors are also often surprised by by the Cotswolds Water Park, where over 40 square miles of lakes offer everything from waterskiing to zipwires.