Up A Lazy River

With its sun-stained Cotswold stone buildings and the lazy River Windrush flowing through its centre, Bourton-on-the-Water is an idyllic destination for tourists and locals alike, says Anna Bailey

It’s become a bit of an in-joke in the Cotswolds that Bourton is jampacked with tourists, so for me to pretend otherwise would be a fairly see-through lie, but also a disservice to the village itself. There’s a reason why Bourton has the draw that it does. The West Country, as we know, is full of beautiful little hamlets – traditional pubs, 17th-century architecture, picturesque walks: all the classics – but every summer, a phenomenal 300,000 visitors from all over the world flock to see one of England’s most quintessential villages, and that’s because Bourton-on-the-Water simply has a lot to offer.

Bourton is famed for its stone arched bridges – the oldest of which dates back to 1654 – that span the lazy River Windrush as it flows through the village centre, earning the nickname ‘Venice of the Cotswolds’. Having been to Venice for the first time earlier this year, I have to say, I prefer Bourton. In Piazza San Marco you have to queue for hours in the blazing heat if you want to visit the cathedral, but here you can drop in and admire the 14th-century elegance of Bourton’s St Lawrence Church without being jostled by quite so many impatient Americans.