MULTILINGUAL FAMILY
IN LONDON

Last half term, we spent five days exploring the Cotswolds as a family.

At first, we had been considering a trip to Paris. Then I looked up Eurostar tickets and realised that return fares for the three of us would cost nearly £1,000. That quickly took Paris off the table.

Instead, we decided it was finally time for something we had been talking about for months: our first proper family road trip outside London.

Since we had recently become much more confident drivers, the Cotswolds felt like the perfect destination. We booked a cottage in Bourton-on-the-Water, packed the car, and set off during one of the hottest weeks of the year, with temperatures climbing to an unexpected 32-33°C in May.

Day 1: London to Bourton-on-the-Water

We left London on a Sunday morning and quickly discovered that we were not the only people heading to the countryside.

An accident on the road turned what should have been a 2.5-hour journey into something much longer, and by the time we arrived in Bourton-on-the-Water, the village was overflowing with Bank Holiday visitors enjoying the sudden summer weather.

Finding parking became our first challenge. Fortunately, we eventually managed and enjoyed a Sunday roast at The New Old Inn—without realising that finding our cottage would soon become our second challenge.

The mobile network had all but collapsed under the weight of thousands of tourists, leaving us without Google Maps, emails, or any reliable way of finding where we were supposed to be staying. After driving around in circles and accidentally arriving at the wrong house, a kind local resident pointed us in the right direction.

It was almost evening when we finally checked into our cottage. After quickly downloading offline maps, we headed straight back out to explore.

That first night gave us our introduction to Bourton’s famous riverside atmosphere. Families crowded around the River Windrush, children splashed through the water, and queues formed outside every ice cream shop in sight.

Our 4-year-old daughter immediately decided that crossing the river repeatedly was the most important activity of the day.

We ended the evening with an entirely un-Cotswold dinner of instant noodles at the cottage and tried our best to sleep through the unexpectedly tropical temperatures that lingered well into the night.

Day 2: From Broadwell to Broadway

Originally, we had planned to visit Lower Slaughter or Stow-on-the-Wold before heading to Broadway for lunch.

However, after seeing just how busy Bourton had been the day before, we decided to slow things down and explore somewhere a little quieter instead.

The night before, I had come across a blog written by someone who lives in the Cotswolds, recommending the tiny village of Broadwell. It looked charming, so we changed our plans.

It was already lunchtime when we arrived. We headed straight to The Fox Inn, a local pub recommended in the blog, and managed to get a table without a reservation.

We shared a selection of starters, which were all delicious apart from the pork belly that I ordered. As usual, my husband’s choices proved far more successful than mine!

Broadwell has a population of only a few hundred people, and compared to Bourton-on-the-Water, it felt wonderfully peaceful. After lunch, we wandered through the village and visited St. Paul’s Church, which naturally became our destination thanks to my husband’s habit of seeking out churches wherever we travel. Like much of Broadwell itself, the church felt quiet and unassuming, the sort of place you might easily walk past but would miss if you did. Being married to a history enthusiast means medieval church visits are almost guaranteed wherever we go.

Despite the 32°C heat, walking around felt more manageable than I had expected. It was certainly hot, but stepping into the shade brought almost instant relief.

Meanwhile, our daughter happily zoomed around the village on her scooter without a single complaint.

Later that afternoon, we continued on to Broadway.

Compared to Bourton, Broadway felt more spacious and polished, with independent galleries, boutiques, and tea rooms lining the high street. When we arrived at around 3.30pm, many of the day-trippers had already left, giving the town a much calmer atmosphere.

We escaped the heat with iced drinks in a tea room before continuing on to Broadway Tower, one of the area’s most famous landmarks.

The tower sits on a hill overlooking the surrounding countryside. Although the main visitor facilities had already closed by the time we arrived, there were still people walking around the grounds, so we followed the path up to enjoy the views.

We returned to our cottage that evening feeling tired, sun-soaked, and very glad to have chosen a slower pace for the day.

One thing that surprised me about the Cotswolds was how different each village felt. From afar , they can sometimes look quite similar in photographs, but in person each place seemed to have its own character and atmosphere.

Day 3: An Unexpected Beach Day in the Cotswolds

The third day turned out to be one of our daughter’s favourites.

A few days before the trip, I came across Cotswold Country Park & Beach while looking for ideas to survive the forecast heatwave. It wasn’t originally part of our itinerary, but with temperatures expected to climb above 30°C, a beach day suddenly sounded like an excellent idea.

Located around 40 minutes from Bourton-on-the-Water, the park is home to what is often described as the UK’s largest inland beach. Visitors can book activities such as kayaking, paddleboarding, boat rides, and BBQs, but we were perfectly happy spending the day by the water without any extras.

We arrived around 11am, and the place was already buzzing with families making the most of the school holidays and the unusually warm weather.

After finding a spot, we settled in for a picnic lunch and watched our daughter make a beeline for the water. The lake felt cold at first, but once the initial shock wore off, it was the perfect way to cool down. She happily spent hours splashing around, and when she started feeling chilly, a wetsuit over her swimsuit turned out to be the perfect solution.

One thing I hadn’t really considered beforehand was that, unlike the sea, the water doesn’t benefit from changing tides. By the afternoon, floating weeds and plant matter had become much more noticeable, which made the lake feel slightly less appealing than it had earlier in the day.

Even so, it was a fantastic way to spend one of the hottest days of our trip. I certainly wasn’t expecting to find something like this in the middle of the Cotswolds.

We left in the mid-afternoon and headed to nearby Cirencester.

After several days of visiting small villages, Cirencester felt noticeably different. The elegant stone buildings and historic streets gave it a slightly grander feel, and at various points it reminded me of both Oxford and Edinburgh, although anyone with a better understanding of architecture would probably find those comparisons rather questionable.

After cooling down with iced coffee and a babyccino, we visited the Church of St. John the Baptist, one of the town’s best-known landmarks.

Parts of the church date back to the twelfth century, with additions made over several centuries. It was one of those places that leaves you admiring the craftsmanship while simultaneously realising how little you know about history, architecture, or church buildings.

By early evening, we were back in Bourton-on-the-Water, tired, sun-soaked, and ready for a quiet evening at the cottage and a simple dinner.

Travelling with a four-year-old inevitably means slowing down and choosing fewer activities than you might otherwise. But days like this reminded me that children rarely care how many attractions you visit. Given the choice, a few hours with water, sand, and sunshine will usually win every time!

Day 4: A Day in Gloucester

By our fourth day, we felt ready for a change of scenery.

After several days spent wandering through picturesque villages with honey-coloured stone cottages, we decided to visit somewhere a little larger. I had originally suggested Cheltenham, but after a serious discussion involving ChatGPT and Claude, we ended up choosing Gloucester instead.

Gloucester felt positively metropolitan after the quiet villages of the previous few days. There were shopping centres, busy streets, and enough people around to remind us that we had briefly rejoined civilisation.

We spent an hour or two wandering through nearby parks, where families had gathered to escape the heat, before heading into the city centre.

To be completely honest, we found the city centre a little underwhelming. It felt somewhat dated and lacked the charm we had enjoyed elsewhere during the trip. By contrast, the quayside area we would discover later that afternoon felt much more vibrant and lively.

After lunch at a lovely cafe near the cathedral Gloucester Cathedral (and a homemade chocolate gelato, which was naturally the highlight for our four-year-old), we headed off to explore the city’s most famous landmark.

Gloucester Cathedral was undoubtedly the highlight of the day. The soaring ceilings, intricate stonework, and sheer scale of the building made it difficult not to stop and stare.

What made the visit particularly memorable, though, was watching our daughter explore it.

At some point, she became fascinated by the dark stonework and demanded to know why parts of the cathedral looked black. Before either of us could answer, she had already developed her own theory involving Baby Jesus having once lived there before moving somewhere else.

Like many four-year-olds, she was completely convinced by her own explanation.

Until quite recently, every historic building was simply a “castle” in her mind. This trip seemed to mark the beginning of a new phase, where she was starting to notice the differences between churches, castles, and other old buildings. One of the pleasures of travelling with children is watching them slowly build their own understanding of the world.

After the cathedral, we wandered down to the quayside.

The waterfront felt completely different from the city centre, with cafes, restaurants, and converted warehouse buildings overlooking the water. We spent the rest of the afternoon strolling around while our daughter enthusiastically raced ahead on her scooter.

By this point in the trip, we had settled into a comfortable rhythm. We were no longer trying to see everything or rushing from one attraction to the next. Instead, we found ourselves enjoying simple things: an interesting building, a good coffee (and an ice cream), a walk by the water, or listening to whatever story our daughter happened to be inventing that day.

That evening, we returned to Bourton-on-the-Water for our final night in the Cotswolds. We had a lovely dinner at The Mouse Trap Inn while our daughter happily played a maze game on a map we collected from Gloucester.

Day 5: One Last Day in Bourton-on-the-Water

One thing nobody tells you about Bourton-on-the-Water is that the best time to see it might be first thing in the morning.

While my husband and daughter were still getting ready, I went for an early walk through the village to get our car back after charging it overnight at the car park. The river was quiet, the bridges were almost empty, and for the first time all week I felt I was seeing the Bourton-on-the-Water that people imagine when they picture the Cotswolds.

It was peaceful, beautiful, and somehow completely different from the village we had arrived in.

By the time we checked out of the cottage and returned to the main street, the crowds had already returned.

We visited the Model Village, which recreates Bourton-on-the-Water in miniature. It turned out to be much more charming than I expected, particularly through the eyes of a four-year-old. Our daughter inspected every tiny building with remarkable seriousness, peering through miniature windows and pointing out details I would never have noticed myself.

Later, we stopped at the famous Bakery on the Water before the lunchtime crowds arrived. The food was good, but what I liked most was the setting. Sitting beside the river on a warm summer day, watching people wander past with ice creams in hand, felt like a very Cotswolds way to spend our final afternoon.

Several other attractions in Bourton are particularly popular with families, such as the Motoring Museum, Birdland Park & Garden, and The Dragonfly Maze, but rather than trying to squeeze in one last attraction, we spent the rest of our time simply wandering along part of the Windrush Way.

Some of my favourite moments from the trip came from doing exactly that. Following a path just to see where it led. Watching sheep in distant fields. Stopping at a church because it happened to be there. Letting our daughter investigate something that had caught her attention.

When we finally pointed the car back towards London, we had skipped several villages that had originally been on our list. We never made it to Lower Slaughter or Stow-on-the-Wold, or Burford.

And, for once, I wasn’t particularly bothered.

The Cotswolds turned out to be less about ticking off famous villages and more about enjoying whatever we happened to find along the way.

Perhaps our daughter understood that better than we did. She never seemed bothered by the places we missed and was just as excited by crossing a stream, riding her scooter, or spotting sheep in a field by any of the places we had carefully planned to visit.

At home, she is not always the most easy-going child, which perhaps made it even more noticeable. Somehow, travel seemed to bring out a different side of her.

Perhaps that was part of the magic of being four, and part of the magic of travel.

And that felt like a pretty good lesson to take home from our first family road trip.