A Weekend on the Cotswold Edge

Travelling

Alfie & Megan

Departing

Pitsea, 2:30pm Fri

Staying

Studio flat, Slad

20 November

Friday

Travel day. No dinner stop — food's being bought for cooking at the flat instead.

2:30pm

Depart Pitsea

Friday afternoon traffic on the M25 approach is never guaranteed, even leaving before the worst of it.

~5:00pm

Supermarket stop, Stroud

Slad itself has no shop — stock up here for the weekend's cooking.

~5:30–6:00pm

Arrive Slad, check in

Self check-in via lockbox — no need to coordinate arrival time with a host.

21 November

Saturday

The big driving day — two routes back to back, no deadline pressure since there's nowhere else to be.

Morning

Breakfast at the flat

Late morning

Route 2 — The Southern Sweep

51 miles, ~1h45. Frocester Hill, Coaley Peak, over to the A433 past Kemble airfield.

Afternoon

Lunch, Painswick

Afternoon

Route 1 — The Doorstep Loop

36 miles, ~1h30. Slad Valley, Sheepscombe, Birdlip, Sapperton — starts and ends right at the door.

Evening

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Rodborough & Minchinhampton Commons — sunset drive

Pencilled in, weather dependent. Sunset is around 4:06pm, so aim to be up there by roughly 3:40pm. Confirm nearer the day rather than treating this as fixed.

Evening

Dinner at the flat

22 November

Sunday

Full day out — two farms, roughly triangular route out and back via good roads.

Early morning

Breakfast at the flat

Morning

Drive to Cotswold Farm Park

Via Painswick and Cheltenham — deliberately avoids the Air Balloon junction at Birdlip.

9:30am–12:00pm

Cotswold Farm Park

Open 9:30–5. Highland cattle among the rare breeds.

12:00–1:00pm

Lunch at the Farm Park shop/café

~1:00–1:30pm

Drive to Chadlington

~1:30–2:45pm

Diddly Squat Farm Shop

Shop and bar close 4:30pm. Quieter than summer, but it's still a Saturday-adjacent weekend crowd.

~3:00–4:30pm

Drive back to Slad

Sunset's around 4:05pm on this drive — worth keeping an eye out for a spot to pull over if the sky's doing something good.

23 November

Monday

Pack the car fully before setting off — no return to the flat once you leave.

7:30–8:30am

Breakfast, pack up, check out

8:30–10:30am

Route 3b — Bibury & Burford

Driven fresh, first thing, with luggage already loaded. Being trimmed to end at Burford rather than loop back — final figures pending.

Onward

Drive home to Pitsea

From Burford via the A40/Oxford/M40 corridor — ordinary sat-nav from there, no need for a scenic route.

The routes

Reference only — see the map for the traced lines.

Route 1 — The Doorstep Loop

Slad Valley, Sheepscombe, Painswick, Birdlip, Sapperton.

36 mi · 1h30

Route 2 — The Southern Sweep

Frocester Hill, Coaley Peak, Nympsfield, A433 past Kemble.

51 mi · 1h45

Route 3a — The White Way Loop

Cirencester, White Way, Withington, Andoversford. Banked for another trip.

61 mi · 2h04

Route 3b — Bibury & Burford

Barnsley, Bibury, Burford. Being trimmed to a one-way finish at Burford.

67 mi · 1h56*

Route 4 — The Two Farms Tour

Painswick, Cheltenham, Cotswold Farm Park, Diddly Squat, home via Cirencester.

88 mi · 2h35

Weather reminder

Remember — weather this time of year is likely to be cold (highs around 7–9°C, possible frost overnight), often wet, and with short daylight (sunset around 4pm). Worth checking the actual forecast again closer to the date rather than relying on this.