Pubs & Pathways
A Cotswolds walking retreat
The Cotswolds, England
22 to 28 September 2027
Open to all, 18 and over.
The Cotswolds were built on wool and are best met on foot. Six nights along the old high roads, the drovers’ ways and the escarpment edge, each mile rewarded with the two things this landscape has always done best: a fire with something good cooking on the other side of it, and a story worth staying up for.
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Photo Credit: Seb Gardner
The week runs from two bases. The first three nights are in Burford in the north, and the last three at The Painswick in the south, which puts the Slad Valley and the western escarpment on the doorstep for the second half. One move, midweek, on the gentlest day of the week, and your luggage goes ahead of you.
Mornings belong to the paths. Afternoons belong to the makers and the old houses. Evenings belong to the storytellers who still carry the folklore of these hills.
Almost every visit is a private or a closed door, which is the difference between being shown around a place and being let into it.
What You’ll Do
(A peek at two days of this retreat)
Day 1
Chipping Campden, Broadway and the Standing Stones
Six miles of the Cotswold Way, cresting at Broadway Tower, with a Quirky Cotswolds talk on the minibus out, a tale told at the Tower over lunch, and with the whole county laid out below.
In the afternoon, the Rollright Stones, a circle older than Stonehenge, where the legend of the King and his men is read into the landscape, standing in the circle.
Back to The Rectory for dinner and a tasting of English wines, and then a Cotswold Morris Side dances in the courtyard, with a short workshop for anyone who wants to have a go.
Day 2
The Slad Valley, Laurie Lee’s Country
A short drive over from Painswick, then five miles of the Cider with Rosie loop, with our storyteller telling the valley’s tales where they actually happened.
A long pub lunch at the Woolpack, the pub Lee drank in, with Uley ales, the valley falling away below, and a talk on the literary Cotswolds at the table.
In the afternoon, a guided tour of Painswick itself, the Queen of the Cotswolds, its steep old streets and the churchyard of ninety-nine clipped yews. Dinner back at the house, a few minutes away.
Who You’ll Meet
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Michael Lamerton
Our Head Guide for the Week
A lifelong Cotswold man, Michael is passionate about this corner of England, and he is one of our own, rather than a hired hand. Born in Cornwall and raised in the Gloucestershire countryside, he has spent most of his life immersed in rural England. His appreciation runs far deeper than enjoying a beautiful view: he understands the landscape, traditions, villages and distinctive character of rural British life, and can show you places you would simply never find on your own.
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Ken Lush
Head Brewer at Uley Brewery
Ken has been brewing under Uley Bury on the Cotswold escarpment for years, in a Victorian brewhouse working off its own spring water. He takes us down into the vaulted cellar where the ale is made, pours the Old Spot, and then, because this is Uley and that is what happens there, sings for the party. Ale and song in the room both come from, which is not a thing you can book anywhere else.
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Sean Callery
Blue Badge Guide and Author
Sean Callery is a Blue Badge guide for the Heart of England, a Green Badge guide for Oxford and the author of Offbeat Cotswolds, a collection of nearly 400 strange tales and surprising sights. A former teacher and children’s author, he has a rare gift for making history vivid, warm and wonderfully entertaining.
Throughout the week, Sean will join us on walks and in villages, uncovering the stories hidden in wool churches, ancient stones and familiar high streets. He makes you look twice at places you thought you knew.
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Charlie Markwick
The Yarn Whisperer
Charlie Markwick is a Cotswold-born storyteller, spoken-word artist and poet who has performed across the UK and Europe. He also leads storytelling courses for adults and children. His Cotswold childhood continues to find its way into his writing, wherever his travels take him. Charlie has created three one-man shows, including Orienteering, which explores his experience of caring for his late wife through dementia. He now lives in rural southern France, once again immersed in the seasonal rhythms that shaped his early life.
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The Chipping Campden Morris Dancers
The Chipping Campden Morris Dancers are one of only four traditional Cotswold sides with an unbroken history, with town records dating back to the 1700s. Their dances are unique to Campden, passed from one generation to the next and deliberately left unpublished, so the only way to experience them properly is to be there. They dance throughout spring and summer, most notably at Dover’s Games and Scuttlebrook Wake, when they pull the Scuttlebrook Queen through town on a decorated dray. Today’s side includes several generations of the same families, keeping Campden’s story vividly alive.
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Steve Roth
Blue Badge Guide for the Heart of England and Oxford
If Steve told you Elizabeth I, aged 9, is said to lie in an unmarked Cotswold grave, shin-kicking is an Olympic sport, King Arthur once felt the need to chat with a talking salmon, and England’s longest river is made of a giant's tears, you might be forgiven for thinking he was making it up. But real or myth, these tales are part of the story of the Cotswolds, this wonderful and, at times, slightly weird area of England he calls home. As a former journalist and a qualified guide since 2019, he has spent his life telling stories.
Having lived in the Cotswolds for 25 years, he is fascinated by its people, folklore, myths, legends and mysteries. So he likes nothing better than passing those fantastic stories on to visitors to the Cotswolds. When he is not guiding, he spends time at home with his wife, his son, a dog, two cats and some very naughty chickens.
The Pubs
Lunch is a pub, most days, and it is the one we have walked to rather than the one we drove past. That changes how a pint tastes and is most of the point. Low beams and flagstones, a fire lit whatever the month, dogs asleep under the settle, and a landlord who knows why the lane behind the church is called what it is.
The Woolpack at Slad is the one everyone knows, author Laurie Lee’s own, where his ashes lie in the churchyard opposite and his poems are on the wall. We take a long lunch there on the Slad Valley day.
The Snowshill Arms comes mid-walk on the escarpment day, The Swan at Ascott-under-Wychwood holds the lunch on the gentle day, and the old inns of Burford hold the first pint.
Photo Credit: Seb Gardner
Along the way…
Private folklore talks and ghost stories by the fire
Wool-felting and weaving workshops with Cotswold makers
The history of the buildings, the stone and the wool churches, read on the ground
A private tasting flight at Cotswolds Distillery
And the Uley Brewery cellar, ale and song where both are made.
Where you’ll stay
Six nights across two bases: three in the north and three in the south, with one easy move midweek.
The Rectory at Burford
The first three nights are at The Rectory, with additional rooms at The Bull, a few minutes away on Burford’s high street.
Built between 1680 and 1700, The Rectory is a Grade II listed parsonage that still feels like a home rather than a museum. There are rustic beams, tall sash windows and two original open fireplaces, alongside a wood-fired sauna, hot tub and cinema room. Its courtyard is where the Morris Side dances.
The Bull is the old coaching inn on the high street and hosts one of our dinners. Burford itself is one of the loveliest towns in the Cotswolds, and the walking begins at the end of the street.
The Painswick
The last three nights are at The Painswick, in the village known as the Queen of the Cotswolds. There is even a spa in the old cellars for legs tired from the hills.
Moving south brings the Slad Valley, Painswick’s steep old streets and the western escarpment within minutes of the door, meaning less time travelling and more time in the landscape.
FAQs
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Four to eight miles, on paths rather than roads, with a long lunch in the middle. Moderate rather than hard, but it is hills, and the Cotswold escarpment is steeper than photographs suggest.
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Then you do not. The coach is on the route every day and will pick you up at the halfway point or take you straight to lunch. There are gentler options every day.
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No. There is very good beer and gin throughout this week and nobody will mind in the slightest if you have none of it. The brewery and the distillery are as interesting sober, and there will be good alcohol-free options throughout, at the tastings and at the table.
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No. Pubs & Pathways is open to everyone, 18 and over.
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No. Your bags move between the two houses without you. You walk with a day pack holding water, a waterproof and lunch if we are not stopping.
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It may, at some point, and we walk anyway. Bring boots that are properly broken in and a waterproof that actually works, and the rest is atmosphere. If a day turns genuinely foul we shorten it and spend longer indoors with someone interesting.
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Press Book. You will be taken into our booking area, where a deposit reserves your place and the balance falls due nearer the time. If you would rather talk first, book a call instead and we will take it from there.
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All accommodation and meals for the retreat, and all drinks except alcohol. Every session and activity, all local travel and entries once you are with us, a welcome pack, and our planning and support throughout. In short, everything from the moment you arrive to the moment you leave.
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International flights, travel to the meeting point, travel and medical insurance, alcohol, and any treatments or add-on activities offered on that particular retreat. Where a retreat offers treatment add-ons, they are booked and paid for separately and the balance falls due 90 days before you travel, alongside the rest.
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Yes, and many do. All are welcome.
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No. Every retreat has a single supplement for a room of your own. Twin sharing is there if you would prefer it, and if you are coming with a friend we will put you together.
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Fit enough for a comfortable few hours on your feet, on uneven ground, at a pace that suits the slowest person rather than the quickest. There are gentler options every single day. If you are unsure, speak to us and describe your usual week honestly. After a call we will advise on the fitness level required and which activities would suit you.
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Tell us on the questionnaire after booking and the kitchen will work around you. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, allergies, the lot. The chefs at our retreat locations are used to it and would rather know well in advance than on the night.
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Yes. Valid travel insurance is required, and must cover you for the full duration of the retreat, including emergency medical treatment, hospitalisation and evacuation.
We also strongly recommend that your policy covers delay, interruption, cancellation and lost luggage, and in particular that you take a Cancel For Any Reason policy.
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A non-refundable deposit of $1,000 per person secures your place. The balance is paid in three equal instalments, due 150, 120 and 90 days before the retreat begins, along with any add-ons you have chosen.
If you cancel 91 days or more before the retreat, you lose the deposit only, and we will convert it into a credit toward any of our retreats, valid for 12 months; anything you have paid above the deposit is refunded. Between 90 and 61 days, a quarter of the total price is non-refundable. Between 60 and 31 days, half is non-refundable. At 30 days or less, the full price is non-refundable.
And a promise: if we are able to fill your place after you cancel, we will refund everything you have paid beyond your deposit and a $250 administration fee, no matter when you cancelled.
If we ever have to cancel a retreat and cannot reschedule it, you get a full refund, within 14 days if we still hold your funds and otherwise within 30 days. The full terms are in the Retreat Agreement & Waiver you sign when you book.
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Yes, and we would encourage it. We can arrange a bespoke trip or a curated itinerary for before or after. Just tell us when you book, or any time up to a month before you travel.
Join what you want and skip what you do not. If you would rather spend an afternoon in the garden with a book than get on the minibus, that is a perfectly good day.
Join us for Pubs & Pathways
