North Cotswolds Dairy

Keen to hear the dawn chorus uninterrupted by 21st-century traffic noise? Take an early-morning stroll to The Rollright Stones (20 minutes’ walk), a multiple group of limestone standing stones thought to date back to the Bronze Age. On clear mornings, you can catch a colourful sunrise from there, along with the tweeting of birds going about their morning business. If you’ve tasted the milk produced at North Cotswolds Dairy, you may care to see it in stock at Diddly Squat Farm Shop (15 minutes’ drive), which also sells all manner of local Cotswolds produce. The Farmer’s Dog pub is half an hour away by car, and Clarkson’s Hawkstone Brewery (20 minutes) is open for tastings. You can also meet the Shire horses and tour the Victorian brewery at Hook Norton, or sample whisky and gin made locally at the Cotswolds Distillery Visitor Centre (both 10 minutes). Pretty Cotswolds villages close by include Moreton-in-Marsh (15 minutes) with its soft-stone cottages and sprawling Tuesday market. Bourton-on-the-Water (25 minutes) is bisected by the River Windrush and home to the kid-friendly Cotswold Motoring Museum and Birdland Park and Gardens.