The Cotswolds - where to stay with a two year old

[popsycal]

We haev struggled to get our act together and book a holiday. Some friends of ours are coming home after being overseas for a long time and are having a get together in cheltenham in august so we thought that we might go there then have a week 'down south' somewhere.

I have a few websites which have some lovely cottages, and reasonable too. But i do nto know the area at all so I don't know where will be best.
We will have a car but as it is already a massive drive to cheltenham, we don't want to go too much further away (as we will have to drive back to newcastle again!)

Any ideas?

Excuse my lack of geography, but exactly where do The Cotswolds extend to and from? Also, any other recommendations for family-friendly hotels and things to do?

bump please

Do you want a cottage or a hotel, popsy? Hotels would be the usual suspects, all quite near there- Woolley Grange, Calcot Manor, Lygon Arms. Don't know about cottages though I'm afraid. Are you wanting advice about general areas or specific places?

we ahev afew websites with cottages which still have some very nice and very reasonable ones available.....
general areas would be good....

we want to be within about 30 ish minutes of cheltenham but not in a bisy area - DH wants it to be 'out in the wilds' but i think he will need to compromise!!!

we need to be close-ish to things to do with a 2 year old......

Hmmm- there's Bourton-on-the-Water near there, a model village, but my inclination would be to head down towards Somerset, so you have things like Wookey Hole caves, Cheddar gorge (and more caves) and Longleat not too far. You can get nice boat trips in Bath....ummmm... I'll keep thinking!

that sounds nice tamum!!
there are some somerset cottages that i was looking at

I can certainly recommend the area around Bourton - went there with DD when she was 2 (but that was about 5 years ago)There is also a bird park at Bourton and lots of lovely cotswoldy villages nearby. Think Somerset would add an extra hour onto your journey from Newcastle - I am in Bristol so Cheltenham is a bit out of my area, will keep thinking

is there some bird place near bby - slimbridge or somewhere!?

ah ypou mentioned the bird park - must read more carefully

There is a bird park actually in Bourton - but that isn't Slimbridge. Slimbridge is on the other side of Gloucester - prob about 30 mins from Cheltenham. Am a member of Slimbridge and can highly recommend it - our kids love feeding the birds.
Just looked around Bourton to see if I can remember where we stayed. Am convinced it was Stow on the Wold - which again is a lovely area, as is Moreton in Marsh - we stayed in a cottage but don't know who through as parents booked it.

And funnily enough the reason why we stayed there is because my parents lived in Ponteland and were looking to relocate south!

how funny!!!

and friend of ours recommends company for cottages.....

they seem reasonable and some are still available....

They look lovely - am Particularly like the Stone Cottage in Winchcombe - but I have not ever been to Winchcombe so can't personally recommend it, but it is sort of your side of Cheltenham and not far away from there either.

Ah, but you would have to lie about the fact that you have a 2 year old! Oh well....

For cottages Rural Retreats have lots of lovely places in the areas website Bruern Holiday Cottages also come highly recommended, if not exactly cheap website They have a play area for children.

That Bruern place looks lovely Azure. I guess a lot of places like that will be fully booked for this time of year though, do you think?

If not booked up then prohibitively expensive this time of year, I would imagine.

Oh come on chapesses - surely you can come up with more suggestions?

We took ours to Bourton on the Water, which they loved. It has a museum of childhood there, with the orginal brum (it's the place he drives out of in the opening scenes). Also a birdland style thingy, and a maze, with clues on the way round it. Nice shallow stream runningthrough the village as well. We got our house from here at late notice, very reasonably priced as well.

In terms of nearby things to do (and thereby influencing your choice of location) I would recommend:

Cotswold Wildlife Park near Burford.

Personally I don't rate the Birdland place at Bourton, but the (permanent) model railway exhibition there is great, and the maze.

Cotswold Farm Park near Stow is also well worth a visit with toddlers.

In Stratford there's a Tellytubbies shop, where you can slide down the Tellytubbies slide. I like Stratford with kids - you can go for a ride on a boat on the river, and there's a HUGE swingpark with sand and water and paddling pool there too ... pretty central, but on the other side of the river to the theatre, shops and so on.

Don't know anything about nice places to stay though, sorry.

When you know where you're going to be, I may have other suggestions of good places to visit.