Walking through the Castle Combe is genuinely like stepping back in time – not a single new house has been built in the Cotswolds parish since the 1600s. Combine the honey-hued stone cottages with the pretty stream that runs through the village and the rich surrounding woodland, and you have yourself one of the most picture-perfect places in the country.
Now, Condé Nast Traveller (CNT) has gone one step further and declared Castle Combe one of the 53 most beautiful small towns in the entire world. The dinky villages sits among the likes of bright blue Chefchaouen in Morocco, flower-filled Biei in Japan and fairytale Bled in Slovenia. With a population of just 356, it’s the second smallest place on the list (after Japan’s mountain village of Gokayama, which has less that 100 residents).
It takes just 10 minutes to walk from one end of Castle Combe to the other. CNT recommends stopping in for afternoon tea at The Old Rectory Pop-Up Tearoom and booking a night at the luxurious five-star hotel Manor House, which is set in a fourteenth century mansion and is home to Michelin-starred restaurant The Bybrook.
Photograph: Shutterstock
Castle Combe is well used to the recognition. The tiny village has been cited as one of Britain’s best-looking places over and over again and, as a result, often gets packed with tourists during peak season. Alongside Bibury (which was last year also been crowned one of the most beautiful villages in the world), it’s one of the most popular spots in the Cotswolds.
But the region is home to plenty of other gorgeous places that have the same chocolate box homes and pastoral charm but are far less crowded. Some of Time Out’s favourite alternatives include Upper and Lower Slaughter, Chipping Campden and Charlbury. You can read about all of our alternative Cotswolds recommendations here.
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