Things to do
in Longborough

Longborough's best-known attraction is Longborough Festival Opera, which stages an annual summer season in its own opera house on the edge of the village. The theatre stands in the grounds of a family home, so it is somewhere to go with a ticket for a performance, not a building to look round at other times.

For a quieter kind of interest, look in at St James, the parish church, which dates from the twelfth century, if you find it open. The village also has a community-run shop, café and post office, and has in the past won the Bledisloe Cup, Gloucestershire's best-kept village competition.

A short drive away, Fosseway Garden Centre on the Stow Road at Moreton-in-Marsh has plants, gifts and a restaurant, and Bourton House Garden in Bourton-on-the-Hill opens to visitors for part of the year, so check before you go. History-minded visitors can look up the Battle of Stow 1646, in which Parliament's forces defeated the last Royalist field army. Exactly where the fighting took place is disputed. The traditional site is the ridge west of Donnington, between Longborough and Stow-on-the-Wold, which is open farmland reached by public footpaths, and the Royalists were driven back into Stow itself, where the fighting ended in the market square.

Longborough Village Cafe is the natural starting point for food and drink. It is part of the community-run village shop and post office, and a good spot for coffee or something warm whether you're passing through or staying a while. The Coach & Horses, a short walk from the cafe, is the village pub; check before you go if you are counting on a meal.

Under a mile west of the village, at Ganborough, the Cotswold Food Store & Café now trades as Cotswold Barn, a family-owned café with a gift shop. It is in Longborough parish, not in the village itself, and is best reached by car.

Slightly further afield, The Horse & Groom in Bourton-on-the-Hill and The Fox Inn on the green at Broadwell are both village pubs that serve food, whether as a lunch stop on a longer drive or an evening destination. Opening days and kitchen hours vary at all of these, so check with each before you set out.

The Heart of England Way runs through Longborough itself, making it the most convenient long-distance route to pick up on foot from the village, whether you want a short stretch or a longer day's walking. Northwards it leads to Bourton-on-the-Hill and southwards to Upper Swell, before finishing at Bourton-on-the-Water. The Way also forms part of the European walking route E2, so the two are the same path on the ground here.

The Gloucestershire Way is a separate long-distance route that passes through Stow-on-the-Wold, a few miles to the south, and does not come through Longborough, so it is one to join from Stow if you are planning a multi-day trip.

For shorter outings, use the public footpaths around the village and do not assume the roads are quiet. The busy A424 lies west of the village, between Longborough and both Condicote and Upper Swell, so expect to cross it with care. An Ordnance Survey map will show the rights of way, and keep dogs under close control where paths cross farmland with livestock.

Upper Swell lies just under two miles south of Longborough, on the Heart of England Way, and makes an easy addition to a day out in this part of the Cotswolds. Condicote, at a similar distance to the west on the far side of the A424, is another small village set in farmland.

Bourton-on-the-Hill, also just under two miles away to the north, is worth building into your plans in its own right, since it's home to Bourton House Garden and The Horse & Groom, and the Heart of England Way links it with Longborough. The nearest towns are Stow-on-the-Wold to the south and Moreton-in-Marsh to the north-east, each a few miles away, with Fosseway Garden Centre on the Stow Road at Moreton. Together these give you a good sense of the wider area around Longborough, from gardens to pubs to footpaths.