London: Explore the Cotswolds from London with Private Black Cab
Description
There is nothing better than spending time in the country. The stunning scenery, including golden fields in the spring, the vibrant rainbow coloured country gardens in the summer, and the myriad of dark crimsons, yellows, & silvers in the autumn & winter, always takes our breath away. Add the gorgeous historic towns & villages made of soft creamy sandstone, many of which regularly top the best places to visit in the Cotswolds & the UK, plus the local wildlife of ducks, geese, bees & even the odd snake, & the fantastic food and you have the perfect refresher to staying in the noisy city. Visiting many of the villages that are annually voted the best places in the Cotswolds, this tour offers you the opportunity to see some of the prettiest parts of Britain with someone who is passionate about the past, loves to eat (and knows the best places to stop for food), and who knows where to take a photo that will make your friends back home jealous of this unique, almost perfect, day out.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Our tour starts with a visit to the gravesite of Britain’s favourite Britain Sir Winston Churchill. Unlike other great national heroes who are buried in one of the great cathedrals in London, Sir Winston is buried in The Parish Church of Saint Martin Bladon, close to where he was born. Whilst here, you will be able to pay your respects to the great wartime leader, and your guide will explain just why Sir Winston is such an important (and sometimes controversial) figure. If The Parish Church of Saint Martin Bladon is open to the public on the day of your tour, you will also have time to see the Churchill memorial window which is housed inside the Church.
Chipping Norton is the highest town in Oxfordshire and gets its name from the old English word for market. A market town since the 13th century and a significant Wool trading town since the 15th century, this lively Cotswolds town is also home to the famous Bliss Mill. This one of a kind former tweed mill is known throughout the area for looking like a cross between a mansion and a folly rather than a factory. After driving through Chipping Norton you'll have chance to stop an admire the beauty of this rather wonderful factory folly before continuing your journey.
Moreton-in-Marsh is one of the main market towns in the northern Cotswolds. Located on the Fosse Way, the old Roman road that linked Exeter to Lincoln, this picturesque market town is still busy with a local market every Tuesday. Founded in 1227, this weekly market is now one of the oldest markets in the United Kingdom. Like all Cotswolds villages, the local pubs at the heart of the community and the town’s history. Whilst in Moreton-in-Marsh you will hear how Charles I sheltered in one of the town’s pubs during the English Civil War, and how the author JR R Tolkien is believed to have been inspired by The Bell Inn when writing his famous work The Lord of the Rings.
Blockley is a charming and largely unspoiled midway point between Moreton-in-the-Marsh and Chipping Campden. This beautiful village was once a leading production centre for silk, which used the local stream to power the silk mills. Today, the village is regularly seen on the TV series Father Brown where the Norman church of St Peter and St Paul stands in as the fictional St Mary’s Church and where the local vicarage doubles as father Brown’s residents. Whilst visiting Blockley, you have time to explore the village and its stunning surroundings and take photographs of the quaint houses, cottages, and shops.
Chipping Campden like Stow-In-The-Wold, Burton-On-The-Water, and Burford (all places that you will visit on this tour) is regularly listed as one of the best places to see in the Cotswolds by bloggers and journalists alike. Bursting with history, as well as beautiful buildings and fascinating history, Chipping Campden’s high street was once described by the historian, G.M. Trevelyan, as “the most beautiful village street now left in the island”. Today this high street remains largely untouched as the wide and gentle arc of the road is fringed in a continuous stretch of buildings that date from the 14th century. With over 250 listed properties, including one that dates back to 1380, this charming town is the perfect place to get photos that will make the folk back home jealous of your getaway.
As we drive through the countryside to our next location we will travel through the twin villages of Upper and Lower Slaughter. If you'd like to briefly stop here, please let your guide know and they will be happy to make a brief additional stop.
As we drive through the countryside to our next location we will travel through the twin villages of Upper and Lower Slaughter. If you'd like to briefly stop here, please let your guide know and they will be happy to make a brief additional stop.
Bourton-On-The-Water is sometimes known as the Venice of the Cotswolds. Like the vibrant Venetian city, Bourton-On-The-Water is an excellent place to get photographs that will make your friends jealous of your trip. The gently flowing river Windrush is crossed throughout the town with several small and beautiful bridges, the perfect places to pose for a picture. The town is also full of a wide range of shops varying from jewellery to perfume and pottery which offers you the chance to pick up some perfect presents to take back home. Should you wish to spend a little bit longer in Bourton-On-The-Water, there’s also the chance to visit the local model village, a perfect 1/9 scale replica of Bourton-On-The-Water created in the 1930s or Greystones Nature Reserve, home to a wide variety of local wildlife, and site of the Neolithic and Iron Age encampment (which is now on the schedule of ancient monuments) which gives Bourton-On-The-Water its name.
Our final destination on this tour is the stunning chocolate box village of Burford. Regularly voted as one of the top places to visit in the Cotswolds (alongside Bourton-on-the-Water and Chipping Campden) Burford includes pretty pubs, stunning shops, including a traditional sweet store, and traditional grocery and clothing stores. Arranged along a central road, which will take your breath away, the town of Burford was a favourite retreat for Charles II and his mistress Nell Gwyn and contains Britain’s oldest pharmacy, which opened all the way back in 1734. As you drive through this location your guide will explain the history of the village that has been known for centuries as 'the gateway to the cotswolds'.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
Please be ready 15 minutes before the start of your tour. Your driver/guide will contact you before the tour to confirm the pick-up details and will contact you once they are ready to collect you.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(16)
Sue was a fantastic guide who showed us beautiful sights, helped arrange a lunch reservation, and made the experience very customized, easy and memorable.
What a relaxing time we had exploring the Cotswolds. Dewi picked all perfect places to see. He is very knowledgeable about the area and its history. It was wonderful having our tour in a black cab with our personal driver. I can’t imagine a better way to get around.
The Cotswolds are a must see! It felt like a trip back in time. Lovely to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city to the quite of this beautiful countryside. Our tour guide, John, was fantastic! He is very knowledgeable about the Cotswolds. His suggestions were spot on and made the trip more enjoyable.
The day was wonderful. John gave us history and commentary throughout the entire trip on the areas we explored. My husband, father and I loved all the stops, especially the picturesque visit to Lower Slaughter. Our pub lunch completed the experience. Would definitely recommend it and would take any tour John hosts on our future visits!
My mother and I did a private daytrip to the Cotswolds and it was absolutely perfect! Our driver, John, was prompt, attentive, and a very helpful, knowledgable guide. My mother has some mobility issues and he made sure to park close to everything that he wanted to show us. It’s worth noting that the taxi is also wheelchair accessible if you need that. The day was a great mix of scenery and history, plus a stop for a lovely lunch in a local tearoom. You can customize the tour if you like, but we were happy to let John lead the way and show us the highlights. Would 100% recommend the experience!
November was an amazing time to explore the Cotswolds. No crowds, no tour busses, Christmas lights and decorations everywhere. John picked us up at our hotel in an iconic British taxi which was very comfortable with loads of space and big windows to see out. It's a good 2hrs to get out of London (and back) but we were a bit jet-lagged so we used it as an opportunity for a nap. John, our tour guide, was incredibly kind, knowledgable and accommodating. Our favorite part might have been his lesson for us on Cockney rhyming slang - highly recommend you ask him about that ;-)
Our guide Richard was excellent, knowledgable, and flexible! The car (a newer taxi model was super spacious and had great windows. The Cotswolds is a long-ish trip (depending on how far east you are in London), so take that into consideration. Highly recommend though and job well done by Richard!!
Richard gave us an excellent tour of the Cotswolds and included history and fun facts from the moment he picked us up at our hotel in London through the moment he dropped us off. He was easy to talk with, modified the tour based on our interests, and kept everything moving at a beautiful pace. We enjoyed the restaurant he recommended for lunch and would absolutely seek him out for another tour.
Do not book this tour. The pick up car is a taxi. The guide has no knowledge of the area. He gives a very very vague overview. We were promised four different areas of the Cotswolds and was not taken to Bibery. They started driving us back to London and would not tell us that we are headed back. I had to keep asking where we are going. The guide did not give us a verbal itinerary. He did not tell us how long we will be spending at each location. He kept talking about himself and how he is an actor on PBS. The taxi car is extremely uncomfortable. The driver is sort of nice but his driving can be aggressive at times. I tried to get my money back from Viator and got very random responses. I paid for multiple sights and was told by guide and driver that we would go but at the end of the day we were not taken. I had planned for this day for many months and very disappointed. This was my twin daughter’s graduation gift and it went in shambles. I started getting afraid in the car but thank God my husband was able to track our location.
Dear Marzia_A, Thank you for taking the time to write your review. Feedback about our tours is highly valuable to us, and we take all client complaints seriously. Having investigated what happened during your tour, we have the following comments. Firstly, Viator (the company which you booked through) does not give us an option for a Black Cab or Taxi as part of their platform. The car option is the closest we can get to our offer. Most clients are very happy with the Cab as a vehicle choice, as this allows us to navigate the streets and roads of London at the start and end of the tour, using routes that only London Black Cabs can use. All London Black Cab drivers undergo rigorous and extensive background checks as part of their taxi license. They are also subject to more stringent rules and regulations than most other private hire vehicles or drivers on the UK's roads. Most of our clients find this new generation of electric Black Cabs to be very comfortable. During the tour both the Driver and Guide commented that they felt your behaviour was unacceptable and reported your comments and your behaviour to our Duty Manager multiple times throughout the day. The comments you made at the start of the day, in the presence of our Driver and Guide, about the other guests staying at your hotel were unacceptable and had no place on any of our Tours. Had the Guide immediately reported the language you had used at the start of the tour to the Duty Manager, we would have terminated your tour and advised the Guide, who took offence, to report the incident to the relevant authorities. Additionally, throughout the tour, you repeatedly shouted at both the Driver and Guide. This behaviour and your language throughout the tour was flagged with Viator whilst the tour was still in progress. We have a zero-tolerance policy on discriminatory language and behaviour, and Drivers and Guides have the right to a safe working environment free from fear, hate, or discrimination. The Guide assigned to you has been working as a guide for over 11 years and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Cotswolds, London, and a vast number of tourist sites across the UK. He works for numerous tour companies and regularly receives outstanding reviews from many clients. From our investigation, it was you who enquired about the other work that the Guide does as well as Tour Guiding, and in response to your questions, the Guide mentioned that he had been part of several historical documentaries which have been broadcast internationally, including on PBS. Most clients enjoy this fact, as his work in documentaries demonstrates the Guide's expertise and historical knowledge. According to both our Driver and Guide, on multiple occasions, when the Guide tried to inform you about the locations on the tour, you told them that you weren't interested. In Bourton-on-the-Water, you informed the Guide that you wanted to explore the village independently, so the Guide stayed with the Driver. In lieu of your comments about not being taken to Bibery, Bibery was not part of the booked itinerary, nor was Blenheim Palace. We amended our booked itinerary whilst the tour was in progress to take you to Blenheim Place, which you asked to see and which you were taken to as a courtesy. At Blenheim, you spent over an hour exploring the gardens, which meant that not every location on the published tour could be visited in the remaining time allotted. Additionally, you asked to visit Bibery, again a location that was not on the booked itinerary, which would have added at least an extra 2 hours to the tour. This was not possible as it was explained to you via email the day before when you asked for a 10:30 pick-up rather than a 09:00 one 'this tour only operates with a 09:00 start time with an 18:00 finish. This is due to the locations that we visit as part of the tour, and the timings of the Driver and Guide under UK working time legislation.' In the email you received (quoted above) and the information the Guide gave you throughout the day, it was made clear to you that the tour would be returning to London by 18:00. In your review, you mention that you did not visit multiple sites, but on the day you visited Blenheim Palace, Moreton-in-Marsh, Bourton-on-the-Water, and Lower Slaughter. This includes stopping in three areas of the Cotswolds as well as driving through multiple parts of the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. You also visited the UNESCO World Heritage Site at Blenheim Palace, which you requested to visit on the day of the tour. The reason your refund request was rejected was due to the fact that the Driver and Guide facilitated your visiting the sites that you requested, which were possible given the time constraints of the tour. Both the Driver and Guide acted in good faith when altering the published tour itinerary so that you could visit Blenheim Palace, as we always try to give clients what they want, even if it means making reasonable changes to the tour on the day. It seems to us that you possibly saw a different tour on Viator to the one which you eventually booked with us. We currently do not operate a tour that visits Blenheim Palace, Burton-on-the-Water and Bibery, however some of our competitors who also sell their tours through Viator do. You mentioned planning your trip for many months; however, we only received your booking on the 31st of July for a tour on the 12th of August. We therefore recommend that next time you book a tour, activity, or experience, that you check the published details available through the Viator website. Alternatively, you can always reach out to the provider to ensure that what you have booked aligns with your expectations. In conclusion, we feel we engaged with you in good faith by amending the tour route and itinerary where possible. We also feel that our staff delivered your tour to the best of their ability against behaviour that was deemed to be unacceptable by the Driver, Guide, and myself, as the owner of this business.
Our guide was amazing. He was so accommodating even when I got hangry and wanted to eat lunch, he found a good place. He allowed me to shop and let me tell you, I like to shop. He was an encyclopedia of information about the Cotswolds, but had great info when we were driving out of London, he gave us all this information he went above and beyond and I highly recommend him and for some darn reason, I can’t remember his name so if you see this, please let me know your name and send me your information because I would like to send people to you as a guide and I may want to come back and use you .
