5 Surprising Things You Didn’t Know About the Cotswolds

Beyond the Honey-Stone Facades: A Deeper Look into England’s Quintessential Countryside

The Cotswolds conjure up images of postcard-perfect villages, rolling green hills, and tearooms that smell like scones and nostalgia. But behind that charming exterior lies a region brimming with unexpected stories, strange histories, and cultural quirks that most visitors completely overlook. Here are five surprising things you probably didn’t know about the Cotswolds—and why this area is far more intriguing than its picture-perfect reputation suggests.

1. The Cotswolds Once Fueled the Medieval European Economy

It’s easy to get swept away by the quaint charm of villages like Bibury and Bourton-on-the-Water—but the Cotswolds weren’t always about leisure and lavender. In the Middle Ages, this region was a commercial powerhouse thanks to one thing: wool. The phrase “as rich as a Cotswold sheep farmer” wasn’t an exaggeration. The high-quality fleece produced here helped build Europe’s wealthiest textile markets, with Cotswold wool traded as far as Italy and Flanders.

Many of today’s grand churches, often referred to as “wool churches,” were financed by sheep farming fortunes. Look closer at the details in places like Northleach or Chipping Campden, and you’ll see the legacy of this forgotten golden age.

2. There’s a Deserted Medieval Village Beneath the Fields

Hidden beneath the pastures of Gloucestershire lie the eerie remnants of deserted villages, the most famous being Wharram Percy. Once thriving medieval settlements, these communities were abandoned due to a mix of disease, land enclosure, and economic shifts. Today, traces of stone foundations, hollow ways, and ancient ridge-and-furrow plough lines remain visible to those who know where to look.

This hidden history transforms an ordinary walk into a ghost-hunt across time. It’s a reminder that beneath the surface beauty of the Cotswolds lies an undercurrent of forgotten stories and lives uprooted by forces beyond their control.

3. The Region Has Deep (and Unexpected) Royal Ties

The Cotswolds may feel worlds away from royal palaces, but it’s more connected to the Crown than you might expect. Highgrove House, the private residence of King Charles III, is tucked away near Tetbury. This isn't a mere countryside retreat—it’s an estate that reflects the King’s commitment to organic farming and sustainable living.

And he’s not the only royal with roots here. Princess Anne resides at Gatcombe Park, also in Gloucestershire. The region’s quiet prestige makes it an ideal royal haven: dignified, private, and rich in history.

4. It Was Once the Site of England’s Most Violent Uprising

When you picture the Cotswolds, rebellion isn’t the first thing that springs to mind. But in 1830, the region played host to the Swing Riots—an explosive movement of rural protestors who destroyed threshing machines and demanded higher wages.

The riots spread across southern England but found a particularly intense epicenter in the Cotswolds, where workers feared that new technology would erase their way of life. The rebellion was brutally suppressed, but it marked a turning point in British labor history—and it happened right among the postcard villages and golden fields.

5. The Cotswolds Boasts the UK’s Largest Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)

You might already know the Cotswolds is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, but what’s surprising is just how vast it is. Covering nearly 800 square miles, it’s the largest AONB in England and Wales. That means the chocolate-box villages are just the start. The Cotswolds stretches across five counties and includes ancient woodlands, wildflower meadows, Neolithic burial sites, and hidden valleys barely touched by time.

This isn’t a static museum of pretty buildings. It’s a living landscape, evolving and breathing, with biodiversity and ecological significance that often goes unnoticed by casual visitors. If you stray from the main roads, you’ll find an entirely different Cotswolds, wilder, deeper, and far more surprising.