Stroud

Five ancient hills roll around this market town like guardians of the Cotswolds. Stroud sits properly in a valley where the wool trade once made merchants wealthy beyond measure, and you can still see their grand clothiers' houses dotting the steep streets.

The Saturday farmers market draws proper crowds - it's been running for decades and shows no sign of slowing. Local cheese, organic veg, and that sourdough everyone bangs on about. Weekdays though? The town centre goes lovely and quiet.

Cooper's Hill looms above everything, famous for that barmy Cheese Rolling event where people hurtle down after a wheel of Double Gloucester. Don't fancy broken bones? The views from the top are cracking without the drama. Castle Hill offers gentler walking with equally good panoramas across the Five Valleys.

Archaeology buffs will love poking about The Camp Long Barrow and West Tump - proper ancient burial sites that predate the Romans by centuries. The Giants Stone sits mysteriously in the landscape, though nobody's quite sure what our ancestors were up to there.

Getting here's straightforward enough. The train from London Paddington takes about two hours, changing at Swindon. M40 then A419 if you're driving. Gloucester's the nearest big city, twenty minutes north.

Staying at one of the glamping sites or campsites scattered around makes perfect sense. You're right in hiking country with those hills on your doorstep, plus easy striking distance of Bath, Cheltenham, and the best bits of the Cotswolds. Painswick's just up the road - they call it the Queen of the Cotswolds, though that's probably overselling it a bit.