10 of the best dog walks in The Cotswolds

Living in the heart of the Cotswolds, we’re lucky to have so many fantastic dog friendly walks on the doorstep. Walking route suggestions are one of the most requested things in my instagram DMs, so I thought I’d put together a list of a few of our favourite walks in the Cotswolds.

I’ve tried to include a link to both an All Trails route and an OS maps route for each walk. I’d highly recommend the premium version of either of these two apps for walking – they both offer a free trial for you to try it out and cost around £34.99 a year and allow you to download routes and maps offline, perfect if you are in areas with poor phone signal.

Take a look at the map below with the locations of the walks, or keep reading for a bit more information on each one.

Walks below are in order from shortest to longest!

Nottingham Hill Walk

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Miserden Circular Walk

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Woodchester Park Walk

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Barrow Wake Walk

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Stanton & Snowshill Walk

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Coln St Aldwyns & Bibury Walk

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Bruce Friendship Trail

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Naunton and The Slaughters Walk

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Broadway Tower & Fish Hill Walk

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Belas Knapp & Charlton Abbots Walk

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Cleeve Common Walk

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Nottingham Hill Walk

This is one of our favourites for a nice quick and easy walk (great at sunset), with far reaching views over to the Malverns and fairly flat too. It's very easy to extend this walk onto Cleeve Hill or down to Gotherington if you want to go for a little longer.

Distance: 1.5 miles
Time: Allow 1 hour
Sheep Watch: None, sometimes cows.
Parking: Free at car park on Bushcombe Lane
Refreshments: None

Miserden Circular Walk

A lovely short walk at all times of year, Miserden is a gorgeous little village, the lake is truly stunning and there are plenty of swimming opportunities for dogs! We love this walk in spring, when the forest floor is covered in wild garlic.

As with most walks in The Cotswolds, it can get very muddy in winter, so wear suitable footwear!

Distance: 2.5 miles
Time: Allow 1.5 hours
Sheep Watch: Some in the fields by the village.
Parking: Free parking next to The Gardens at Miserden GL6 7JA
Refreshments: The Carpenters Arms in Miserden or the cafe at the gardens.

Barrow Wake Circular Walk

Definitely one of our favourite sunset spots in The Cotswolds! Barrow Wake has great uninterrupted views for miles. This is a really accessible viewpoint by car so this short circular walk gets away from any crowds with amazing views for almost the entire walk! Follow this route clockwise to avoid a tough climb up through the woods.

Note - I don't advise parking at the official Barrow Wake car park, it can be a little dodgy after sunset!

Distance: 2.5 miles
Time: Allow 1.5 hours
Sheep Watch: None, but there are cows in lower fields.
Parking: Free on road parking just after turning off B4070. Use this pin for exact location.
Refreshments: None

Download GPX file

Woodchester Park Walk

Woodchester Park is a beautiful wooded valley with three waymarked walks ranging from 2-7 miles. It's easy to while away hours wandering through the woods here, or letting the dogs splash around by one of the several lakes.

Distance: Between 2 and 7 miles
Sheep Watch: Some in fields and a couple of fields with cows but these can be avoided depending on your route.
Parking: National Trust parking, free for members or £3 all day.
Refreshments: NT cafe at Tinkley Gate entrance to park.

Broadway Tower and Fish Hill Circular Walk

It goes without saying that Broadway Tower offers one of the very best viewpoints in The Cotswolds. This route starts from the Fish Hill car park, which is free as opposed to the paid car park at Broadway Tower. We like to do this route clockwise, so we head downhill across fields into Broadway, have a wander around and grab a coffee before the walk back up the hill to the tower.

If you can time this walk towards the end of the day, you should benefit from fewer crowds at the tower and spectacular golden hour views across The Cotswolds.

Distance: 5.2 miles. The Alltrails route below is slightly longer at 6.1 miles but does take you via The Fish Hotel where dogs are welcome in the bar.
Sheep Watch: Some in fields. Also watch for deer near the tower!
Parking: Free at Fish Hill car park (open dawn til dusk). Alternatively you can start at car parks in Broadway or at Broadway Tower but these are both paid parking options.
Refreshments: Cafe at Broadway Tower or plenty of options in Broadway itself (we like Number 32 Broadway)

Stanton and Snowshill Circular Walk

Taking in two of the prettiest villages in the Cotswolds, I absolutely love this circular walk. It's always surprisingly quiet with pubs at the half way and end points, a winner in my mind! It can get very muddy in the winter months, so be warned!

Coln St Aldwyns & Bibury Walk

This is a lovely walk for when the ground is dry (it can get VERY muddy in wet weather). It takes in the two lovely villages of Coln St Aldwyns and Bibury, taking farm tracks in one direction before following along the river all the way back to Coln St Aldwyns. Plenty of swimming opportunities for dogs and The New Inn is a fantastic dog friendly pub for before or after the walk.

Distance: 6 miles
Time: Allow 3 hours
Sheep Watch: Some in a couple of the fields by the river.
Parking: Free on road parking in Coln St Aldwyns GL7 5AN
Refreshments: The New Inn at Coln St Aldwyns does THE BEST burgers (and is very dog friendly!)

Bruce Friendship Trail - Haresfield Walk

A particularly lovely walk during autumn and spring, as a lot of this walk is through woodland. The view from the top of Haresfield beacon is wonderful and the majority of the walk is lovely and quiet with minimal livestock.

Cleeve Common

It's fair to say that this is our number 1 walk throughout winter. Once the sheep are taken off Cleeve Common (usually early November until late April) there is so much space for the dogs to run free. It might seem like there are lots of cars when you park up but the common is so huge, it's very easy to get away from everyone pretty quickly.

This route goes around the back of the common before looping back around and enjoying the views on the last section of the walk. If you wanted to make it a shorter walk, you can create a nice easy loop by following the Cotswold Way along the edge of the escarpment before looping back.

Distance: 6 miles
Time: Allow 3 hours
Sheep Watch: None when we have walked this route
Parking: Cleeve Common Quarry car park GL52 3PW £2.
Refreshments: Dogs welcome at the golf club cafe right next to the car park. If you spend more than £2 your parking will be free.

Naunton & the Slaughters Walk

This is one of our favourites at all times of year, plenty of swimming opportunities for dogs in the summer and the villages of Naunton, Lower Slaughter and Upper Slaughter are all beautiful.

Distance: 9 miles
Time: Allow 3.5 hours
Sheep Watch: Not many, but in a few of the fields
Parking: Free on road parking in Naunton GL54 3AD
Refreshments: The Black Horse at Naunton, but also a couple of (overpriced) options in Lower Slaughter too.

There are so many more walks we could have included, but hopefully this gives a little inspiration for your Cotswold dog walks!

Take a look at some of our other Cotswolds guides for more walking inspiration, places to eat with your dog and our favourite walks at different times of year.

If you ever need any advice planning a walk around the Cotswolds, please do drop us a message. We’d be more than happy to try and help.

Thanks for reading,
Cara, Andy, Poppy and Maple x