The village is known as ‘Venice of the Cotswolds’ and it is extraordinarily beautiful, with its waterways and stone buildings making it so special.
It’s known as the “Venice of the Cotswolds” because of its beautiful waterways spanned by pretty stone bridges. And on a hot and sunny day, there can be few more charming and picturesque places to be.
Even in a place as beautiful as the Cotswolds, the village of Bourton-on-the-Water stands out. The River Windrush runs through its heart, lined on both sides by trees providing shade and a rainbow’s worth of different colours, and crossed at regular intervals by several pretty stone bridges. Ducks and swans float lazily on the slow-flowing water, which is overlooked by 16th and 17th century Cotswold stone cottages.
In short, with apologies for the cliché, it could not look more like it is straight from a postcard or the pages of a fairytale.
I visited on a sunny Saturday in June and strolled lazily along the water, crossing back and forth over the bridges as and when I felt like it and listening to an ice cream seller shouting the praises of the homemade ice cream he was selling from his little trailer.
I stopped at the shops, restaurants, pubs and tearooms made from the Cotswold stone that make this area famous to take in the atmosphere of each one, and people-watched the visitors sitting outside enjoying coffees, cakes, cups of tea and ice cream.
I tried not to linger outside people’s homes too long but I did have to resist the temptation to tell one elderly gentleman enjoying a cup of tea in his front garden overlooking the water how much I loved his home – someone clearly spent a lot of time looking after it.
One of the most standout features of Bourton-on-the-Water – in fact, one of the most remarkable things I’ve seen anywhere – is the Model Village, a one-ninth scale replica of the village as it was in 1930.
It’s a stunning piece of work, created from local stone by highly-skilled craftsmen. I loved walking around it, marvelling at the care and skill that has gone into creating each and every building. It costs £4.75 for adults and £3.75 for children and is well worth it.
You’ll find it around the back of the beautiful Old New Inn, a historic hotel and restaurant that’s one of the village’s largest and most impressive buildings, run by a husband and wife who took over in 2018 with a view to restoring it.
There are several other options for food and drink along the water. There’s the Box Bush, serving everything from home-smoked trout and homemade sausage rolls to luxurious profiteroles and gelato with flavours like Sicilian pistachio.
There’s the Rose Tree Restaurant, set in a listed cottage with a river-facing garden serving traditional pub meals like Gloucestershire Old Spot sausage and mash and, of course, fish and chips.
Or there’s Smiths and Bourtons, a burger restaurant run by two brothers.
So what’s the problem?
“So what’s the problem?” I hear you ask. “This place sounds amazing.”
Well, Bourton-on-the-Water is so beautiful, so picturesque, so quintessentially British, that it has become a victim of itself. The place is packed with tourists from all over the world and people who live there are dealing with the problems that over-tourism brings, much like the stunning village of Bibury a few miles away.
During my visit, the first hint that this is not your average British village came almost immediately after entering by car, when a large sign directed visitors to an all-day car park with £5 parking.
In the car park, set on a school playing field a short walk from the village centre, stewards took payment and directed us to our space, all done with a smile and without any hint of dismay that we were yet more tourists coming in to choke up their village (the parking fees go at least partly to charity too).
Villagers say over-tourism is causing “huge problems” for them, with the size of the village out of proportion to the number of visitors it receives.
They are currently waiting for plans to tackle coach traffic to be implemented, which would see coaches largely kept out of the village centre.
In particular, “the inconsiderate behaviour of coach drivers” and “free-for-all chaos” were flagged as particular problems, according to a BBC report, though a motion to get the council to accept that tourism is a problem in the village was rejected by elected officials.
However that has not stopped officials from pledging to tackle the “overtourism nightmare” and Cotswold District Council actively avoids promoting the village, according to local reports.
Asked whether he agreed that Bourton was dealing with over-tourism, council leader Joe Harris said: “While we lack specific survey data on perceptions of over-tourism, we acknowledge the strong sentiments of residents regarding the negative impacts on their quality of life due to excessive visitor numbers.
“Balancing the needs of local businesses benefiting from tourism with the quality of life of residents is crucial.”
Many people would assume that such high numbers of visitors would bring significant economic benefits.
But people living in nearby Bibury have said they don’t believe that is the case, saying visitors are only there “for a selfie”. It was very clear to see the scale of the tourism on my visit, to which I was of course contributing.
The stone bridges were closer to photoshoot locations and props than walkways, though I did not see anything akin to what one recent visitor claimed was an embarrassing scene in which he watched tourists “eating from saucepans”.
I’m glad I got to see Bourton-on-the-Water in person. It’s as beautiful in real life as it is in pictures.
I just hope it can find a way to balance the benefits that tourism brings with the quality of life of the people who live there.