As I’ve gotten older, spending a leisurely day wandering through a quaint town with a coffee in hand has become my idea of a day well spent. Now that I’m based in Cheltenham, right next to the Cotswolds, I’ve wanted to explore more of the small villages in the area. Recently, I decided to visit Painswick, one of these Cotswold gems, as it’s just a straightforward forty-minute bus ride from Cheltenham.

Painswick is a quintessential Cotswold village, known for its honey-colored stone buildings. The village sits atop a hill, offering lovely views of the countryside valleys from many parts of town.

After arriving in the morning, we set out to stroll around town. Our first stop was Juniper, a cozy coffee shop tucked inside a historic building. With our lattes in hand, we walked over to the churchyard at St. Mary’s church in the heart of Painswick.

St. Mary’s churchyard is famous for its 99 yew trees, planted in the 1790s as part of the landscaping. The trees are trimmed into unique shapes and there’s a legend that the devil would never allow a 100th tree to grow. Since the church has existed in some form for nearly a thousand years, we spent time trying to decipher the ages on the tombstones—many were so weathered that their dates had faded, but those we could read mostly dated from the 1700s to 1800s. An interesting detail about St. Mary’s is the cannonball marks on the north side of the church’s clock tower, left from when it was struck during the British Civil War in the 1600s.

After visiting St. Mary’s, we continued our walk, passing Le Papillon with its tempting pastries displayed in the window. We also stopped at Handmaid In Painswick Home & Gifts to browse some lovely locally made items and artwork.

We dropped by The Oak Painswick, a pub recommended by one of Mark’s friends who lives in town. The pub had a welcoming fire and seemed perfect for a drink after exploring, but unfortunately it wasn’t open for lunch yet. Instead, we went next door to the Arts Cafe Painswick and enjoyed “The Painswick” panini with pepperoni and mozzarella, along with a slice of lemon cake.

After lunch, we ventured to the Painswick Rococo Garden just outside the town center. This is the UK’s only complete surviving rococo garden. The term ‘rococo’ refers to an art style from the 1700s, known for its whimsical and asymmetrical designs. The gardens were created in the 1740s by Benjamin Hyett, a wealthy landowner from Gloucester, to entertain guests at Painswick House.

Visiting in late February, we saw daffodils as the main flower on display. We wandered the gardens, which are nestled in a valley, enjoying the views from different vantage points. I found it intriguing that American soldiers stationed in the Cotswolds during World War II left graffiti on one of the Gothic alcoves in the gardens. It was also wild to think that something of this scale could be someone’s personal garden!

After the garden, we headed home, but with more time, I would have liked to hike to the Painswick Beacon, which is just over a mile from the Rococo Garden. Overall, Painswick was a wonderful choice for a day out in the Cotswolds. It’s compact enough to explore in a day and easy to navigate on foot.