The best shopping in the Cotswolds
Our selection of favourites includes where to find the best handicrafts, antiques and local produce.
For further inspiration for the perfect break in the Cotswolds, see our guide to the region's best hotels, restaurants, pubs, afternoon teas, and things to do.
Find places to shop by area
North Cotswolds
On the northern Cotswold fringes, Chipping Campden is a treat of a little town, its high street lined with especially handsome honey-stone mansions. Head here for a winning choice of independent shops: Sam Wilson for homeware, china, textiles and prints; Dove for accessories and gifts; Fillet & Bone and Toke’s for local produce; award-winning Robert Welch Designs for kitchenware and cutlery. Make sure also to call in at The Gallery at the Guild at the Old Silk Mill on Sheep Street, which showcases the work of local artists and craft makers.
Ten miles south, Stow-on-the-Wold exudes gentle dynamism and creativity. You’ll find a host of galleries and antique shops here, from Red Rag, exhibiting contemporary British artists, to Durham House Antiques offering jewellery, china, antiquarian books and more. The famously pretty town is a haven for homeware, too: check out the Crock Shop.
For the ultimate in gourmet goods, beautiful homeware and much more make tracks to Daylesford Farmshop, about a seven-minute drive east of Stow. One of Britain’s most applauded (if expensive) food and lifestyle destinations, this flawlessly staged venue offers a fabulous range, from stellar produce (including a lavish cheese pantry) to biodynamic wine, luxury textiles, a cookery school and a café. Much of the fresh produce comes from Daylesford’s own surrounding 2,000-acre farm – and you can take a walk along its footpaths.
Nearby Chipping Norton is well worth a shopping detour. Jaffé & Neale is a bookshop-with-café that you inevitably have great difficulty in leaving: this is a place to glory in the merits of browsing rather than buying online. Across the way, the charming Beehive offers local and global crafts and textiles while Wild at Heart and H&H present accessories and gifts.
About 12 miles south, the vibrant little town of Woodstock is home to Blenheim Palace and is richly endowed with attractive pubs and cafes - enticing art galleries and antique shops too. Check out Dantzig for 20th-century works, and Antiques at Heritage, both on Market Street.
To the west is gloriously pretty Burford. See its church, take in its wonderful views and also make for Burford Garden Co on the eastern fringes of town. This large and lovely emporium offers a cornucopia of homeware, fashion and especially outdoor delights, from lavender bushes and roses to wellies and picnic rugs.
Mid Cotswolds
Between Burford and Lechlade lies the charming village of Filkins where the Cotswold Woollen Weavers is an appealingly eccentric celebration of Cotswold craft, most significantly wool. Set in a complex of old barns, this is a wonderfully rambling shop cum museum with fascinating rooms of old looms and the like. The company has a branch in Witney – The Witney Blanket Hall is at 100 High Street.
For extensive retail therapy head to Cheltenham – the Promenade for the likes of Toast and Anthropologie; the Montpellier district up the road for designer boutiques such as Beatrice von Tresckow; the ever-popular Suffolks area just beyond for antiques.
About 20 miles south is Cirencester, with its handsome streets of golden stone. Its small centre is a haven of independent shops. Take in family-run Drizzle Chocolate for sweet treats; Made gallery for gifts and accessories; and the Corn Hall on Market Place, a lively venue for indoor markets from vintage items to designer clothes. Don’t miss vibrant New Brewery Arts showcasing British craft makers.
The handsome old market town of Tetbury is also a haven for browsing. Head to Lorfords for a huge range of antique decorative ware as well as contemporary designs and crafts. Meanwhile, don’t miss Artique, a fabulous store of Oriental carpets and textiles in a 17th-century house. But most popular of all is The Highgrove Shop, offering products from King Charles’ Highgrove estate down the road as well as a range of gifts inspired by the royal property. Profits support the King’s Foundation.
South Cotswolds
With its cafes and walks, pretty Corsham has lots of appeal, and flamboyance too – peacocks frequently strut through the centre of town, roaming from their base at Corsham Court. In such a setting it follows that there is a fine choice of enticing independent shops: Ampersand Boutique and Frock Follies for fashion, the wonderful Table Gallery for art and antiques, Willow for vintage homeware and paintings, the Corsham Bookshop and more.
Fresh from the Cotswolds
There is nothing like a farmers’ market for presenting the quintessential flavour of a region. Regular outdoor markets are held across the Cotswolds, usually once or twice a month in any given town. Stow-on-the-Wold, for example, hosts a lively one on the second Thursday of each month, 9am-1pm (and during the summer also on the last Thursday of the month). Tetbury’s market takes place on Wednesdays 9am until about 3pm, with an additional veg and bric-a-brac market on Saturdays.
The biggest and most abundant is Stroud Farmers’ Market, held weekly on Saturdays (9am-2pm): spilling from Cornhill Market to surrounding streets, there are at least 40 stalls selling everything from pastries to organic burgers.
