4 Best Sights in Winchcombe, Bath and the Cotswolds

One of the grand showpieces of the Cotswolds, Sudeley Castle was the home and burial place of Catherine Parr (1512–48), Henry VIII's sixth and last wife, who outlived him by one year. Here Catherine undertook, in her later years, the education of the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey and the future queen, Princess Elizabeth. Sudeley, for good reason, has been called a woman's castle. The term "castle" is misleading, though, for it looks more like a Tudor-era palace, with a peaceful air that belies its turbulent history. In the 17th century Charles I took refuge here, causing Oliver Cromwell's army to besiege the castle. It remained in ruins until the Dent-Brocklehurst family stepped in with a 19th-century renovation.

The 14 acres of gardens, which include the roses of the Queen's Garden (best seen in June) and a Tudor knot garden, are the setting for Tudor fun days in summer. Inside the castle, visitors see the West Wing, with the Long Room where exhibitions illustrate the castle's history, and the East Wing, which contains the private apartments of Lady Ashcombe (the castle's longest-serving chatelaine), where you can see paintings by van Dyck, Rubens, Turner, and Reynolds. Art tours can also be booked in advance, and the adventure playground and Animal Ark exhibition are great fun for kids. The 17 holiday cottages in the grounds are available for self-catering stays. The castle is a mile southeast of Winchcombe.

A bracing 2-mile walk south of Winchcombe on the Cotswold Way, one of Britain's national walking trails, leads to the hilltop site of Belas Knap, a Neolithic long barrow, or submerged burial chamber, above Humblebee Wood. During Victorian excavations, the remains of 31 people were found in the barrow's chamber. The site isn't much to see, but you hike through one of the most enchanting natural domains in England, with views stretching over to Sudeley Castle.

Less than a mile north of Winchcombe at Greet, this steam-hauled train, run by a team of volunteers, chugs its way along the foot of the Cotswolds connecting Winchcombe with Toddington, Cheltenham Racecourse, and the northern hub at Broadway.

Almost 40 outlandish gargoyles adorn this mid-15th-century Perpendicular-style building, a typical Cotswold wool church full of light. The interior displays an embroidered altar frontal said to have been worked by Catherine of Aragon, first wife of King Henry VIII. Look for the Winchcombe Imp, an unusual figure for a rood screen, now at the back of the church.