A Family Sunday in the Cotswolds: Walking the Broadway Loop
If you’re looking for a family-friendly walk in the Cotswolds with pretty villages, open countryside, and plenty of space for little legs to roam, the Broadway Neighbours Loop is a perfect choice.
Why We Chose This Walk
As a family, we’ve always loved the Cotswolds, and we’re lucky enough to live less than an hour away. Sometimes we head there for long weekends with friends, but more often it’s a spontaneous day trip when we all need fresh air and a change of scene.
The Walk
We picked out the Broadways Neighbours Loop from the excellent little book The Cotswolds: 40 Town & Country Walks by Dominic North, which is packed with fantastic routes in the area.
The route was scenic and full of variety. We walked across open meadows, through woodland tracks and along gentle hillside lanes, the kind of terrain that keeps everyone, especially children, entertained.
The loop takes you through Buckland and Laverton, two tiny, charming villages that feel completely tucked away from the busier parts of the Cotswolds. The children ran freely in the open sections, and we all appreciated being outdoors somewhere calm and spacious.
There was an adventure at every turn, whether it was spotting cottages, hopping over stiles, or spotting views across the fields.
The Route
- Start at the short-stay car park in Broadway, taking a left out of the car park along Church Close toward the triangular green.
- Turn left onto Church Street, passing the church on the right-hand side, then join the Cotswold Way via a small lane just beyond it, where the walk shifts from village pavements to countryside paths.
- Follow the right-hand path across two open meadows, wide and quiet even in winter, giving the children plenty of freedom to run; this leads directly to West End Lane.
- Cross West End Lane, climb the stile opposite, and follow the track up through a sloping field towards the woods, a gentle climb with lovely views behind you.
- Join the woodland path through Broadway Coppice, following an undulating trail at the bottom edge of the trees. The path curves around a steep slope until you reach a stile overlooking the roofs of Buckland’s nursery.
- Enter Buckland village, strolling up a shaded lane lined with pretty cottages.
- Turn left just beyond the village phone box onto the bridleway to Laverton, keeping to the right of the hedge and joining a straight path leading directly to the next village.
- Reach Laverton, a quiet, tucked-away village, then continue along the track that begins where the road fades, following it gently uphill to a meeting of paths.
- Turn left across hillside pastures, walking a slightly bobbling path with open views and passing above the manicured grounds of Buckland Manor, an upscale hotel nestled below.
- Continue through a kissing gate, following a descending track back toward Buckland — a peaceful downhill stretch.
- Join the narrow path by The Bothy, then climb the stepped woodland path, staying on the right-hand fork.
- Cross two open fields at the top, the first a grassy slope to a stile, then bearing northeast into a second field and following the woodland edge toward a metal kissing gate.
- Reach the metal kissing gate and rejoin the Cotswold Way, marking the start of the return leg.
- Descend back through the woods, branching right after around 50 metres onto a path that curves out of the trees and gently sweeps downhill to West End Lane.
- Retrace the outward meadow paths, crossing back over the same two fields before re-entering Broadway and returning to the car park.
Total distance: 6.5 miles. A 2-3 hour family-friendly, steady, scenic loop with meadows, woodland, quiet lanes and two charming villages.
Final Thoughts
This walk was everything we needed: fresh air, beautiful views, plenty of space for the kids to burn off energy, and we enjoyed a few snatched moments of calm in between the chatter, mud, and constant snack requests!
Six and a half miles, unhurried and shared — exactly the kind of day I always hope we’ll remember.
Share Your Adventures
We’d love to see your family walks too. Whether it’s the Broadway Neighbours Loop or something closer to home, share your moments with us at @bramblytrails.
The Adventure Continues
We hope you love the Broadway loop. Our mission at Brambly Trails is to help you find the calm in the wild. Whether you’re scaling Cotswold stiles or exploring your local woods, our outerwear is designed to keep the focus on the family, not the fuss.