The cream of the Cotswolds: Eight beautiful townhouses
Our property editor Annunciata Elwes rounds up seven beautiful Cotswolds town houses, that will make you the talk of the town in this sought-after area.


Burford, Oxfordshire, £435,000
In a courtyard setting, tucked away off Burford’s Lower High Street, this charming three-storey Grade II-listed house has exposed timber frames and a vaulted ceiling. There are three bedrooms and the property is accessed through a passageway off the High Street. On the market with Jackson-Stops & Staff – see more pictures and details.
Bath, Somerset, £1.75 million
‘One of the outstanding architects of the day,’ according to Nikolaus Pevsner, ‘John Wood the Elder, who designed handsome 17, Gay Street, was also responsible for the city’s St John’s Hospital, the North and South Parades and The Circus.’
It’s double-fronted, has four bedrooms and features intricate plasterwork, Bath-stone ovens, restored shutters and beautiful fireplaces. On the market with Hamptons International – see more pictures and details.
Cirencester, Gloucestershire, £650,000
The striking bay windows of this town house, on Victoria Road, feature stone mullions and trefoil arches in the Victorian-Gothic style; they echo the lancet-arched front doorway. There’s also a lovely garden, four bedrooms and three reception rooms and, arranged over four floors, the house is flooded with light. On the market with Humberts– see more pictures and details.
Woodstock, Oxfordshire, £745,000
Right on the edge of the Cotswolds, the Georgian town of Woodstock has so much more to it than Blenheim Palace. Two-bedroom Charleston House, on Oxford Street, has been beautifully refurbished, with working fireplaces and a pretty cabin-style studio in the back garden. On the market with Flowers Estate Agents – see more pictures and details.
Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, £600,000
With five bedrooms, Grade II-listed terraced Church House has the classic yellow Cotswold look. It dates from the 1830s, has high ceilings, an Aga, a garden and eaves storage and is close to the centre of town. On the market with Strutt & Parker – see more pictures and details.
Painswick, Gloucestershire, £1.1 million
This historic wool town recently starred in the BBC adaptation of J. K. Rowling’s A Casual Vacancy. With 17th-century spectacle stocks, wonky timber framing and 14th-century houses with original donkey doors, it’s little wonder people call Painswick the ‘Queen of the Cotswolds’.
Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
This Grade II-listed Georgian home built from Painswick stone is called The Lamp House. It was formerly a hotel, but has been beautifully renovated and features a wine cellar and four bedrooms. On the market with Savills– see more pictures and details.
Woodstock, Oxfordshire, £1.55 million
Deceptively large, seven-bedroom Plane Tree House, in the heart of Woodstock, can be used as two separate dwellings or one large property. The main house is built of Cotswold stone and has been used by the current owners as a guest house. To the rear of the main house there is a converted barn, the first-floor sitting room of which has a vaulted ceiling and exposed beams throughout.
At the rear of the property, there is a courtyard leading out to a pretty lawned area. All Woodstock residents enjoy free access to the Blenheim Palace estate. On the market with Strutt & Parker – see more pictures and details.
Cheltenham – £1.925m
This stylish and beautifully presented property is right on Imperial Square in the very heart of Cheltenham. It's a beautiful building inside and out, with sash windows, an ornate wrought iron balcony to the first floor and raised terrace to the rear with lovely views of the city. On the market with Knight Frank – see more pictures and details.
A romantic cottage in the heart of the Cotswolds at the price of a small city flat
A heart-stoppingly romantic cottage in the Cotswolds has come to the market at a price which will make city dwellers
Mini-break: The Painswick, Gloucestershire
The cream of the Cotswolds.
Credit: Jackson-Stops & Staff
A picture-perfect cottage in the Cotswolds for the price of a flat in the suburbs
Time to get out of London? A perfect example English country cottage is on the market in the heart of
Annunciata grew up in the wilds of Lancashire and now lives in Hampshire with a husband, two daughters and an awful pug called Parsley. She’s been floating round the Country Life office for more than a decade, her work winning the Property Magazine of the Year Award in 2022 (Property Press Awards). Before that, she had a two-year stint writing ‘all kinds of fiction’ for The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, worked in internal comms for Country Life’s publisher (which has had many names in recent years but was then called IPC Media), and spent another year researching for a historical biographer, whose then primary focus was Graham Greene and John Henry Newman and whose filing system was a collection of wardrobes and chests of drawers filled with torn scraps of paper. During this time, she regularly gave tours of 17th-century Milton Manor, Oxfordshire, which may or may not have been designed by Inigo Jones, and co-founded a literary, art and music festival, at which Johnny Flynn headlined. When not writing and editing for Country Life, Annunciata is also a director of TIN MAN ART, a contemporary art gallery founded in 2021 by her husband, James Elwes.
-
The loos of Buckingham Palace: Country Life Quiz of the Day, April 23, 2025
Wednesday's Quiz of the Day looks at St George, royal toilets and German alcohol laws.
By Toby Keel Published
-
Moore Design
Moore Design is a boutique interior design practice with clients around the UK and overseas.
By Country Life Published
-
A 327-acre estate in the heart of 'England’s Côte d’Or', with a 26,000sq ft Georgian style home at its heart
Stokes Hall in the Crouch Valley is an inspiring property looking for a new owner.
By Penny Churchill Published
-
Schreiber House, 'the most significant London townhouse of the second half of the 20th century', is up for sale
The five-bedroom Modernist masterpiece sits on the edge of Hampstead Heath.
By Lotte Brundle Published
-
Is the 'race for space' officially over?
During the lockdowns, many thought the countryside was the place to be. It seems many are now changing their minds.
By Annabel Dixon Last updated
-
What's a 'wellness village' and will it tempt you back into the office?
The team behind London's first mixed-use ‘wellness village’ says it has the magic formula for tempting workers back into offices.
By Annunciata Elwes Published
-
A mini estate in Kent that's so lovely it once featured in Simon Schama's 'History of Britain'
The Paper Mill estate is a picture-postcard in the Garden of England.
By Penny Churchill Published
-
Hidden excellence in a £7.5 million north London home
Behind the traditional façades of Provost Road, you will find something very special.
By James Fisher Published
-
Sip tea and laugh at your neighbours in this seaside Norfolk home with a watchtower
On Cliff Hill in Gorleston, one home is taller than all the others. It could be yours.
By James Fisher Published
-
A Grecian masterpiece that might be one of the nation's finest homes comes up for sale in Kent
Grade I-listed Holwood House sits in 40 acres of private parkland just 15 miles from central London. It is spectacular.
By Penny Churchill Published