Best Dog Walks and Trails around Bourton-on-the-Water

The signature dog walk of the area: an easy circular of roughly five to six miles that follows the River Windrush west out of Bourton to Lower Slaughter, on to Upper Slaughter, and back through rolling farmland. It is famously stile-free and near-level, passing the old mill and honey-stone cottages of two of the prettiest villages in England. Keep dogs on a lead near the sheep and cattle in the fields.

A Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust reserve on the edge of the village, free and open all year, set around a working dairy farm and the little River Eye. Level, stile-free trails cross wildflower meadows and hedgerows where water voles, bats and barn owls live. Because it is a working farm with free-roaming cattle, dogs must stay on the paths and on a lead, and by law on a short two-metre lead from 1 March to 31 July.

A long-distance walking route of about 14 miles linking Bourton-on-the-Water with Winchcombe, winding through the Slaughters, Naunton and Guiting Power. You can walk it as a full linear day or just take a scenic first few miles along the Windrush and back. It is quiet, mostly field and riverside walking, and a fine way to escape the busy village centre with a dog on a lead.