While most antique admirers flock to Tetbury for its creative community and interior inspiration, Broadway quietly stands as a design destination in its own right. Jam-packed with art galleries, delis and shops to mosey about in – not to forget it’s one of the very first stops along the jaw-droppingly pretty Cotswold Way – there’s no shortage of things to do. Here's how to spend a weekend in the honey-hued beauty of Broadway.
Day one
First things first, there’s a reason this historic village – and 17th-century stagecoach stop for traders en route from Worcester to London – on the far western side of the Cotswold escarpment stays true to its name. The high street, quite literally a ‘broad way’ has one of the more wider ways that runs directly through the centre of town in comparison to some of its tinier, and tighter, neighbouring villages. Start off the day with a caffeine kick at Guilt Trip, a coffee shop more fitted to East London than the Vale of Evesham. Potter past the village green, stopping to admire the pristine prettiness of the village’s buildings – chunky gold stone, coiffured hedges and a backdrop of rolling green hills – before doing a spot of shopping. At Home with the Rudds is stuffed with lampshades in all patterns while Susie Watson Designs piles layers of fantastical fabrics amidst delicate pottery to fill the car boot with.
There’s a bit of a cult following of the Broadway Deli. Most eye-catching is their colourful stacks of fresh produce outside – rhubarb and blood oranges in the winter, plump tomatoes and strawberries in the summer – plus there’s often a bundled-up local kid helping curb the hunger of travellers with a sausage roll or two on Sundays (around Christmas it’s heaping cups of mulled wine). Inside, walls are filled with goods from around the world: hot honey, Ozone coffee, chilli oils, buckwheat flour, pasta of all shapes. Put your name down for a table up the rickety stairs and wait it out for one of the best club sandwiches around, or if you’re there for brunch, get a plate of crispy French toast with Sicilian pistachio spread.
As one of the more prominent artists' residences in this neck of the woods, Broadway helped catapult the Arts and Crafts movement into global admiration and even saw the likes of John Singer Sargeant, William Morris (who actually made a home over in Kelmscott, a village about an hours drive away) and Peter Pan author JM Barrie spend quality time here. So save the afternoon for art and antiquing. First up, head to Saintbury Antiques & Salvage for retro furniture to ship home or pick up fine art paintings from Haynes Fine Art. For a modern touch, The Stratford Gallery and Catesbys are filled with curated contemporary pieces – from curvacious ceramics, slick sculptures and fun baubles come the holiday season. If you have the time, the Gordon Russell Design Museum is worth popping into and is a celebratory nod to the British designer.
Settle into the Lygon Arms, a countryside pile dating back to Tudor times that’s filled with tweed and tartan headboards, thick-cut antiques, roasting fires and dimly lit nooks and crannies. It’s lured in familiar faces including King Charles I, Oliver Cromwell and more recently, Elizabeth Taylor and Prince Philip, on separate occasions of course. They’ve just had a restaurant reshuffle with celebrity chef James Martin now on the grill – the steak frites is excellent. Although, breakfast is the meal for champions with big bowls of porridge and toasted sourdough crumpets on the menu. In between the muddy walks, a trip to their spa will soothe all aches and pains, then, head upstairs for a good night's sleep.
Day two
Head out early for the thigh-burning climb up to Broadway Tower (about a 45-minute walk from the centre of town) for some of the best views in the Cotswolds. Spot ramblers with rucksacks setting off on the Cotswold Way, the 103-mile trail that runs from Chipping Camden all the way down to Bath. It’s worth the adventure to see the vision set out by landscaping legend Capability Brown and the tower itself designed by architect James Wyatt, plus you get to see well across the the Severn Valley into Wales.
Restore from this morning’s uphill hike with some of the tastiest fish and chips outside of the usual seaside spots. Russell’s Fish & Chips excels at finding a balance between golden and crispy, with flaky and flavourful fish, plus their mushy peas come with mint. Far from a greasy chippy, this is a proper sit-down and feast type of place.
Make a detour to neighbouring Snowshill. As with most of the landscape around this side of the county, views are vast and the hills are high. Here, the National Trust manage Snowshill Manor, the eccentric home of Edwardian architect-meets-poet-collector-and-artist Charles Wade. Inside, quirky collectables and trinkets – there are rumoured to be over 22,000 of them – fill every room up to the rafters. But outside, there are the most beautiful Arts and Crafts gardens designed by his friend Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott. In the spring and summer, wild lavender, foxgloves and poppies are all in bright bloom.
There’s no shortage of excellent pubs to settle into in the Cotswolds. While Broadway thrives with delicious cafes and toasty pubs for a pint, nearby villages actually lead on cosy interiors with serious food to match. Pile into the car and head further north to The Ebrington Arms, a very photogenic spot with easily one of the best Sunday roasts to devour. They’ve recently had a lick of paint too, with freshened-up rooms to spend the night in if you’ve had one too many Yorkies.
