A place in the world
Painswick
Painswick is the Queen of the Cotswolds, an old cloth town on a hilltop above the Stroud valleys, built of a paler stone than the honey-coloured north. Here is what is worth doing in Painswick, when to come, and the quiet pride the place keeps about itself.
At a glance
- Where
- Painswick, Gloucestershire, on a hill above the Stroud valleys. Stroud about four miles south; Cheltenham and Gloucester within easy reach to the north.
- Best time to visit
- Late January to early February for the Rococo Garden snowdrops, and September for the church clipping ceremony. Lovely, and quieter than the postcard villages, the year round.
- How long to spend
- Half a day for the town and churchyard, plus an hour or two for the Rococo Garden or the Beacon.
- Parking
- Free parking at the Rococo Garden and at the top of Painswick Beacon. Parking in the narrow town centre is limited.
- Getting there
- Nearest station Stroud, about four miles off, direct from London Paddington in around ninety minutes, then a taxi or the bus. By car, on the A46. The 66 bus links Stroud, Painswick and Cheltenham.
- Dog friendly
- Yes. Dogs on leads are welcome at the Rococo Garden and on the Beacon, and the town is easy walking.
- Family friendly
- Yes. The Rococo Garden and the Beacon both suit children, and the churchyard is a curiosity in itself.
Things to do in Painswick
St Mary's churchyard and the yews
The reason most people come: a medieval church ringed by dark yew trees clipped into archways and domes, planted from the eighteenth century, among a famous crowd of table tombs raised by the wool and cloth money. By tradition the yews will never number more than ninety-nine; should a hundredth take root, the story goes, the Devil pulls it out.
Painswick Rococo Garden
On the edge of the town, the only complete survivor of its kind in the country: a flamboyant eighteenth-century pleasure garden laid out in the 1740s in a hidden combe beside Painswick House. It is famous for its snowdrops, which open the garden's year in the depth of winter.
Painswick Beacon
Above the town rises the Beacon, an Iron Age hillfort with an obelisk on top and the whole Severn vale laid out below, the Malverns and on a clear day the Welsh hills beyond. A golf course shares the hilltop, and the view is free.
The clipping ceremony
Once a year in September the parish keeps the old church-clipping, when the congregation joins hands to make a ring around St Mary's and embrace it. It is one of the last places in the country to keep the custom, and it comes with the Painswick Feast.
The iron stocks
Set against the churchyard wall stand a rare pair of iron stocks from 1851, known as the spectacle stocks because the two holes look like a pair of eyeglasses. A small, odd thing, and very Painswick.
Visiting Painswick: parking, getting there, when to go
Painswick sits on the A46 on a hilltop above the Five Valleys of Stroud, a tight knot of pale stone streets that reward a slow wander. The churchyard is the centre of the visit; the Rococo Garden and the Beacon are each a short way out.
Parking is free at the Rococo Garden and in the car park at the top of the Beacon. The town centre itself is narrow and parking there is limited, so the edges are the easier bet.
The nearest station is Stroud, about four miles off, with direct trains from London Paddington in around ninety minutes; from there it is a short taxi, or the 66 bus that runs through Painswick between Stroud and Cheltenham.
The garden is at its most visited in the snowdrop weeks of late winter, when it is worth booking ahead. The rest of the year Painswick is one of the quieter places in this guide, which is much of its appeal.
Where to eat, drink & stay
The Falcon, opposite the church, is the village pub, a sixteenth-century former coaching inn with rooms and a kitchen that leans on local produce.
The Painswick, a Georgian former vicarage turned boutique hotel, is the destination stay, with valley views and a serious restaurant.
Between the two you are well served for a town this size, and Stroud is close for anything else.
Painswick questions, answered
- Why is Painswick called the Queen of the Cotswolds?
- The nickname reflects its standing and good looks as a well-preserved old cloth town, grown rich on wool and weaving and built of the pale local stone. Who first coined it is not recorded, but it has stuck for generations.
- Are there really ninety-nine yew trees?
- It is a tradition rather than a fact. The story says no more than ninety-nine will grow in the churchyard, and that the Devil pulls out any hundredth. In truth the count has crept past that, but it is not a thing to say too loudly in Painswick.
- What is the Rococo Garden?
- A restored eighteenth-century pleasure garden in a hidden valley beside Painswick House, laid out in the 1740s and the only complete rococo garden left in the country. It charges admission and is most famous for its winter snowdrops.
- Is Painswick worth visiting?
- Yes, particularly if the honeypot villages are not your thing. The churchyard is unlike anywhere else, the Rococo Garden and Beacon are close by, and the town is handsome, proud and genuinely quiet.
Painswick is quieter than the postcard villages and prouder than most, an old cloth town that never quite stopped keeping its own counsel.
The Queen, after all, does not explain herself.
The story moves through this world. Begin Chapter One →