There is a particular kind of English afternoon that the Cotswolds still does better than almost anywhere: a village green, a scattering of deckchairs, the gentle percussion of bat on ball, and a pub close enough that nobody has to choose between watching the match and having lunch. Village cricket here runs from April to September, almost always on a Saturday afternoon, and almost always for free. Nobody minds if you stay for five overs or the whole innings.
This guide pairs the Cotswolds’ most characterful cricket grounds with the pubs genuinely worth combining them with — being honest about which are a two-minute stroll from the boundary rope and which are more of a short drive.
At a Glance
| Season | April to September |
| Usual match day | Saturday afternoon league cricket; some Sunday friendlies |
| Start time | Commonly 1–2pm, though always worth checking the club’s own fixture list |
| Cost to watch | Free, in almost every case |
| What to order | A Bloody Mary before play, a G&T at the tea interval, cider for the rest of the afternoon |
| What to bring | A blanket or a low chair, a jumper for when the sun drops, and no particular urgency |
The Classic Pairings
Chipping Campden — Chipping Campden Cricket Club & The Eight Bells Inn
Chipping Campden’s ground on Station Road has a genuinely smart new pavilion, opened in 2021 by former England Test cricketer Mike Gatting, and fields men’s, women’s and junior sides through the summer. The Eight Bells Inn — a 14th-century inn just off the High Street — is a confirmed sponsor of the club, so this is a real, documented local pairing rather than mere proximity: a short walk from the ground back into one of the finest of the Cotswold wool towns for lunch. Read our full guide to Chipping Campden
Broadway — Broadway Cricket Club & The Crown & Trumpet
Broadway’s ground, on Snowshill Road just past the church of St Eadburgha, has been home to a club with well over 130 years of history since the 1990s, playing Saturday league cricket in the Cotswold Hills League from the first Saturday in May. The Crown & Trumpet, a 17th-century inn sitting just behind the village green on the same road down to the ground, is a genuinely walkable pairing — CAMRA-recognised, Pimm’s on the patio, and about as complete a version of this afternoon as exists in the Cotswolds. Read our full guide to Broadway
Stow-on-the-Wold — Stow-on-the-Wold Cricket Club & The Talbot
The cricket ground is a 10.5-acre public open space with, genuinely, “beautiful views over the Cotswold Hills,” fielding first, second and third XIs through the season. The Talbot, right on the market square, is a short walk away for lunch and a pint; The Old Butchers, just off the same square, is the better choice for a more refined seafood-led lunch if you’d rather eat properly before wandering back to the boundary. Read our full guide to Stow-on-the-Wold
Coln St Aldwyns — Coln St Aldwyns Cricket Club & The New Inn
A small club, run on local support, playing on what the village itself calls one of the most beautiful grounds in the area — and one of the closest, most authentic ground-to-pub pairings anywhere in this guide, since both the pitch and The New Inn, a 16th-century coaching inn, are village-centre institutions in a hamlet too small for either to be far from the other. Read our full guide to Bibury, the Coln Valley, Heythrop & Southrop
Adlestrop & Lower Oddington — Adlestrop, Daylesford & Oddington Cricket Club & The Fox at Oddington
Adlestrop itself has no pub — its fame rests on Edward Thomas’s poem about a train that never really stopped there — but the local cricket club plays at Adlestrop Park and takes its name from neighbouring Oddington, about half a mile from The Fox: a beautifully refurbished 19th-century inn with rooms, a wood-fired oven, and produce from the Daylesford farm just down the road. Read our full guide to The Fox at Oddington
Bourton-on-the-Water — Bourton Vale Cricket Club & the riverside pubs
The ground on Rissington Road is barely a two-minute walk from the village centre, with senior, women’s and junior sides playing through the summer around a 1920s pavilion core. From there it’s a short stroll back to the River Windrush and a choice of pubs — the Kingsbridge Inn and the Coach & Horses among them — for lunch with your feet almost in the water.
Barnsley — Barnsley Beeches Cricket Club & The Village Pub
Barnsley Beeches play at Barnsley Park in the Cotswold District Cricket Association’s top division. The Village Pub, a 370-year-old former coaching inn with a real fire and a lovely garden, is a genuine 10–15 minute walk from the ground rather than doorstep-close — worth knowing before you set off, though it’s a pleasant walk through a beautiful village either way.
Blockley — Blockley Cricket Club & The Great Western Arms
Blockley’s ground sits at Sparmoor on Station Road; The Great Western Arms, the village local, takes its name from the railway that once ran alongside the same road, and the shared location makes for an easy walk between the two. Read our full guide to Moreton-in-Marsh & Blockley
Stanton — the village eleven & The Mount Inn
Stanton’s cricket is more informal than a leagued club — a village eleven playing on the pitch by the Village Club most summer weekends — but it comes with one of the loveliest walks in this guide: a short, admittedly uphill stroll to The Mount Inn, with views over the Vale of Evesham to the Malverns, for the reward at the end of it.
Worth Knowing Before You Go
Not every well-known Cotswolds pub sits as close to its village cricket as the postcards suggest, and a couple are worth a note of honesty rather than overclaiming:
- Great Tew. Great & Little Tew Cricket Club is a genuinely active, well-run club with a strong junior programme — but its ground, at The Tew Centre on Ledwell Road, sits between the two villages rather than on the green in front of The Falkland Arms. Treat it as a short walk or drive from the pub rather than a view from the beer garden. Read our full guide to The Falkland Arms, Great Tew
- Winchcombe Cricket Club’s ground on Corndean Lane, overlooking Sudeley Castle, is one of the most striking settings in this guide — but it’s roughly a mile from the town’s pubs, so plan for a short drive back into Winchcombe for lunch rather than a walk.
- Bibury Cricket Club’s ground at Lady Hill is reached via a track some distance from the village centre, so while the Swan Hotel and the Catherine Wheel are excellent, we wouldn’t call this one walkable.
For the Bigger Occasion
If you’d rather trade intimacy for atmosphere, Gloucestershire have played festival cricket at the College Ground, Cheltenham College, for more than 150 years — the longest continuously-running cricket festival in the world on a single ground. The 2026 festival runs from 8 to 23 August, with marquees, a proper crowd, and County Championship and white-ball cricket rather than a village Saturday XI — the same essential pleasure, at a grander scale. Read our full guide to Cheltenham
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