Winchcombe is a quiet stone town in the Cotswold escarpment, less visited than the more famous villages but with genuine substance. Its position at the foot of the high wolds makes it an excellent walking base: the Cotswold Way passes through the town, Cleeve Hill — the highest point in the Cotswolds — is 3 miles to the south-west, and the surrounding country is crossed by a good network of footpaths.
Sudeley Castle, on the edge of town, was the last home of Katherine Parr, Henry VIII's sixth and final queen, who is buried in the chapel. The castle itself is partly ruined and partly inhabited, with good formal gardens and collections of furniture and paintings. The combination of romantic ruin and lived-in home is more interesting than the average stately house.
Belas Knap, a Neolithic long barrow dating from around 3000 BC, sits on the ridge above the town and is among the best-preserved prehistoric monuments in England. The walk up from Winchcombe through Humblebee Wood and along the escarpment takes about an hour.
The town has a pottery tradition — the Winchcombe Pottery has been making simple, functional slipware since 1926 — and a modest high street with a good local atmosphere. It lacks the honeypot quality of Bourton-on-the-Water, which makes it preferable for those who find the crowds in the more famous villages dispiriting.