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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Travel
Milo Boyd

American tourists unimpressed by Cotswolds leave scathing TripAdvisor reviews

American tourists have been left deeply unimpressed by the Cotswolds, despite the area being renowned for its stunning scenery, historic towns and quintessential British charm.

It is well connected to both London and Birmingham, yet can feel a million miles away from the big smoke on a Sunday afternoon with a pint of warm ale in hand at one of the area's rickety old pubs, or while watching the village cricket team lazily bat a summer's afternoon away.

The region has even been named an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the country.

Understandably, when many foreign tourists come to the UK, the Cotswolds are high on their bucket list - but American tourists have been taking to TripAdvisor to vent after feeling disappointed.

Not everyone is taken in by the area's charms (Getty Images/age fotostock RM)

Linnbada from Nevada took one look at Castle Combes - commonly cited as the most beautiful place in the Cotswolds - and decided to give it a miss.

"We were going to walk the town but after we saw what little it had to offer besides a steep walk down the hill to get there and the return, we decided we would pass and wait for the Cotswolds," she said.

Meanwhile Bob from Alabama was equally annoyed due to the level of service he received. He wrote: "We entered the tea room and waited for 10 minutes while the owner spoke on the phone with someone, then she told us to order a full English tea or nothing---so we left. The one pub that was open seemed to have the only the town's activity. Castle Combe was a big disappointment."

Clearly the idea of a day's activity in Britain - sitting in the pub quietly - is not shared with our neighbours over the Pond.

Castle Combe doesn't enthral everyone (Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, TripAdvisor user hickss85 from Texas also got a bit confused, specifically with the name Castle Combes.

"There is NO CASTLE in Castle Comb," they said. "No castle but there are remains of a castle, but you won't see it. It is overgrown and on private property."

One particularly disappointed American couldn't even imagine why people would go there: "The walking tour suggests you 'imagine what it was like 400 years ago when...' I guess we didn't have enough imagination to find Stow worth the time."

Alcove12 from New York was excited to see the landscaped garden of the Highgrove Gardens, but ended up concluding that the attraction needed more gardeners.

Stow on Wold has also faced some detractors (bristol post)

It isn't just Americans who have visited the Cotswolds and left wishing they'd never been.

Paul from the famously scenic New Zealand made the trip to Stow on Wold, which is regularly understood to be one of the most pleasant parts of the are.

"This would be a wonderful location if it was not completely filled with parked cars," he wrote on Tripadvisor.

"The buildings surrounding the square are gorgeous, but when you are standing there the dominant impression is that it is just a busy carpark.

"The council should take a leaf out of how many countries in Europe ban cars from beautiful town/village centres.

"Very unimpressed given that this is supposedly one of the top tourist attractions of the Cotswolds."

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