Everyone finds Bourton-on-the-Water eventually. The trick is knowing what comes after it.

I've spent my whole life in this part of the world - growing up around the lanes, the villages, and the pubs that don't make it onto anyone's itinerary. When I started Thatch & Throttle and began handpicking routes for guests, I wasn't researching the Cotswolds for the first time. I was just writing down what I'd always known.

And what I know is this: the best villages here are the ones nobody told you about, so here's a couple...

• (Old) Minster Lovell

Few places in the Cotswolds stop you quite like Minster Lovell. You descend a narrow lane into the village, cross the River Windrush, and suddenly there are 15th-century ruins on your left - roofless, atmospheric, and completely free to enter. Minster Lovell Hall was built in the 1430s by one of the richest men in England and later became the home of Francis Lovell, close ally of Richard III. After the fall of the House of York it passed through various hands, was eventually stripped for building stone in the 18th century, and left as the haunting remains you see today. Don't miss the medieval dovecote in the adjacent field, which once housed 700 birds. It's the sort of place that makes you wonder how it isn't on every itinerary - and then quietly relieved that it isn't.

• Bledington

Bledington wraps itself around one of the finest village greens in the Cotswolds, with a brook running through the middle and ducks wandering freely across it. The 16th-century Kings Head Inn sits right on the green and has been described by the Sunday Times as "the classic English country pub one always hopes to find but seldom does." It's the only pub in the village, which means it doesn't have to try too hard - and it shows, in the best possible way.

• Upper and Lower Slaughter

The Slaughters are perhaps the worst-kept secret on this list, but they earn their place because nothing quite prepares you for how beautiful they are. Two villages, a mile apart, connected by the River Eye. No shops, no queues, no car park chaos - just Cotswold stone and water and the kind of quiet that feels genuinely restorative. Go early morning or late afternoon and you'll likely have them almost to yourself.

• Asthall

A tiny hamlet just outside Burford that most people drive straight past. Asthall Manor - where Nancy Mitford spent part of her childhood — sits at the edge of the village and hosts an acclaimed contemporary sculpture exhibition in summer. The rest of the year the village is simply itself: peaceful, unspoiled, and very easy to miss.

• Lyneham

One of the quieter villages on the route — no pub, no tearoom, nothing to draw a crowd. Just a handful of cottages, a church, and the kind of lane you slow down on because it feels wrong to hurry. These are the places that stick with you.

• Bruern

Home to Bruern Farm Shop and Café, which makes the perfect mid-route stop. Local produce, excellent coffee, the kind of place that feels like a discovery even though plenty of people clearly already know about it.

• Daylesford Organic

Neither hidden or a village but Daylesford needs no introduction - it belongs on this route as the point where the day shifts gear. After the quiet lanes and ruins, this is where you partake in somewhere worth the hype...soak in the almost unbelievably perfect Cotswold aesthetics and local produce to eat and reflect on the fact that you've covered some of the most beautiful ground in England.

• Wilcote, Dean and Ramsden

The villages you pass through between stops, and in many ways the soul of the route. Wilcote is barely a hamlet. Dean is barely bigger. Ramsden is quiet enough that you'll probably have the road to yourself. These aren't destinations - they're the reason this kind of drive exists.

The honest truth about finding all of this...

Not all these places advertise themselves. Some have nowhere to park, some have no signal, and several are on lanes that require a certain confidence behind the wheel.

Which, as it happens, is exactly why this route works in a Morgan 4/4. Moggi is narrow enough for the tighter lanes, small enough to pull into a passing place without drama, but more-importantly the right vehicle to leisurely slow-down (physically and mentally!) on roads that were never designed with modern cars in mind.

Our full 'Hidden Villages' route is hand built around these quietly extraordinary spots & beyond - it will be sent alongside a my 'Complete Cotswolds' guide and other carefully selected full & half day routes before your day hiring Moggi!

The winding lanes and honey-coloured villages are waiting. You probably shouldn't need much more convincing than that!

 click here to reserve your perfect day :)