Best Hidden Gems in Gloucestershire
Written by UK Hidden Gems Editorial
Updated 5 August 2026
The best hidden gems in Gloucestershire are Belas Knap Long Barrow, Devil’s Chimney, Uley Long Barrow, Purton Ship Graveyard, Chedworth Roman Villa, Spoonley Wood Roman Villa, St Kenelm’s Well and Great Witcombe Roman Villa.
Gloucestershire runs from the high wolds of the Cotswolds down to the wide, tidal reaches of the River Severn, and its quieter corners hold a great amount of history. Beyond the honey-stone towns lie ancient burial mounds, Roman villas set into wooded valleys, holy wells and the strange line of beached hulls at Purton.
Up on the Cotswold ridges you can walk to the Neolithic long barrows of Belas Knap and Uley, or to the leaning limestone pinnacle known as the Devil's Chimney above Cheltenham. In the folds of the hills, the Romans left their mark at Chedworth, Spoonley Wood and Great Witcombe, where mosaic floors still survive under cover.
Between Winchcombe and Sudeley Castle a walking path passes St Kenelm's Well, a quiet pilgrim waypoint on the hillside. Many of these places are free and open, reached on foot across fields and through woodland.
Here are eight of the best hidden gems to seek out in Gloucestershire.
Belas Knap Long Barrow
Photo: Gisela Blee via Geograph.org.uk
Belas Knap Long Barrow is a Neolithic burial mound on a high Cotswold ridge above Winchcombe. It is a long, grassy barrow, edged with a neat drystone wall rebuilt to show its original shape.
At one end a false doorway of two tall stones and a lintel sits in a curved forecourt, a blind entrance that leads nowhere; the real burial chambers open instead from the sides and far end, low stone rooms where the dead were laid more than five thousand years ago. Reaching it is an uphill walk of about half a mile from the lane, across fields onto open common.
The mound is free to visit. Seek it out for wide views and deep history.
Devil’s Chimney
Photo: Michael Dibb via Geograph.org.uk
Devil’s Chimney is a thin pinnacle of limestone standing out from the quarried face of Leckhampton Hill, on the Cotswold edge above Cheltenham. It was left behind when the hill was cut for stone, and now rises alone from the slope below the crest.
A walk up the hill reaches it, with wide views over Cheltenham and the vale. The surrounding hill is open access land crossed by paths.
Seek it out on a circuit of Leckhampton Hill.
Uley Long Barrow
Photo: C Michael Hogan via Geograph.org.uk
Uley Long Barrow, known locally as Hetty Pegler's Tump, is a Neolithic chambered tomb near Uley, a long grassy mound with a stone entrance you can crawl inside. It was built more than five thousand years ago as a burial place.
English Heritage looks after it, and it is free to enter in daylight, standing on uneven, sloping ground with a small layby across the road. Inside it is dark, with stone chambers off a central passage.
Seek it out if you do not mind a crawl into the earth.
Purton Ship Graveyard
Photo: Philip Halling via Geograph.org.uk
Purton Ship Graveyard is a long line of old barges and other boats deliberately run aground along the tidal bank of the River Severn at Purton, on the narrow strip of land that separates the river from the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal. From 1909, after the bank gave way, vessels were beached here as a barrier to stop the river eating away the land and breaching the canal, the last of them run ashore in 1965.
Their decaying wooden and concrete hulls, many marked with small plaques, are seen on a walk along the towpath and riverbank, said to be the largest collection of its kind in mainland Britain. Seek it out for a haunting riverside stroll.
Chedworth Roman Villa
Photo: Bill Nicholls via Geograph.org.uk
Chedworth Roman Villa sits in a wooded Cotswold valley near Yanworth, one of the largest Roman villas found in Britain. Visitors walk among the low walls and see mosaic floors kept in place under modern cover buildings, along with two bath suites and the channels of the under-floor heating.
A spring-fed shrine survives in one corner, its curved Roman wall still standing. The National Trust has run the site since 1924, with a small museum of finds on the grounds.
Seek it out for some of the finest Roman mosaics in the county.
Spoonley Wood Roman Villa
Photo: Kester Harvey via Geograph.org.uk
Spoonley Wood Roman Villa is the ruin of a Roman villa hidden in woodland near Winchcombe, a short way from Sudeley Castle. Reached on foot on a circular walk from the town, it is an informal, unstaffed site where low stone walls stand among the trees, and, unusually, a Roman mosaic floor survives in place, kept under cover.
The villa grew over the centuries into a large courtyard house before it was abandoned, and was dug out in 1882. A marble statue of Bacchus found here is now in the British Museum.
The ruins are weathered and quiet, deep in the wood. Seek it out for a mosaic hidden among the trees.
St Kenelm’s Well
Photo: Michael Dibb via Geograph.org.uk
St Kenelm’s Well is a holy well on the hillside between Winchcombe and Sudeley Castle, dedicated to Saint Kenelm, a boy-prince of Mercia remembered as a martyr in Anglo-Saxon times. The spring is enclosed by a small Gothic-style stone well house with railings, set beside the walking path that runs from the town toward Sudeley and the woods beyond.
It is a quiet waypoint on the walk rather than a staffed site, with no facilities, on a route long walked by pilgrims. Seek it out as a peaceful pause on the walk to Sudeley.
Great Witcombe Roman Villa
Photo: Clint Mann via Geograph.org.uk
Great Witcombe Roman Villa is the remains of a large Roman country house set into a hillside valley below Cooper's Hill, near Gloucester. Low walls and foundations mark out its rooms, laid out in a wide U-shape, with the remains of bath rooms in one wing.
Its finest mosaic floors survive but are kept protected under cover buildings on the site. English Heritage looks after the villa, which sits in quiet countryside below the wooded slope.
Seek it out for a Roman ruin in a peaceful setting.
FAQs
Which Gloucestershire hidden gems are free to visit?
Several are. Belas Knap, Uley Long Barrow and the Devil's Chimney are all free and open, reached on foot across fields and open access land. St Kenelm's Well is a free waypoint on the walking path, though it has no facilities.
Can you go inside Uley Long Barrow?
Yes. The barrow, known locally as Hetty Pegler's Tump, has a stone entrance you can crawl inside, opening onto dark stone chambers off a central passage. It is free to enter in daylight, though the ground is uneven and sloping.
How far is the walk to Belas Knap?
It is an uphill walk of about half a mile from the lane below, across fields onto open common. From the ridge there are wide views over the Cotswold country, and the mound is free and quiet to visit.
Conclusion
From Neolithic long barrows on the Cotswold ridges to Roman mosaics hidden in wooded valleys, Gloucestershire rewards anyone willing to walk a little way from the road. Many of these places are free and open, like Belas Knap, Uley Long Barrow and the Devil's Chimney, reached on foot across fields and open common.
Others, such as Chedworth Roman Villa, are looked after and better planned in advance. Along the Severn, the beached hulls at Purton make a haunting contrast with the ancient sites up in the hills, while St Kenelm's Well offers a quiet pause on the pilgrim path to Sudeley.
Wear stout shoes, check ahead where a site is staffed, and take your time among the mounds, wells and ruins. Explore them in any order you like, but for history, quiet and reward, these are the best hidden gems to seek out in Gloucestershire.
