The Cotswold Way has long connected settlements, high ground, and places of worship.
The line of the trail follows ancient tracks and drove roads. Along the route you will pass hillforts, churches, manor houses, and remnants of the region's wool heritage.
The Cotswold Way is a long-distance path along the Cotswold Edge escarpment. It became an official National Trail on 24 May 2007; since then additional rights of way have been created to improve the line.
The route was first proposed around half a century earlier by Ramblers in Gloucestershire, notably Tony Drake (Cheltenham area) and Cyril Trenfield (South Gloucestershire). Although it was seen as a suitable candidate for National Trail status, Gloucestershire County Council initially promoted it using only existing public rights of way, because the council could not create new paths itself.
In 1973 Cheltenham-based walker Mark Richards published an early guide in the hand-drawn style associated with Alfred Wainwright. Gloucestershire's recreational plan for the countryside (1968) fed into a Cotswold Way scheme launched during Footpath Week in May 1970, with waymarking priority on the ground even before national designation unlocked full maintenance funding. A bench near Dyrham Park commemorates Cyril Trenfield.