Cotswold Tour and Prescott Hill Climb – 9th and 10th May 2026

The South West Community Chapter’s first event of 2026 was a Weekender! Starting with the Classic Cotswold Tour on Saturday 9th May and concluding with the Prescott Hill Climb on Sunday 10th.

Kitty and Andrew report in!

Now in Winchcombe Rotary’s 6th year of organising these events, they are a personal highlight of our calendar.

The 23rd Annual Classic Cotswold Tour this year kicked off (and concluded) at the majestic Sudeley Castle. If you are in the area, it is well worth a visit where over 5,000 tulips bloom during May. However, we had a tour to complete, so we hit the road, a collection of 4 Figaros one of each colour (with two unable to make it at the last minute) among many other classic and specialist cars. They do a super job of varying the route each year to keep it interesting and to see as much of the ever-stunning Cotswolds as possible. The route is circa 70 miles and takes around 3-4 hours plus stops.

The only observation this year would be that the stops were in very busy spots that were difficult to park in, particularly as a group, but with scenery such as this it was little hardship to keep on moving. Anyone who was on the Cotswold rally at the Pudding Club will recognise some of the beautiful spots we passed through such as Broadway and Chipping Campden where the Figaros always get plenty of attention. We pit-stopped at the Eight Bells in Chipping Campden for an early bite. A traditional Inn just off the main drag with a great line in Chips and dogs well catered for. Stow-on-the-Wold and Bourton-on-the-Water are both lovely villages to visit but will unseasonably (and against the forecast) sunny weather, both were very busy with locals and tourists alike. In fact, it was roofs down all the way!

This year’s route took in many of the main tourist spots. You could easily turn this into a whole day, taking in Cotswold Falconry, Cotswold Lavender, Cotswold Farm Park (a stop on previous Tours), Broadway Tower, and of course the model village at Bourton amongst many others. We made the most of the sunshine and countryside views in our Figaro convoy.

We had a different selection of Figaros for the Classics at Prescott (one all the way from East London!) on the Sunday. Prescott is a beautiful hill-climb circuit belonging to the Bugatti Owners Club and overlooking the Cotswold hills. A vast array of Classics attends this event, which in line with the Tour, has raised well over £400,000 for various charities including local schools, scouting and youth groups. Both rely heavily on volunteers from both Winchcombe and Bishops Cleeve Rotary Clubs, all of whom make up for what they haven’t been given in the way of organisation with bags of enthusiasm!

There are 3 choices for this event. Park up, enjoy the atmosphere and chat Figaros and other classics. Pay (for charity) to take part in the cavalcade, as we did this year, and tour up the hill-climb in convoy waving to all the spectators. The third choice is to pay a little more and go up the hill-climb at full chat …. We have done this in the past and it is good fun, there are much older and slower cars than Figaros and they space everyone well, so you don’t hold anyone up. However, it is nice to wave, Figgy beep and enjoy the more relaxed and mechanically sympathetic cavalcade.

Both events raise money for charity, are very relaxed, take in beautiful countryside and cars and we would love to see you for either, or both, next year on 8th-9th May 2027.

Unfortunately, a few weeks later we hit a huge pothole on the way home and damaged Bourriquet (our Figgy) so had to sit out the next event on the Jurassic Coast. However, like all co-ordinators, our job is exactly that – co-ordinate events so they can be enjoyed by anyone who would like to go. As a result, everyone had a super time, and we were very disappointed to miss it.

Kitty is however, delighted, as not only did we have Bourriquet mended but for reasons I have yet to work out this involved new carpets and new seatbelts as well, it’s amazing the damage a pothole can do!!!

Thanks for organising Kitty and Andrew!

Enjoy the gallery of photos below