Running holiday lets in the Cotswolds, where second homes pay double council tax

The rest of England's rules, including the end of the furnished holiday lettings tax regime and the fire guide, are on the England page.

This is not legal or tax advice, and Upbridge does not file anything for you: no registrations and no tax returns.

The council commissioned a model of its visitor economy from The South West Research Company, published in November 2025. For 2024 it estimates 543,000 staying trips in Cotswold district and 1,768,000 nights, and 5,369,000 day visits. Of the nights stayed by visitors from within the UK, 441,000 were in self-catering and 260,000 in serviced accommodation, which makes self-catering the largest type of stay among UK visitors. The report calls these modelled estimates, and they are not counts.

In March the Cheltenham Festival runs from Tuesday 16 to Friday 19 March 2027 according to the Jockey Club, with gates opening at 10:30 each day. Cheltenham is outside Cotswold district, but the tourism partnership lists Cheltenham Spa among the stations for getting to the Cotswolds, and it says a bus to Cirencester from there needs one change and takes about an hour. If your flat is within reach of Cheltenham, expect a week of changeovers on consecutive days.

Most guests arriving by train get off at Moreton-in-Marsh, Kemble or Charlbury, all of which the partnership says are reachable from London Paddington, and then need a bus. From Moreton-in-Marsh the 801 takes about 30 minutes to Bourton-on-the-Water, and from Kemble the 882 takes 20 to 30 minutes to Cirencester. The Villager V25 bus from Kingham station runs on Wednesdays only, so a guest who arrives on any other day needs a taxi or a lift.

Your arrival message should name the station and the bus, and say what to do when the bus has stopped running.

A cottage in a village can be a long drive from the next property on your list, so a missing item costs more than it would in a city flat. With Upbridge each checkout creates a cleaning with a room-by-room photo checklist, and the cleaner reports missing items and damage from the house itself, so you know before the next guest arrives whether anyone has to drive back out.

For the guest on the 801 bus, the guest guide we build can carry the station, the bus number and how to get into the house. If you look after the cottage for an owner who lives elsewhere, the inventory per property and the owner report show what was used and what was replaced, without a phone call after every stay.

A day of cleaning in the Cotswolds is partly a day of driving between villages. The account for cleaning companies puts every owner's calendar in one place, so you can see which houses turn over on the same day and plan the route, and each client stays yours.