TV legend hits back over Cotswolds tourist complaints

Adam Henson grew up on his family’s farm near Guiting Power and is one of the region’s best‑known farmers and a long‑standing presenter on the BBC show.

The 60-year-old runs the popular Cotswold Farm Park, founded by his father Joe in 1971, and has spent his life working and living in the area’s rolling countryside.

In recent years, picture‑perfect Cotswold villages such as Bibury and Bourton-on-the-Water have complained of being overrun by visitors.

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Adam Henson. (Image: Butcombe Pubs & Inns)

Residents have cited clogged roads, overflowing rubbish and “TikTok tourists” crowding outside homes purely to film content.

Local councillors have warned of “overtourism” bringing traffic “carnage” on peak summer days.

Some villagers have described the sheer number of day-trippers and coach parties as “intolerable and unacceptable”.

Mr Henson chatted to this newspaper following his talk at Cotswold Gate Care Home in Burford last Friday (June 5).

Speaking on the influx of tourists in the area, he said: “I think it’s great. I mean, the Cotswolds used to be the way through to the coast.

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Bibury in the Cotswolds. (Image: Unsplash)

“When my dad opened the Cotswold Farm Park in 1971, local people petitioned against it because they didn’t want tourists blocking up the roads.

“Now, here we are 55 years on, and tourism is a massive thing and keeps the local economy going to a certain degree, with the pubs, hotels and restaurants helped by tourists coming to the area.

“I don’t think it’s lost its charm and its beauty as you go into some of the Cotswold villages, and they’re still beautiful.

“Just looking out the window here in Burford, you can see that even with more modern buildings, we’ve still got that lovely Cotswold stone, that elotic limestone.

“So yeah, I think the development and uplift of any area is a good thing as long as you can maintain and retain the charm.”