Donald Trump‘s Vice President JD Vance has announced plans to spend his summer family vacation in The Cotswolds in August – adding further woes to the popular tourist spot’s traffic woes.
America’s love affair with the quaint rural region continues, with Vance, 40, the latest in a string of high-profile US names to descend upon The Cotswolds, which have been dubbed ‘The English Hamptons’.
The US VP joins Ellen DeGeneres, Beyonce and Jay-Z and Taylor Swift as fans of the bucolic area’s chocolate-box villages, honeyed-stone, rolling hills and cosy pubs.
Donald Trump’s number two is said to be keen on bringing wife Usha, 39, and the couple’sthree young children, Ewan Blaine, Vivek and Mirabel, to enjoy a dose of the English countryside in August.
The news of another big name shining a light on the region – in its busiest tourist season – is likely to go down like a lead balloon with the locals who live there.
The Cotswolds District, which covers counties including Warwickshire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, now has around 2,000 Airbnb property listings, yet its infrastructure of slim, snaking backroads has remain unchanged for centuries.
The US politician’s family breaks have already racked up disharmony during his short time serving in office.
Last week,Disneyland visitors were left outraged after Vance shut down rides so he couldenjoy them with his children.
English summer: US Vice President JD Vance, his wife Usha, daughter Mirabel and sons Ewan, left, and Vivek are heading for The Cotswolds this summer – along with their huge entourage (Pictured at the Taj Mahal in April)
The high street in popular Burford, which is already besieged by tourists in high season
The Cotswolds is already hugely busy in the summer months, with the Vance family’s visit likely to further add to the region’s traffic woes (Pictured: traffic in Bibury, Gloucestershire in August 2024)
The Vice President strolled through Disneyland in Los Angeles, California, hand-in-hand with two of his children, Vivek and Mirabel, last Saturday – with a vastSecret Service security detail alongside them.
Barricades went up outside popular rides including Pirates of the Caribbean as K9 units stood guard – with an entourage of 50 bodyguards and Disney personnel said to be involved in the visit.
The prospect of such a heavy security presence in the winding rural roads of The Cotswolds is likely to spark logjams in an already overly-congested area of the UK.
Locals in quiet Cotswolds villages have already raged over their narrow roads becoming rat runs for traffic between Jeremy Clarkson’s farm shop and his pub, after his Clarkson’s Farm TV show has brought thousands of new visitors to the area.
The route between his Diddly Squat Farm Shop in Chadlington and his Farmer’s Dog pub which is 12 miles away near Burford in Oxfordshire have been particularly clogged.
Earlier, local residents led by parish council leaders in villages nearest the pub are urging internet bosses to redirect drivers using their Google Maps app, towards main roads rather than narrow village alternatives.
The Farmer’s Dog has attracted many fans of Clarkson, known as previous host of The Grand Tour and Top Gear car programmes as well as his farm series also featuring co-star Kaleb Cooper.
Pictures taken in the pub car park have shown various high-powered ‘muscle cars’ parked up since it opened last August, including Aston Martins, Mustangs, Porsches and Ferraris.
Clarkson himself has also made a plea to motorists on the pub’s website to use only main roads and not the smaller single-track lanes through quaint quiet villages which can appear on Google Maps as most direct routes between his farm shop and pub.
The family visited Disneyland California last week, with rides closed to the public and an estimated security and Disney personnel entourage of around 50 people (The Vance family pictured at the Presidential Inauguration parade in January)
The former Top Gear host (left) helms Clarkson’s Farm alongside Kaleb Cooper (right)
Traffic has been building up between his Diddly Squat Farm Shop and Farmer’s Dog pub
Locals have called on Google to amend the different routes suggested to drivers
A message on the pub’s website now reads: ‘If you’re travelling to The Farmer’s Dog, especially from Diddly Squat Farm Shop, please use the main roads.
Elsewhere, social media and particularly TikTok has paid a part in overtourism in the area – with one tiny village feeling the brunt more than others.
Parking restrictions are being introduced on tourist coaches entering what has been dubbed England’s ‘most beautiful village’ which is invaded by a huge number of visitors every weekend.
The picturesque Cotswold village of Bibury can sometimes see as many as 20,000 visitors in a weekend, and up to 50 coaches parking there in a day.
Gloucestershire County Council has now announced a temporary traffic management trial.
Existing coach bays in the village centre temporarily closed and instead bus stops will be installed for safer passenger drop-off and pick-up.
Bibury, Gloucestershire, was once described by 19th Century writer William Morris as the ‘most beautiful village in England’ (file pic)
Residents say pedestrians are endangered by the volume of coaches that turn up, while the picture-perfect village turns chaotic
The county council said it had worked with local coach operators, businesses, and the community to introduce the trial in the popular village.
Elsewhere, the hashtags #CastleCombe and #CastleCombeEngland are among the most searched for when it comes to English tourist spots.
Thanks to its starring role in films such as Steven Spielberg’s War Horse, Dr Doolittle and The Wolfman, the small Wiltshire village of Castle Combe with bags of charm, thanks to its medieval high street of pretty cottages, is a tourism honeypot year-round.
Yet, for those who don’t waltz in and out to create content, the crowds have become near unbearable.
In 2023, furious residents claimed their privacy was being ‘invaded by drones’ as TikTokers tried to capture the perfect view of the village, while also saying their local community was also being ruined by the rise of Airbnbs.
One resident said:‘In the hotter months people pitch up like it is the beach which can be a bit annoying.
‘There are coaches that come and do guided tours of the Cotswolds so we will have those pitch up a few times a day.’
The medieval architecture and bucolic surrounds have made the Wiltshire village highly Instagrammable
TikToker @jedi_explores showed the reality for those descending on ‘Britain’s prettiest village’ – Castle Combe in The Cotswolds, saying it was almost impossible to get a photo of the village’s picturesque bridge because there’s always people on it
Locals inCastle Combe, dubbed ‘one of the most beautiful locations in the UK’, have claimed tourists are ruining thepicturesquevillage in the Cotswolds (Tourists pictured in 2023)
Then there is Bourton-on-the-Water, aka the ‘Venice of the Cotswolds’ with its ornate stone bridges, where a number of residents are trying to convince the parish council to explore the radical solution of banning vehicles and introducing a drop off-point for tourists a 30-minute walk outside the village.
The beautiful village, which is 15 miles east of Cheltenham and has a population of 3,000, was given the ‘Venice’ label because of the number ornate stone bridges over the River Windrush.
Tens of thousands of tourists flock to the village every year – which is great for traders – but residents were growing increasingly frustrated with the congestion.
Parish and district councillor Jon Wareing last year said Bourton was buckling under the weight of an ever increasing number of daytrippers.
‘People can spend an hour in their car, driving around. Some of the ”difficult” behaviour that follows is because they get frustrated.
‘One of my neighbours asked this person not to park on his property and got threatened with violence. He said he knew where they lived if they did anything to his car and threatened to throw a brick through their window.’
