Cotswold Olimpick Games

More than shin-kicking

The organiser’s games page describes individual strength events, team challenges and cross-country running alongside the best-known contest. Some competitions have limited team spaces. If you want to enter, read the specific event rules and registration details rather than assuming that an admission ticket reserves a place.

The story behind it

Around 1612 a lawyer called Robert Dover began staging games on a natural amphitheatre above Chipping Campden, with the blessing of King James I. They were famous enough to inspire a collection of poems, Annalia Dubrensia, in 1636, with contributions from Ben Jonson and Michael Drayton, and it was they who linked Dover's games to the Olympics of ancient Greece. The Civil War interrupted them, they returned after the Restoration, and they finally ended in 1852 when the common land was enclosed. The National Trust bought Dover's Hill in 1928, the games were staged for the Festival of Britain in 1951, and they have been held every year since 1966. Today's programme includes tug of war and shin-kicking, and the day ends with a bonfire and torchlit procession into Chipping Campden.

Competition rules and admission

The published shin-kicking description requires soft footwear and permits straw padding. Its statement about free competition entry does not mean admission to the whole Games is free. Recheck both admission and participation terms when the next edition is announced.

Getting up to Dover’s Hill

The organiser’s visitor FAQ describes a walking approach from Chipping Campden via the Cotswold Way, along with shuttle and parking arrangements. That FAQ is dated 2018. It is background about the location, not a current offer of a shuttle, free school parking or tickets at those prices.

Plan the return as well as the climb

Ask for the next traffic notice, permitted parking and access information. Check the walking surface, lighting on the return route and the distance from your parking or drop-off to viewing areas. No step-free viewing route or current accessible toilet provision has been verified in this guide.

Taking part

Two hill contests, two similar names, two different propositions. The organisers describe Champion of the Hill as an individual event combining the standing jump, spurning the barre, the hammer throw and the shot put. Championship of the Hill is a team challenge, with a changing series of rural games and limited spaces. Read the description before rallying a team for the wrong one, and don't assume every activity is open without registering.

Shin-kicking has its own page and its own referee, the Stickler. The rules describe straight arms with hands on your opponent's shoulders, unbalancing them through shin contact, and a result decided over several rounds. They also set out what to wear and ban metal-reinforced toes. It's great background for following a bout, but ask for the next edition's conditions before entering, as part of the page still mentions a 2024 champion. Buying gate admission, registering to compete and being accepted by an official are three separate things. If you'd rather just watch, nobody expects you to offer your shins just because you've reached the top of the hill.

Make a day of it nearby

Court Barn in Chipping Campden celebrates the designers and craftspeople who worked in the north Cotswolds from the early twentieth century onwards. Its visitor page lists admission and opening times, a step-free entrance and exit, accessible toilets and visitor guides in several formats. It makes a good indoor stop on another part of the trip, especially if someone fancies a break from a long evening outdoors.

For a change of pace in the open air, there's Hidcote. The National Trust garden is linked with Lawrence Johnston and laid out as a series of distinctive garden rooms. Go for the planting and the layout rather than expecting every corner to be at its seasonal best. The Trust has separate access and travel information to help you work out what suits your group. Both places run independently, with their own conditions. Check their calendars against the next Games announcement before booking, and don't take an attraction's everyday parking advice as permission to park for the event. A separate day gives you time for craft, gardens and countryside without racing between ticket desks.

What to bring and wear

If you're there to kick shins, start with the organisers' rules, not a theatrical costume. The rules require long trousers or tracksuits, allow straw supplied by the organisers as padding and ban metal-reinforced toes. Make sure your clothes and footwear meet the current conditions before you travel. Don't swap in protection the rules haven't accepted, or bring anything designed to make a bout more forceful.

Spectators have a simpler brief: bring what you can comfortably carry through an evening outdoors and on the journey home. Keep extra layers and your own essentials in one manageable bag, and leave the competition areas and walkways clear. Before bringing a chair or an ambitious picnic, ask where it can go; open hillside doesn't come with a reserved enclosure. Save the updated traffic and visitor notice when it appears, and bring a charged phone or some other way of keeping your group in touch. The 2018 FAQ is history now, so pack and travel for whatever's announced next.

Questions people ask

Where it is

Map pin shows the approximate area where the event happens. Open in OpenStreetMap ↗

Go straight to the source

Independent research. The organiser’s own information always wins — we have not visited or tested the journeys.

• Organiser homepage: currently the 2026 edition ↗
• Competition descriptions and entry distinctions ↗
• Historical visitor FAQ, dated 2018 ↗
• Wikipedia: Cotswold Olimpick Games ↗
• Organiser:Games overview ↗
• Organiser:shin-kicking rules ↗
• Organiser:homepage and edition status ↗
• Court Barn:visitor information ↗
• National Trust:Hidcote ↗