A couple visiting a village hailed as the world's most beautiful have voiced their frustration over one drawback of its fame. Bibury, with its historic weavers' cottages, picturesque river and grazing cattle against lush countryside, epitomises the classic English village aesthetic.
Textile designer William Morris described it as the 'most beautiful village in England'. In 2025, Forbes reinforced this accolade by placing it at the top of its list of the globe's 50 most beautiful villages.
Bibury's reputation has drawn curious tourists in their thousands, with as many as 20,000 visitors reportedly descending on the village on busy summer weekends. This is despite the village having a permanent population of around only 600 people.
Among recent visitors were Alex and Emma, the duo behind travel-focused YouTube channel Travel Beans. They published a video this month chronicling their visit, though any notion of peaceful tranquillity was swiftly dispelled.
Upon arriving in the village, Alex observed: 'It feels like the illusion of quaint is ruined straight away. Like, look at this. There's just a coach reversing. There's people everywhere.'
After securing the 'only parking space in the whole village', Alex quipped to the camera: 'We thought we were being clever coming off season. Thought we might get the whole place to ourselves, but that clearly isn't the case already.'
Nevertheless, the village's beauty wasn't overlooked by them, with Emma highlighting the appeal of their accommodation. 'This is like my dream cottage, at least from the outside. It's absolutely stunning. This has to be up there with one of the most beautiful places we've stayed,' she enthused.
Alex added: 'I didn't realise that two things can exist at once. And it's kind of peaceful and absolutely chaotic at the same time.'
Following a quick tour of their accommodation, the family, including their two young children, ventured out, though Emma found herself edging the pram through visitors on a narrow bridge. 'You are never more than six feet away from a tourist,' she quipped, noting that many weren't native English speakers - a fact that filled Alex with pride that people from overseas had taken an interest in the area.
They paused at the renowned Arlington Row cottages, a series of 14th-century dwellings later converted into weavers' cottages, reputedly amongst the UK's most photographed locations.
Later, the couple noted that the village seemed to empty out around 6pm. Emma was struck by the 'relaxing' sounds of the water and birds, and appeared to appreciate Bibury's evening calm. The couple suggested coming between 7pm and 7.30pm, with Alex suggesting that's when the village 'reclaims itself'. Emma later said she loved the houses, and the family also stopped by a local trout farm for a spot of fishing.
Despite this, the couple spoke further about the issues with tourists. Later in the video, Alex revealed that he'd spotted somebody peering into the cottage where they were staying. Alex stated: 'Yeah, and when I saw it, like the feeling I've got is like...Like, I feel like a f*****g animal in a zoo, and I've had enough. Like, it feels so unacceptable that..'
He continued: 'The people are insane. I've seen people going into people's driveways, taking pictures. There's a lot of disrespectful tourists. Like yesterday, Noah got hit in the face by a dog that was left way off its leash. I've seen people pouring like coffee into the river on top of a swan. I feel really sorry for this place. This place is a bit of a tragedy.'
Emma agreed, saying Bibury was 'so beautiful' in the 'most natural way', but it was now 'kind of, yeah, swallowing itself', and had made them reflect on their own impact as tourists.
