Bourton-on-the-Water was frequently used as a case study of a place needing a firm approach to managing tourism, when I was working on tourism issues with the English Historic Towns Forum in the 1990s. Wishful thinking. Bourton is now feels like the coming together of the worst tacky, kiss-me-quick seaside town and an Americanised vision of how a quaint, ersatz English village would be built for a theme park.
