The prettiest villages in the Cotswolds!

Sunday morning in Oxford and although reluctant to leave, we're planning a night's return to stay in The Bath Place next to The Turf so parting with sweet sorrow is tempered with that thought and the anticipation of what's ahead of us - the famous Cotswolds.  Quintessential  English villages, what most of us think of when we think of this jolly old place - stone cottages, thatched roofs, winding streets, ancient churches and pubs.  And that's just what we found!

John and I have been to the Cotswolds a couple of times, once with my mom who loved it as well.  One of the most famous villages is Bibury, reportedly the prettiest village in England, although I have stayed in several given that title!  This one just might be it, though, and the picture above with Bill strolling down the lane is probably one of the most photographed spots in England.  Bibury was a textile village and this string of cottages housed the workers who made the fabrics and dried them on the field in front of them along the Coln river. 

Bill, an avid trout and fly fisherman, was thoroughly excited as he began to spot the brown trout in the river, one after another - until a fellow standing next to us remarked that the fish were simply committing harra kiri (which most of us pronounce harry carry!) because they had recently been released from the trout hatchery upstream about 50 yards!

Rather idyllic looking for a hatchery, isn't it?  I think that waterfall is their escape route.  Well, this sort of took the joy and challenge out of that pursuit for Bill and we proceeded on our walk around the village.

After an hour or so, hunger set in and we decided to go to tea at the historic Swan Hotel, however we couldn't seem to get our enthusiasm up for what was on the menu.  I mentioned that we had seen several signs for "Tea at the Village Hall, 2-5PM Sunday" on the bridges, so we picked ourselves up, bundled up again and set off down the narrow sidewalk, past some lovely homes and colorful gardens, the village toilet for which you pay 20p (well worth the price!), and small shops to the welcome open door of the Village Hall.  There we had the choice of several teas at £1 including refills and several homemade cakes and breads and of course, scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream.  Oh, heaven....  we bought several and enjoyed every tempting bite.  Purchased some videos and books from their village sale for just a few pence and proceeded to waddle back up the street to an antique shop Ginger had spotted when we drove through.

It was a tiny little place with a grumpy old guy who didn't seem to care whether we were there or not.  Ginger did her best to warm him up with her description of our tea but to no avail.  I found a couple of little things for friends, Ginger found what could be used as a shot glass in their bar cabinet - a tiny little glass with 3 feet from the Isle of Mann.  Our boys arrived with the car but the shop was so small they went to wait outside; that's when John laid his eyes on a treasure in the window!  Bill said John's mouth dropped open with a gasp.  He had spotted a miniature cup, saucer and cake plate in our pattern, Ming Rose by Coalport, long since out of business.  I couldn't believe it when he showed them to me.  I was so excited!  The man had won my heart again!!  And the grumpy old man was now smiling.  Very rare indeed, he said.  We were all very pleased with our purchases and so was he!

On we went to our destination, Bourton on the Water, where Bill and Ginger were spending the week.  By this time it was mid-afternoon and John and I knew we didn't want to drive back to London, so we needed to find a place to stay.  Every B and B that we drove past had out a "no vacancy" sign and we were wondering where we were going to spend the night.  Bill suggested that there might be a room available in their hotel where they were staying for their four days of Cotswald walking tours.  There was and relief settled over me.  I always want to know where I'm going to sleep!  The hotel was Harrington House and owned by HFHolidays who were sponsoring the walks.  This was a lovely old home and some of its character still existed like the tiny room in the cupola with chairs for two and a spot of tea.

We four decided to split up until dinner and John and I took a leisurely stroll through the village.  We found the old church, St. Lawrence, and explored it for awhile.  A lot of the village churches we have visited have a children's area in the back of the sanctuary because they have no other buildings to send them off to! 

We continued to stroll the streets looking in the shop windows and after a pint at a very nondescript pub, we headed back to dinner at the hotel.

We had a remarkable serendipity at dinner.  We were seated with a couple who were probably in their eighties, Ann and John.   When Ann heard we were staying in Hammersmith, London she asked if we knew of a pub called The Dove. Remember the pub I mentioned that was on record as the smallest?  Ann was born there and lived in the attic room until she was 7!  She was so delighted that we had been there.  Before we knew it, dinner was over and we were instructed that "Coffee is in the hall."  That definitely meant "please leave the dining room!"  We spent another half hour or so getting to know the people that would be Bill and Ginger's companions for the rest of the week and know they are going to enjoy their company.

This weekend was a Bank Holiday.  That's what they call a 3 day weekend and Bourton on the Water is always busy but on a holiday it's even more so.  So on Monday morning I woke up John at 6:30 to go for a walk with me.  There was NO ONE on the streets and NO cars.  It was absolutely lovely, blissful even.  We walked for about an hour. 

When we got back to the hotel, John wanted to go in to shower and I wanted to keep walking.  I no more got 100 feet down the road then I found a public foot path and had to call John to explore it with me.  It took us down a little path past several attached cottages and back into a field where you had to go through a kissing gate.  That's a gate designed to keep animals from passing through.  If you are with someone, only one person can go at a time; you go through, turn around to pass through and you are facing the other person, thus offering a great opportunity for a kiss.  We were then in a very, very large field along the river that runs through the town.  We turned around to go back, John headed for the hotel, I kept going and ooops!  Had to call John to come back again because now from the street you could see the gardens behind the cottages we passed on the footpath and they were riotous with color.  John took a couple of pictures but the color was much more vibrant than any picture could show. 

 
Finally I let John go and continued to the end of the street to see a beautiful view up a large hill.  Unfortunately, my camera and my photographer were both in the hotel room!

After breakfast, we went into town again.  John wanted to go to the Motor Museum and I wanted to go to the Model Village.  I got no further than over the bridge and had to call John out of the museum (we have cell phones to keep track of each other) because there was a rubber ducky race going on in the square and I had purchased a duck.  I needed a cheering section.  I lost. 

I went on to the Model Village, something I had wanted to see before.  It's an exact model to 1:9 scale of Bourton on the Water and was built about 70 years ago.  It was amazing!  I walked the little streets for about an hour.  Even the trees have been kept small by constant trimming.  The children were so much fun to watch as they squatted down to look in the windows.  There was even music coming out of the two churches and a glass cutaway of each so you could see the pews and altars inside. 

I couldn't understand why John, who had built model train layouts and airplanes, wasn't interested but to please me he did come see it.  He didn't stay long but I reciprocated and went to the Motor Museum which was about as interesting to me as the village was to him.  I admit, it was more interesting than I had anticipated.  I especially liked the antique camping trailers which were completely outfitted as if the family were enjoying their holiday. 

Soon it was time to leave and move on to London.  We had said good by to Ginger and Bill after breakfast who went with another couple on a garden tour.  We'll see them next Monday when we meet to go canal boating, one of our favorite English activities.  We got back to London about 3:30 and after a nice long nap had some wine and cheese and crackers for dinner.  Our Oxford and Cotswolds trip was much more than we had planned and we were content.