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The Cotswolds
The quintessential Cotswolds cottage - golden stone and a thatched roof!
After checking out of the hotel in the morning, we said goodbye to Bath and Paul drove us to the Cotswolds. On the way, we had a brief stop at the village of Lacock, a beautiful town that is so typical of the area ... and we met Liz's parents for a brief coffee and biscuits stop! This is such a lovely area. Beautiful villages ... and sheep ... golden stone buildings ... and sheep ... thatched roofs ... and sheep. Gee, can anyone guess what industry this area was built on?
The beautiful village of Lacock. There are different tones of golden stone on every home!
Lacock
A kissing gate!
Lacock's lovely church of St. Cyriac
A small sample of the many, many sheep we saw. We fell in love with the little black one!
Avebury
On to Avebury Stone Circle! On the way, we saw a chalk horse carved into the hills, near the village of Cherhill. Paul obligingly pulled over to allow us to take photos.
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Avebury is a small village located near a Neolithic stone circle, a World Heritage Site. The circle is larger than Stonehenge, and visitors are allowed to wander about among the stones. We found that you could get a real feel for the place by being able to touch the stones and walk wherever we wanted.
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Following our visit to the stones, the group had a lovely lunch provided by our guides. A perfect spot for a picnic lunch.
Cherhill Horse
Our group listening to Liz tell us about the history of the stone circle
Dennis and I exploring the stones
Blenheim Palace
The next stop was Blenheim Palace, Winston Churchill's birthplace. Wow - Winston, you obviously come from a truly wealthy family. Are you planning on sharing? This is the ancestral home of the Duke of Marlborough, lived in even now, and is the largest in England. Our visit included a formal tour of many of the rooms, very helpful since most of our group was awestruck by the grandeur and we wouldn't have ventured far from the entry where we were standing with our mouths hanging open.
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Next stop: Stow-on-the-Wold, where we checked into our charming hotel, The Sheep on Sheep Street. The name still makes me smile. We were there for two nights, and it was quiet, comfortable, friendly, etc. Winston made himself comfy in the room, while we crossed the street to The Porch for dinner. Too bad he missed dinner. He probably would have liked the mussels.
The Sheep on Sheep Street
Our room. Very nice.
Mussels!
The next morning, Paul drove us the short distance to the village of Stanway and its fascinating manor house. It has been in the family of the Earl of Wemyss for centuries, and is still the family home. It's nowhere near as grandiose as Blenheim Palace, but it has a homey feeling that the group enjoyed. We had a guided tour of the house led by Jon, and then visited the estate's working flour mill. Fascinating! Jon even demonstrated the 300 foot tall gravity fountain for us. Wow!
The Manor house
The flour mill
One of the sitting rooms. The canopied couches/lounges are Chippendale furniture!
The gravity fountain - the tallest in England!
On to the Great Cricket Match!
Liz and Paul tried valiantly to teach our group how to play cricket. We absorbed enough of the basics that we could actually manage a short game - men vs. women. It was a draw. It was truly entertaining, with lots of laughter and a fair amount of rivalry. We're pretty sure that we weren't strictly obeying all the rules, but we didn't care.
Liz and Paul reviewing the finer points - like how to swing the "bat"
The game!
Our little group after our match. Don't we look happy?
Stanton
Before returning to Stow-on-the-Wold, we made a short stop in the village of Stanton to allow us to wander through another cozy Cotswolds village. Very charming and well worth stopping to see.
A trifecta! Golden stone cottage, a British postal box and the iconic telephone booth all in one spot! Liz had explained to us that, in this age of cell phones, there really is no longer a need for many phone booths. Rather than destroy them all, many have been adapted to a variety of uses. This one is a place to post village news. Others are used to house defibrillators, mini-libraries, etc. Some even still have telephones! Liz also reviewed the various markings on the postal boxes, showing us what the lettering schemes mean. There are even some remaining from Queen Victoria (although we never saw one).
St. Michael's Church, from the 15th century. Lovely. Most likely built with money from the wool trade.
Following our return to Stow-on-the-Wold, Liz offered to lead us on a walk through the Cotswolds to Upper and Lower Slaughter. Some of us chose to accompany her, some went to Bourton-on-the-Water, and some simply stayed in Stow. I chose the walk with Liz, and Dennis chose the trip to Bourton. Both of us loved our choices.
A working water mill in Upper Slaughter
Bourton looks lovely, but it appears that they might have done more than wander around town! Cream tea! That's ok - those of us who opted for the country walk got to experience gooseberry and elderflower ice cream. Nummm.
That evening, we had a fun group dinner in Stow-on-the-Wold, complete with local folk musicians to play for us. What a fun evening!
Our group, gathering for dinner
Steak and ale pie - yummmmm
Sticky toffee pudding - and the beginnings of what will likely be a life-long addiction to this dessert
Magical Moments :
- The weather, but I'm not going to mention it again because we had wonderful weather for the entire trip! How lucky! Liz even nick-named us the "sunshine group."
- We've both had cricket explained to us before, but this time parts of it actually made sense. Eureka!
- My first sticky toffee pudding, something I'd heard about for ages, but had never tried. Truly wonderful!
- Walking in the Cotswolds, one of the premier public walking areas in England. Awesome.
- Seeing Blenheim Palace and the birthplace of Winston Churchill, when we happen to have a cat named Winston.
- Wandering among the Avebury stones and considering that people had walked there thousands of years ago.
“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” – James Michener
We were curious about:
- How important were sheep to medieval Cotswold life? Cotswold wool was apparently the best in England and the industry grew, making many people wealthy and giving rise to a great many lovely homes and churches. With the introduction of cotton, however, and the coming of the industrial age, the wool industry died.
- Can we make sticky toffee pudding at home? Yes! There are lots of recipes on-line and you can even order mixes.
- What is the Cherhill horse? There is at least one genuine prehistoric horse, but in the 18th century it became the fashion to carve fake artifacts like this into the hillside chalk. It may not be prehistoric, but it's still 300 years old and very picturesque.
- Why was the Avebury Stone Circle built? No one knows for sure. It's a prehistoric site, probably used for religious purposes or rituals, much like Stonehenge.
- What is a kissing gate? It's a gate that fences in the livestock, while still allowing people to pass through on the public walking path by moving the gate back and forth to allow one person through at a time. With 1 person on either side of the gate as you go through, you are facing each other. Hence, the "kissing gate." Ingenious!
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