A Day in the Cotswold's

Today we had a full day mini coach tour around the Cotswold's, a beautiful natural area famous for picture perfect villages set amongst prime farmland and lush green rolling hills.

Sounds perfect doesn't it but our day didn't start quite that way. It was an early start, and we arrived at our pickup point a cafe in South Kensington at 7am - very early for our tour which started at 8.30! The cafe was open, but their kitchen wasn't until 8 so we grabbed something from the cabinet and had a cup of tea/coffee. The cafe was very plain and the guy serving alternated between being quite aloof and being a bit of a smart ass. Weirdly the menu had an Australian flavour with the Menu headed up Aussie Brunch and one of the dishes was the Full Aussie (heaven forbid)! I couldn't work out the connection between the rude obnoxious guy behind the counter and Australia - It will forever remain a mystery!

Eventually a crowd of travelers arrived ready for a day in the country. About 15 minutes before departure time our guide/driver turned up. He certainly didn't fill us with confidence. Old faded shirt, unshaven (and by that we definitely don't mean designer stubble), sneaking a quick vape whenever the opportunity arose.... but then we realized he was Irish and everything was fine! Guide Dave was very knowledgeable about both early European history and the history of the Cotswold's.

While the collection of historic villages are a major tourist destination now there was a time when the area was the driving force behind the English economy, at a time when up to 50% of the country's GDP was generated by wool and the Cotswold's were the largest wool producing region in Britian.

Anyway, back to the trip with Go Tours. Our transport was a very comfortable purpose-built Mercedes van. Initially we crawled through the London rush hour traffic heading west. Once we cleared the city though it was a very pleasant drive through picturesque countryside. It took around an hour and a half to reach our first stop - the village of Burford - appropriate as it is known as the gateway to the Cotswold's. Burford is one of the best-preserved medieval towns in the region. The 15th century cathedral was very impressive, and it was interesting wandering through the surrounding graveyard. The village was full of little independent shops, cafes and pubs. All buildings in the Cotswold's have to be built with the locally quarried stone which has a beautiful honey coloured hue adding to the unique ambience of the Cotswolds. A very relaxing and enjoyable start to our trip.

Much as Burford was very pleasant our next stop Bilbury was a definite step up. It is often described as the prettiest village in England and it's not hard to see why. The jewel in the crown for the village is the Arlington Row, a row of ancient cottages - dating back to the 14th century. From the bus drop off point we wandered along the riverside across a bridge and up to the row of cottages. There was a family of ducklings playing in the river ducking in and out of the reeds which was cool to see. It was a lovely sunny day and the whole experience was just awesome. The cottages are still all lived in so it was a case of seeing as much as we could from the street. It was amazing how well preserved everything was. It was very much a magic moment.

While we were in Bilbury we called into a pottery/glass store. I've always had an interest in glass vases and have collected a few on our travels. We stumbled across an incredible glass bowl produced by celebrated local artist Louise Hawkins - who actually works out of Arlington Row. The bowl is one of 10 produced (they are all individually numbered - ours was 6) and signed by Louise. Jeanette also found a cup and saucer produced by another prominent local artist in a very traditional style. We were both very pleased with our purchases.

Next stop was Burton-on-the-Water aka the Venice of the Cotswold's! Thats a massive stretch to be fair but the river Windrush does run through the center of the village and is crossed by 5 lovely low stone bridges as it meanders along. Impressive village and all that but the highlight for me was 100% the lunch! Guide Dave gave us a range of recommendations before we left the bus, he also suggested we have lunch first and then do our sightseeing to make sure we could have a nice, relaxed meal. We chose the Willow Pub and were very glad we did. Sitting outside overlooking the town square and across the village the setting was perfect as was the food-steak and ale pie for me and fish pie for Jeanette. The sun was out; the beer was cold the view was perfect - the most relaxing time ever! Eventually the time came to head off and do some exploring. Big decision - do I relax with another beer in the sun or explore another stunning quintessential English visit. In the end I went with the 'you've seen one village you've seen them all' theory and ordered another Peroni! Jeanette headed off to have a look around the village and got some great photos.

The last stop on our tour was to Stow-on-the-Wold (Wold meaning small hill). It is officially the highest point in the Cotswold's - 500 ft above sea level. Stow-on-the-Wall is a beautiful market town known especially for its antique shops. It is also the place where the last battle of the first English Civil War was held in 1646. None of that mattered to Jeanette though! The village was home to ancient church door that are rumoured to have provided inspiration to JRR Tolkin for the Doors of Durin in the Lord of the Rings epic. There was only one place she was heading! It was a very impressive door with two ancient yew trees on each side.

It was an awesome day aided to greatly by Irish Dave's level of engagement and knowledge. The trip back to London took 2 hours, we picked up some heat and eat meals from Marks and Spencer at Paddington before heading home well satisfied with our day's excursion.