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JUNE 17
A travel day. We were on
the train by 5:15 am after a brisk 15 minute walk from our room. The
direct trip would get us into Paris by 10:45 where we could catch
the 11:15 Eurostar going through the Chunnel to London's Waterloo
Station. The plan was foiled when they told us the train was full
but reservations were available for the 1:30pm. |
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Picking up an hour
because of a different time zone, we arrived in Waterloo Station
around 3:45. After taking "the tube" to Paddington Station
we boarded another train that would take us to Morton-in-Marsh in
the Cotswolds of England. Toting our luggage (as little as it is),
we went door to door looking for a room. There was a wedding in town
that was taking up a good many of the rooms and with the good
weather tourist activity had increased and no place could be found.
The Redesdale Arms had a suite not yet taken for only this one night
and Robert, the hotel's director, said we could have it for the
regular double rate. His manner was kind and welcoming and we were
grateful to have a place to rest our heads .... We had been up and
on the go since 3:10 am and we got into our room after 8:00pm just
in time to wash up and go out for dinner before the kitchen closed
at 9:00. We are not in France any more where 8pm is just the
beginning of their dinner trade. |
| It is a shame
that we were too late and too tired to enjoy the lovely suite and
what, up to now, has been the most comfortable bed in Europe. |
| JUNE 18
We checked out of our room.
Robert was kind enough to keep our luggage in the hotel office while
we scurried across the street and down a bit to the Tourist Office.
Accommodations in Moreton-in-Marsh were impossible for the next two
nights. We went through the book of accommodation places checking
off the ones that were suitable to us (keeping in mind that we are
relying on public transportation). Finally after a good half hour
(in which we questioned our sensibilities of coming to the Cotswolds)
we were able to secure a room in Bourton-on-the-Water at a little
place called "Mousetrap Inn". |
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| The bus for
Bourton-on-the-Water was to leave Moreton-in-Marsh in twenty minutes
so back to the Redesdale we went and found Robert's dog, Maggie,
handling the reception desk. |
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The little bus
zipped along the winding narrow country roads, passed numerous
B&Bs (of which some dangled "vacancy" signs) and
deposited us near the centre green of Bourton (you know the rest of
the name). Consulting a map we began our walk to The Mousetrap Inn
and in the process passed more B&Bs. Deciding to educate
ourselves, we dropped into two of them and inquired as to
availability and price. We continued on and checked into The
Mousetrap Inn ... but with a new appreciation that it would not be
necessary to panic again. |
| The tourist
office only lists those that are prepared to pay them a 10%
referral fee. Smaller establishments with less profit margin are
not on their list and welcome people like us who drop by without a
referral or reservation. |
| We had
spent enough time worrying and looking for a place to stay and
we were anxious to get out and explore. |
| Rather
than heading back into town along the busy High Road we
came on, we went a bit further down the road to where a
pedestrian pathway put us on one of the local walks that
would circle back to the town centre. |
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| The Cotswolds
play host to more than 3,000 miles of public pathways and walking is
certainly one of the best ways to appreciate its distinctive
character. |
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For dinner we went
to the pub that is part of the Mousetrap Inn. It's been said that
the English treat pubs more like communal livingrooms than places to
drink, and indeed that seems to be the case. We tasted pints of the
local favorite brews and shared a plate of fish, chips and peas. To
our delight the meal was fresh and not greasy. The batter on the
fish was thin and crisp and the peas not overly cooked.
After the meal we lingered
... Terry with an ale and a newspaper ... the first good read since
leaving home (he has only been able to get tidbits while reading the
headlines over the shoulders of people on trains) ... and Sherrie
had a Canada Dry poured from a tiny little bottle while reading the
Bourton Browser. |
| This charming
twelve
page monthly newsletter covered subjects like Council notes,
upcoming community events, reports by the Wildlife Trust, the
churches, the Horticultural Society, Women's Institute and Cotswold
School News among other items. It seemed to be a reflection of the
town we had walked through earlier ... one that is real beyond its
tourist image yet still retaining the charm, dignity and caring we
witnessed in the tidy upkeep of their properties, the nurturing of
their gardens, the smiles and words of greetings they expressed as
we dealt with them in shops or passed them on the streets. The
Bourton Browser's want ads included "For Sale Bissel Carpet
Shampoo - used once, complete with shampoo, good reason for
sale". Ads on page 4 are put in "on a first-come
first-served basis so if your ad has not been printed it will be in
the July issue. If you should sell your item before this please
let Jane know".
One article we found
delightful to read was:
"Bourton Panto News --
Our summer show 'Me & My Girl' has now been cast. It comes as a
bit of a shock to some that they are having to learn to tap dance. |
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| A little about
the show. Bill Snibson, a Lambeth coster monger, is revealed to be
the new Earl of Hareford, and his newly discovered aristocratic
relations are horrified. Bringing him to Hareford Hall, they attempt
to educate Bill into the ways of the gentry, and to separate him
from his cockney girlfriend, Sally. The result? Chaos of the most
comical kind! Lots of well known tunes that will send you home
humming. |
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Our mini fete was
a bit of a washout. There were very few people about on a cold and
wet Bank Holiday. Lets hope we fare better on Sunday 22nd August for
our main fete.
A new three tier seating
platform paid for by the Panto Group, will be in place for the show.
The Victoria hall committee have brought new chairs for upstairs,
for which we have made a donation of a thousand pounds. We will soon
be as good as any concert hall! Hope you will all come and try out
these seats -- we will be interested in your comments."
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If we were going to be in Bourton-on-the-Water
on August 22 we would indeed be filling two of those seats ... and
enjoying every tap of their shoes.
| Before saying
goodnight to Jimmy, the cook, and master of all pub trades, we asked
what a "coster monger" was. "A monger is a person
that sells things ... and a coster. Well a coster is." There
was some discussion around the table as to how to translate the
word. The consensus was a coster is a vendor who sells fish, fruit
or vegetables from a street cart or stall.
JUNE 19
Jimmy was up bright and early
cooking breakfast for the guests. We were told that he makes
breakfast for the guests and then cooks lunches for the public as
well as dinners and pub grub for evening guests ... and does so seven
days a week. Jimmy told us he's been with The Mouse Trap six years. |
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| We walked into the
village. Bourton-on-the-Water is mentioned as the most popular
village in the Cotswolds and often referred to as the Venice of the
Cotswolds. They don't seem to tire in Europe of nicknaming any place
with a street crossed by a couple of arched bridges
"the-Venice-of-wherever". We do agree, however, with it
being the most popular because of its beauty.
The River Windrush runs right
through the centre. The combination of its clear sparkling water
being crossed by attractive low bridges are picturesque fodder for
both camera and paint brush. We appreciated the charming scenes of
children feeding ducks and parents tending babies in buggies and
older children running after balls while elderly couples sat on
benches holding hands. |
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| These
peacefully tender vignettes are most likely crowded out come
July and August when hordes of tourists come to see what we
witnessed today. |
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| After picking up
a written route guide at the Information Centre for thirty pence off
we went on our Bourton-on-the-Water to Upper Slaughter and Lower
Slaughter walk.
We followed the directions of
the walk guide: |
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| Go left through a thin line of trees and
bushes.
This is the track bed of a disused railway." We stopped to admire
some wild roses. |
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| "Cross the busy main road
with care, and go over the stile directly ahead to enter a field with the
river on the left." ... other directions .... then .... "Go
through a wooden gate. |
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| Later "After a short distance follow the sign 'Gloucestershire
Way / Bridle Way' to walk uphill through trees. After leaving trees
behind, continue to walk ahead up the track, keeping the wall on the
right. |
| Ignore the path that goes right."
A pheasant on his own
walk was on the trail up ahead then made a left turn into the tall green
crop. We checked to make sure we had closed the metal gate securely behind
us. |
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| For a
little while we walked up one of the many roadways that link
the Cotswold's stone villages, passed the entrance to a grand
manor house hidden behind privacy hedges and then passed the
entrance to the manor house's many outbuildings that looked as
though they could be a small village in themselves. "Where the road makes a sharp turn to the
right and a sign post, 'Lower Harford' points along narrow lane on the
left, turn right along a track to pass behind a house." It felt
as though we were indeed going down someone's driveway. A car
stopped and the gentleman asked us if he could be of help. He
knew right away why we were pausing and assured us that
going down the driveway was the correct direction. |
| Behind the
house a black stallion was watching a young lady, her horse
and instructor working on the first stages of horse jumping, but
took a break to check Terry out more closely. |
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| "Take the
second gate from the left and walk downhill to the road." The
oats were lush and tall and green making a striking contrast to the golden
hue of the local limestone.
"Walk straight ahead to enter Upper
Slaughter." The church tower was seen through the trees.
"Take the next turn through a small village square." |
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| "Walk ahead and
go through a gate to enter a field. Continue to walk ahead until
confronted by four gates." Between the first gate and the four
gates, we were side tracked by a mare and her foal. |
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| A
mailbox was embedded into a stone wall and front doors were festooned in
vines and roses. "Go down the steep hill to the river and cross by
the stone bridge." There is a bridge for pedestrians but cars
drive down into the water and up the other side. |
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"Turn right to
pass the houses on the left." Some of their gates seemed to say,
"Come in and admire my English garden." We continued to follow
the written directions. Other than the one drive-way-hesitation we felt
comfortable we were on the right track. |
| "Cross a narrow stone
bridge and bear to the right." A pretty pause for pictures.
"Walk across three fields, then the riverbank, which will bring
you to Lower Slaughter." We did just that and entered Lower
Slaughter through a kissing gate. A couple were out walking their
grandson. In a half-hour one of their daughters was getting married
(not the mother of the child they hastened to add). Their daughter had
wanted to be married in a small English village and had selected
Lower Slaughter. We asked them if they might recommend a pub or cafe
where we should stop. He pointed to one close by, and told us of
another, "... but," he said, "if you want to push the
boat out, there is another place that is very good." "Push
the boat out?" we asked. "Yes, but it is very nice,"
he answered. "Do you mean by push the boat out that it is some
walking distance from here?" He smiled a patient parental smile
at these foreigners who had difficulty with understanding English.
"No," he said in a soft kindly tone, "it means that
it is a little more expensive than the others." and added,
"but very nice." "Oh," we said nodding with new
understanding, "... however, we do like to go to places that
the locals frequent." "Well, then that would be
here," he motioned to the one close by. |
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Following written directions (we were
getting very good at that) we checked to be sure our shoes were clean and
then browsed through the shop and purchased an ice cream from jazz
musician, Patrick. "Follow the river through the village."
We watched ducks and trout and peeked over the fence to watch the wedding
celebration. We weren't the only ones. A Manchester couple were also
looking through the bushes to catch a glimpse of the bride and groom in
the beautiful garden setting. |
| More ducks were preening themselves on the
side of the river. Were they going to the wedding or 'pushing the boat
out' at the stylish hotel restaurant which had diverted some of the river
for the exclusive enjoyment of their guests.
The directions took us out of Lower
Slaughter back through more fields and paths until we were once again in
Bourton-on-the-Water.
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| On the way back we admired the devotion so many
English have for their gardens and the passion and talent they have for
growing roses. |
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JUNE 20
We left The "famous"
Mousetrap but not before we asked, "Why the 'famous'?"
Apparently mystery writer Agatha Christie had once stayed here. Keith, the
present owner, showed us a wall of memorabilia on her play "The
Mousetrap" which has now been running in London for 50 years. Perhaps
we will get a chance to see it ourselves while we are in London.
The bus took us to Stow-on-the-Wold
where we went door to door looking through a plentiful supply of bed and
breakfasts then settled on Tall Trees. It is a big home on some acreage
just at the edge of town. |
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| Our room was one of two in the separate cottage.
We got settled in and then went out to explore the village. |
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| Stow-on-the-Wold
(eleven
century title meaning "holy place on the bare hill") is a
hill-top town (230 metres above sea level) ... the highest town in the
Cotswolds and a famous centre for antiques. |
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| Stow has a long history,
probably dating back to a prehistoric fortified settlement on top of
the hill. The Roman Fosse Way from Cirencester to Leicester passes through
it. |
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| The stocks (which Sherrie tried on
for size ... just in case), are on the only green space on this huge
square ... the rest, once a busy market centre, is now an extensive parking
lot and turnabout for buses plus the main road through town. |
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JUNE 21
It was a "Swell" day.
The weather looked unsettled when
we walked from our cottage room to the main house for breakfast. Over
breakfast we visited another couple, this time Dutch, who had been to
the west coast of Canada and exclaimed it's beauty.
A few drops of rain fell as we
entered the tourist office followed by a sunny break. When questioned about the
weather, the tourist information clerk just said "more of the
same". We decided to take our chances in the outdoors and purchased a
map for one of the area walks.
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The walk started in Stow-on-the -Wold's
square. Since Stow-on-the-Wold developed at a crossroad it became a
communications hub and a market centre. Its square, lined with inns and
hotels, has seen 20,000 sheep sold in one day trading as far away as
Wales.
The square's 15th century Market
Cross was placed there to inspire honesty between buyers and sellers.
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The Royalist Hotel (circa 947 AD)
is the oldest hotel in England. Besides boasting its age, and 1000 year
old timbers, it is purported to have hosted King Charles I in 1645.
Quite near our B&B we walked
down a tree lined laneway and out of Stow-on-the-Wold. |
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| Some black cattle
seemed to have picked their dry spots and settled down to wait out the
rain but just as we passed the sun began to shine, the birds chirped and a
cool breeze kept us comfortable. |
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The next animals we encountered,
besides the rabbit that darted across our path, were alpacas. Their coats
had been harvested. Their necks seemed so much longer as did their legs
which had lower legging puffs like a poodle. |
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| The road came to
stone gate posts
and just outside there was a sign saying "Private Road",
however, the map we purchased from the Tourist Information Office assured
us that it was a right of way and marked as such. |
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| Past the
"private" gates and nearing the River Dikler we passed our first
field of sheep. Beside, and over the river, an old mill has now been
converted to an impressive home. Looking upstream we saw a graceful white
swan swimming in a setting of tranquil greens. |
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Leaving the old
mill behind, we
made a right turn at the chicken coop with the rooster crowing his
objection to our passing. Passing through a couple of paddocks following
the clearly seen trampled trail, we made sure all gates were securely
closed behind us.
More fields and more pastoral
scenes brought us to Lower Swell. |
| On the edge of a field it seemed as
though one of the Royal telephone booths was attempting to hop the fence
and run away from town. |
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Further along we popped into a pub. It had been
recommended to us by a gentleman from Lower Slaughter. As we settled back
with our tasty half pints of brew, made only a mile and a half down the
road, the cloud thickened up and it started to rain. Of course such an
event detained our departure from this warm and dry establishment; so
we ordered another half pint.
Along with the last drop the sun
peaked out again, so we continued our discovery of Lower Swell.
People have been making the area of
Lower Swell their home for the past five thousand years. Bones of animals
consumed by these prehistoric peoples have been unearthed. |
| Lower Swell's
St Mary's church also stands upon history. This church replaced a Saxon
church, which had been built upon the ruins of a Roman cremation site.
Above the door there is a tympanum displaying 'the tree of life". |
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Inside a Norman chancel arch shows twenty-six carvings accented by
"roping". On the supporting pillars there are more carvings. |
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Behind the church the map guided us
along the public pathway through another field, currently occupied by grazing
sheep, that rolls in many directions ... the result of a medieval
settlement.
Over a stile and onto a paved
driveway, we passed Lady's Well which is believed to have been part of
the medieval settlement. |
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The Bowl Farm, which we were
passing through, dates to the early 19th century (and it is reported that
somewhere on the grounds is a Roman Villa).
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| The farm's original creamery
was built to resemble a dovecote. |
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| Our walk continued
for sometime over the farm's acreage and past its modern dairy
buildings, between fields green with grain crops and through
kissing-gates until we reached a place where a decision had to be
made. We could either continue our walk the way we had hoped or head
back to Stow-on-the-Wold. We looked up into the sky and with tiny
patches of blue sky and a lot of optimism we continue through more
fields and up a road until we reached Upper Swell (we told you up
front that we had a "Swell" day!).
Upper Swell is a hamlet that
clusters around the ancient church of St Mary's (yes, another St. Mary's
in another Swell). The church's door is Norman as are the south and north
windows (different in style). The flagged stone floor, trussed roof and
font are all medieval. Again we tried to imagine the centuries of people
who had come to this place to give thanks for their blessings ... most of
which would be deciphered as hardships in today's world of conveniences. |
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| The dullness of the cloud packed
sky and the increasing wind and the time made us doubt our decision, so we
doubled back to where the decision was made and headed upward to
Stow-on-the-Wold. (Don't you just wish it were that easy to back track on
any decision!) |
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| We entered
Stow-on-the-Wold on the
opposite side from whenst we left just as the rain started to fall. We
nipped into a couple of shops and then sat down, to the most English of
traditions, afternoon tea with scones with clouted cream and jam.
JUNE 22
The morning sky promised a day of
good weather with high wispy clouds like a regatta of jets had passed
above the English Cotswolds.
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| We retraced our steps to the
"decision place" by going down the broad boulevard, climbing
over the stile, crossing through the pasture of ewes with lamb and over
another stile. |
| From there we again traveled through the two fields to St
Mary's church in Upper Swell where we had stopped the forward motion of
our journey yesterday and retreated with the threat of rain.
Onward to the Donnington Brewery
alongside the Dikler River. This brewery has been at this site since
before 1874 and the water for its bitter is drawn from the river. Their
brews are sold in most local pubs ... we like strong and mild beers but
didn't care for the bitter. |
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| The walk took us through a wooded
area, over a stile and into a field with a hill rising on the other side. |
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| On the hill
a cairn supported a plaque to signify the importance of this
hill in England's history. |
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The civil wars of the
mid-seventeenth century were fought for constitutional, religious and
political reasons. King and parliament fought each other for control. By
the spring of 1646 the King's field armies were disbanding but Charles I
clung to hope through the use of foreign forces. If they could fight their
way to Oxford from the west they may have a chance of holding on to power.
On March 21, the King's 3000 man force was confronted by a much smaller
parliamentarian army just north of Stow-on-the-Wold.
Charging up this
hill, the parliament's army was fought hard and had to drop back. |
| The
Parliament's cavalry made a decisive attack on the right flank. The
royalists fled ... the cavalry escaping and the foot soldiers retreating
to the square in Stow-on-the-Wold. The battle in the square was the last
one of the civil war. King Charles surrendered near Newark in May 1646. |
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Further along we walked into
Donnington and stopped to admire the parish pump (restored in 1998) and
thought of the pump that Sherrie's dad had restored from the little
prairie house in which he was born.
Even in Donnington new construction
and renovations are prevalent. We stopped where a man was working with
piles of the local honey-coloured limestone bricks.
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He took time to
explain the addition's construction. Two parallel cement brick walls are
filled with rebar and concrete. Both outside and inside walls are faced
with the stone-shaped brick. The finished thickness is about fifteen
inches; plus they often plaster over the rock-brick on the inside. |
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Their boss has purchased this
1718 home to renovate and resell. In the front yard we found a low
semi-circular staircase leading to a covered well ... the roof being
only high enough to maneuver a bucket. In 1718 this was most likely
a highly valued feature of this, then, newly built home. |
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Down the street gate pillars topped by stone greyhounds mark the entryway to a
manor house.
Broadwell was the next village on
our circle tour and contains the grounds of St. Paul's Church. The building
of this church began about 1150 with major work being done from the 12th
to the 14th centuries.
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| Over one of the exterior doors there is a Norman
tympanum and tucked inside the entryway is a fragment of Saxon stone tile. |
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In the graveyard tombs for members of the Chadwell family are topped by
incised rolls representing corded bales of wool. Dorothy Chadwell's tomb
inscription was fascinating to read. The letter "U" was printed
as a "V" and "A"s are upside down; if a word didn't
fit on the line the left over letters were carved into the next line --
and the spelling is different than today's English. |
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| Creating a sheltered shadow over a
goodly portion of the church grounds is a enormous 1300 year old yew tree.
Christian missionaries preached to pagans under such trees so this one supports the notion that this place was an early Christian
site. |
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The trunk of this ancient tree is huge and split ... so much so that
we were able to stand within it. |
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| Still in Broadwell we stopped at
the Fox Inn and had a brew ... a half pint of Donnington's best from the
brewery we passed this morning.
By the time we left the Fox Inn
clouds had moved in and the wind was moving tree branches. We wondered if
we could be as lucky as yesterday and get back to Stow-on-the-Wold before
it rained. |
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| The map directed us along the road
and through a 650 metre tunnel of trees. |
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Close to
Stow-on-the-Wold we
stopped at the Roman wells which supplied the town's water until 1867. |
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| We finished our two episode walk
back in Stow-on-the-Wold's square where the last of King Charles I foot
soldiers were captured. Around 200 men had died in the Stow-on-the-Wold
battles and 1700 prisoners were held overnight in the square's St Edward's
Church. |
It wasn't quite tea time, but,
being only temporary inhabitants of England, we forgave ourselves and
found a lovely table in the bayed window.
We were back in our room before the
rain began to fall.
JUNE 23
Today turned out to be a travel
day. The plan was to go to Chipping Campden ... an eight mile trip as the
crow flies - but we're not crows.
To take a bus to Chipping
Campden, we
first had to take a bus from Stow-on-the Wold to Morton-in-Marsh. Time in
Morton to have tea and then the bus to Chipping Campden. |
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| We went without
accommodation reservations. It is the shoulder season, the weather is
drizzly and wet, "chipping" means market and it was once an
important centre of the wool trade and we had been told that there are
plenty of hotels and bed and breakfasts. Indeed, all that is true, however,
except for those hotels and B&Bs asking very dear prices, they
were all full. |
| After spending
time in a telephone booth and visiting the Tourist Information Office we
caught a bus back to Morton-in-Marsh and became well acquainted with
another telephone booth. The results of our efforts in Morton looked as
though they might mirror our results in Chipping Campden.
We got down to
our last choice in accommodation. It actually had earned a four diamond
rating ... but some other B&B owners had suggested to us that it would
not be pleasant place to stay. |
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| We made the call and they had a room when
so many others had not. Why? What did the other B&B operators
know? On the phone we booked for one night saying we would consider a
second and hoofed the five minute walk from town. |
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One of four hosts, Alf,
met us at the door and showed us around emphasizing to make ourselves feel
at home, in the lounge, the breakfast room and on the property which also
had accommodation for caravans and tents. He then showed us to our room. A
large corner room with windows on two walls, lots of cupboards and
drawers, a desk, two chairs, a table (with tea, coffee, hot chocolate and
candies), a stool and two arm chairs plus a three piece ensuite bathroom
(and of course ... the bed).
Not too shabby. Alf spent time with us singing the glories of the area
after finding out what it was we wanted out of our stay here. So far it
has exceeded our expectations. |
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