Appreciating the Cotswolds

The Cotswolds is an area in Southern England covering six counties that comprise of "rolling hills and grassland" and "thatched medieval villages, churches and stately homes built of distinctive yellow limestone."   It's inordinately beautiful, and on my trip to England last month, I visited the area for the first time.  (Well I've been to a couple towns that are part of the Cotswolds - Stratford Upon Avon and Oxford - before, but this time I really took in what makes that part of England unique.  Thanks to the driving of a dear friend since it's not easy to get around in that area by public transport.)

The villages I visited included Bourton-on-the-Water, Upper and Lower Slaughter, Blockley and Broadway.

Bourton-on-the-Water is one of the more famous of the Cotswolds villages and features a lovely river running through it, as well as the model village which is pictured above and below.  It's pretty delightful to walk through the actual village, and then through the scale model version which is so detailed, that I could tell exactly where I just was that day.   I'm not going to say I loved the model version more than the actual village, but there was not a whole lot of difference in my affection. :D

Just so much delight!

Ugh, so cute and so detailed!!

The trip to the smaller, quieter villages of Upper and Lower Slaughter was welcome because it was interesting to see how people in these villages might live.  Bourton-on-the-Water is definitely a tourist spot, and it definitely deserved to be.  But even the quieter villages are so beautiful that it was hard to imagine just regular people living there actually.  It just felt so preserved and special.  

And I came across this beautiful, perfectly picturesque little house that I most definitely wanted to adopt as my summer home!

This seriously looks like the set of a movie.  Look at that perfectly stacked firewood!!

There's just vistas like this all over the place

The church in Blockley

Last year, I posted about a new favorite show of mine - Father Brown - and as part of the Cotswolds trip, my friend and I went to the main village used in the filming of that TV show - Blockley.  The church above, of course features heavily in the show, and if you are interested in seeing more of the beauty of the Cotswolds, then that show highlights it perfectly.  It was a major reason why I wanted to include a trip to the area when I was in England.  I was kinda hoping I would catch some filming for the show too, but alas, it was not to be.  I can't really complain though because my luck with the weather was amazing!

I've made the trip to England a few times now (namely five times now) and it took me this long to fully appreciate what is probably the most beautiful part of the country.  I visited all these villages in one day, and that day was a major highlight of my trip.  If you have not been and ever go to England, make sure to find time to visit these beautifully preserved villages!