My husband and I were recently invited by some English friends to spend the weekend at their ‘barn’ in the Cotswolds. Before you get the wrong idea, the only livestock on the property was a wild pheasant confidently sauntering across the lawn, displaying a knowing sense of that there wasn’t a chance he would wind up on our dinner table! We left London on Friday in the early evening, and despite a slight bottleneck prior to reaching the M25, the journey was a relatively easy 2 ½ hours. We drove directly to The Old Butchers in Stow-on-the-Wold, where we met our friends and had a fabulous dinner.If you haven’t visited the Cotswold’s yet, I highly recommend a visit. Declared an ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ in 1966, the region has an abundance of rolling green hills and fields filled with sheep and horses. It is a vast area, encompassing several counties, predominantly Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, but also Wiltshire, Somerset, Worcestershire and Warwickshire.
We arrived just as the lambing season was starting and so saw plenty of ewes with their newborns shakily getting on their feet, and immediately jumping around. This is also racehorse territory, with the famous Cheltenham racecourse in the area.
There are many small picturesque towns and villages, noted for their Cotswold Stone, a yellow limestone, including Bourton-on-the-Water, Chipping Norton, and Upper and Lower Slaughter. When I first heard the names of Upper and Lower Slaughter, it evoked images of two small towns full of slaughter houses and abattoirs.
Our hosts quickly put my mind at ease by informing us that the towns with Upper and Lower in their names are so called because of their location on a river or stream. Therefore, Upper Slaughter is a sleepy village upriver from Lower Slaughter on the gentle stream that runs through them both.
Many the villages were originally establish as market towns, and the Cotswolds were prosperous as they had a thriving trade in wool. Make a stop in Stow-on-the-Wold and you will see a beautiful town which is still thriving today, with plenty of shops, boutiques and coffee shops. There are so many towns to visit, and other places of interest including Blenheim Palace and the original Daylesford Farm (there are London ‘branches’ in Westbourne Grove and Pimlico Road).
A walk in the English countryside is an absolute joy, and if you haven’t already done so, grab a pair of wellies and a raincoat and get going. Our hosts took us to the neighbouring village and then led us on a walk through various fields (encountering horses, cows and more pheasants) and gardens. The routes are indicated with ‘Public Footpath’ plaques so that you don’t lose your way, or accidentally wander onto private property, and there are plenty of guidebooks about walking in this beautiful country. You should plan to walk from one village to another, with a mandatory stop at a local pub for refuelling on the way!
We left early on Sunday afternoon, after a long walk and a pub lunch at The Horse & Groom in Upper Oddington. We slowly meandered along the country roads to take in more of the beautiful scenery before joining the motorway to head back to London. While were only away for 48 hours, but it was so relaxing it seemed like much longer!
Written by Eva Stock. Eva is Director of Sponsors Relations at FOCUS.
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Should you wish to share your expat experiences in the UK, please contact us: office@focus-info.org
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