The Cotswolds

On Wednesday I drove myself around the Cotswolds, visiting the villages of Stow-on-the-Wold (don't you just love that name?) and Chipping Camden. I think that this was my favorite day of this trip,tooling around pretty country roads in my little Vauxhall compact. The towns were so picturesque and the scenery breathtaking, especially when the sun came out.

Stow-on-the-Wold center square, the steepled building in back is the town hall and library.

 

They still have these darling red phone booths!

This is a victorian fountain. I know that because it says so on the plaque.

I saw this picture on the net while researching for my trip, and I was determined to find it and have my picture taken in front of it. This is St. Edwards church in Stow. It is supposed to be pretty interesting inside but was closed for a funeral.

Viola! Bad picture, bad lighting but at least I got it.

More St. Edwards.

 

After taking shots of the church, it looked like it was about to pour rain and so I ducked into an antique shop across the street. There I found a couple of treasures to bring home with me. An Edwardian tablecover with hand crocheted lace 7” deep (be still my beating heart!) and a little piece of hand carved wood work that appears to be a fragment from some larger decoration.

Close up of lace work.

The quarter is for size comparison. The wood appears to be quite old and is very dusty and dirty right now, I plan on cleaning it up a bit. Gently, of course. Then I will probably hang it on the wall.






 

Picture from Huffkins web page.

I then walked around a bit (it never did rain), looking into shops and walking down some picturesque alleyways. A lot of the shops were second-hand charity stores, up-scale silver and crystal shops were closed because there were gypsies in the area, the town hall was closed, too. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more to look at, but I was warned by Lady Mander that it was very touristy. I decided it was time for a little something to eat before going on to more sight-seeing and went into this tea-room.

I ordered hot chocolate and scones. The scones came out on this wonderful little rack with jam and clotted cream. The hot chocolate was about the best I've ever tasted, and clotted cream is to die for. It's like butter and whipped cream put together. English scones are what we call biscuits, but with things like fruit put into them. In England, cookies are called biscuits. After my meal, I went around to the tourist info booth and asked how to find some thatched cottages. I was kindly directed to drive north to Chipping Camden, where there are a few cottages that are the most photographed. I did that, but couldn't get any pictures. The buildings that I found were all at busy crossroads with no place to park. So I drove around and found myself at another fine old church, which, again, was closed. This time it was for a pianist to rehearse for a concert that evening. I could hear him playing and it sounded really nice, but darn it, I wanted to get in!  I took some pictures outside that are pretty nice, the sun had come out again.

The outer gate of St. James in Chipping Camden.  This was a pretty big and imposing church with many old, old grave markers in the yard, some dating back to the early 1600's.

The grass is really this green, and don't you love the variations in the colors of the stone?

Read this inscription, the wife is called a relict. I saw this terminology on several other grave markers of this time period.

A really cool side door on the church.

Last picture for this blog post. (I'm tired) this is the view from the St. James church yard, the turreted building is what's left of an ancient estate that its owner burned in the civil war (which one-I don't know) so that it would not fall into enemy hands.