The Cotswolds

Even though we had been in Cambridgeshire for months in 1985, we hadn’t really seen a lot of the rest of England. In fact, we just managed a few trips “in the neighborhood,” trips to London, and only one or two other day trips: Canterbury and Stonehenge. Our “Cotswolds Day” was a lot of fun, with a beautiful introduction to English villages and small towns.

We drove around to and through several places, each one of them notable for the honey-colored stone that we saw on all the buildings that looked like they predated WWII. Really nice countryside, lots of fields of grass (meadows?), narrow lanes, and all sorts of quietly beautiful views left and right.

Two places stood out, possibly because we spent more time there: Chipping Campden and Bourton-on-the-Water. If you’re in the area, don’t miss them. I would go back to Bourton-on-the-Water any time I wanted to visit a peaceful place, if only I lived a little closer.