Village life

Saturday 11 July - After a leisurely breakfast Ian and I headed north toward Cheltenham and the "Romantic Road", a route I discovered in a Cotswold's travel guide, which promised to reveal some "delightful but lesser-known areas of the Cotswolds". After passing through Cheltenham we drove along some very small roads through some very quaint villages. The area is known for its stone built cottage and many had lovely gardens. We stopped off at Chedworth and saw the site of the ancient Roman villa. From there we passed through some more small villages and made an interesting, if unscheduled stop at the Cotswold Ice Cream Company farm where we had a taste of their wonderful ice cream before getting back on the road. Then it was on to Burford. A lovely and relatively large Cotswold village. We ate our picnic lunch along a duck infested river,near the public car park. Then visited the house across the river which had an open garden. The Cotswold food and wine festival was taking place this weekend in Burford so we had some lovely samples of cheese, apple juice and beer. We walked up the main street, perusing the shops, bought some Lardy cakes for Sunday's breakfast, and visited the small but surprisingly well stocked Burford Museum. Back in the car we made our way to the charming village of Fairford. This sleepy hamlet was one of the highlights of the trip. The reason for stopping was to see the only complete set of Medieval stained glass in the country. The church was lovely and the stained glass very impressive with a lot of character. On one side of the church the upper set of stained glasses features angels and saints, on the other devils and church persecutors. In one set on stained glass one can spot a pair of sandaled feet as they ascend to heaven. A local parishioner very kindly, pointed out these interesting features and told us about the church, the glass and its cleaning/restoration, as well as showing us the altar (which had been moved and covered to accommodate a wedding) whose legs were specially designed to mimic the arches depicted in the stain glass and which boasted a lily pattern created from inlaid wood. From the Church we walked to the mill and oxen pen. Where we crossed a small river where we could see large fish swimming and a family of swans and their cygnets. From Fairford we made our way to the much acclaimed Bibury, called by William Morris "the most beautiful village in England". It is known for its stream, full of trout and its row of picturesque weavers' cottages. We strolled around Bibury, picking up some trout for dinner from the local trout farm and enjoying the cottages and their gardens, the church and the Bibury Hotel gardens. We got back in the car and on the road just before the rain hit. And despite a wet drive made it home for a lovely trout dinner.