Cotswolds Visit

Our last day of traveling around the London area was spent with our wonderful guide Ian Grover. Jim, Bill and I met Ian and climbed aboard the fancy Range Rover. The car cost 135,000 pounds and even had an entertainment center behind both of the back seats. Fancy and very comfortable.

We headed out of town toward the Cotswolds. “Cots” means sheep enclosure and “Wold” means hill with a flat plateau top.  We saw lots and lots of sheep. The drive was lovely.

First stop was Bampton in Oxfordshire. It is the home of the fictitious Downton of Downton Abbey fame. We saw the Church

where all the scenes featuring weddings and special church times were shot. We saw the house that was the home of Lady Crawley. In front of that house was a small patch of grass and this tiny spot was used several times as a Fair Scene and also the spot in another episode where a WWI Memorial was erected.

We made a stop  at Burford for Bill to get coffee. Cute little town with lots of tourists.

Next stop was the VERY popular Bourton-on-the-Water. At the 2011 census the village had a population of 3295. The town is on the Windrush River. The river is about 6” deep so lots of people were wading in the water. Dogs were frolicking in the water. Quite a site. Some people call this the Venice of the Cotswolds.

We drove by a sign that indicated  a warning for a Hedgehog Crossing.

The Cotswold walls and buildings are made from Sandstone that has weathered to be a dark yellow.

The walls are made from pieces of sandstone and stacked without use of any mortar.

We visited Lower Slaughter and then the town of Upper Slaughter. The word “slaughter” means “place.” Lower Slaughter sits beside the little Eye stream. A road there has been voted the most romantic street in Britain. There is The Old Mill which is recorded in The Doomsday Book of 1086. In the 14^th Century it had begun to be known as Slaughter Mill.

We saw the private manor home of the Lord of Upper Slaughter. 

We drove through more spectacular countryside to the Swan Inn Swinbrook. Previously owned by the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire this quaint English inn was chosen as the overnight resting place for the episode when Lady Sybil eloped with the chauffeur, Branson in Series 2 of Downton Abbey. 

Our wonderful guide Ian

It was a wonderful, enjoyable day. With many more to come!