Just a little history lesson to start – during WWII the
British Government lost imports of wheat/wool and other essentials during the
war; as a result they approved development of the national parks. Consequently the Cotswold National Park (and
all others) was approved for primary production. Following
the war the British had become addicted to food so the primary production was
continued in these parks. The Cotswolds
are now 83% under cultivation/pasture.
This is not a real problem, the Cotswolds is a beautiful
drive, and we did a bit of a ‘Cooks Tour’ of the Cotswolds National Park
today. Including the 5 kilometre walk from Lower Slaughter to Upper Slaughter and back along a public right of way through sheep/cattle country. We went from Burford, Northleach,
Stow-on-Wild, Moreton-in-Marsh, Bourton-on-the-Water, Bourton-on-the-Hill,
Chippingdale-Campden, Broadway, Winchcombe then home. I know it sounds complicated and it was. Due to our psychotic satnav we did some interesting
driving, but all’s well that ends well and we had a very pleasant drive/walk around
the National Park.
Back in our home territory at about 7pm for tea at the Horse
and Groom Public House, maybe a beer or two, maybe a glass of red (or two) and
all is well with the world.
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| Views of Burford |
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| The market place |
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| Lower Slaughter, time for coffee? |
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| Can we get coffee at a Tea Room? |
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| Sure can!! |
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| Mill House |
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| Wild flowers |
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| Through the sheep paddocks, lots of mud and very wet, sloppy sheep shit right through the paddocks |
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| Over the bridge. (looks like some of the roads we've driven on lately!!!) |
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| Every wall, fence, house and shed in the Cotswolds! |
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| Looking back at the Millhouse |
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| Jane Austin territory |
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| The Manor House in Slaughter |
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| Chilling Campden thatched cottages |
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| Market place in Winchcombe |
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| Ceiling detail of the Market Square |
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| House names Chipping Campden |
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| Broadway Tower |
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| Views from Broadway Tower, apparently we can see 16 counties from this tower |
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| Among the sheep |
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| Cotswolds from an unnamed road through the Cotswold |
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| Winchcombe houses |
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| Ye Olde Police Station |
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| Lots of roads in the Cotswolds, plenty of room finally!!! |
Do they know that market places usually have markets in them? Also how weird - paddocks full of sheep being full of sheep shit - sounds an amazing unusual place. :) They certainly have some weird names for their towns - Slaughter, Chilling Camden - says something about the people who name them!
ReplyDeleteMarkets places in the town were used a thousand years ago and are now just places if interest. I've seen sheep paddocks before....the sheep here have some serious bowel issues producing an enormous amount of waste!!! Some of the more weird UK names - Holcombe and Vernon, can't get much weirder than that!!! Love Pam and Vernon
ReplyDeletedon't you just love all these lovely old English country towns, just so different to ours.
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