We woke up, had breakfast, and checked out of our lovely Derby hotel and headed south to the Cotswolds! I knew it could be a bit more tourist-heavy, as it was a weekend, but I have wanted for some time to just drive through the tiny villages and countryside that the area affords.
We stopped first in the market town of Moreton-in-Marsh. I can’t even remember why, but we did. We grabbed some snacks from the Tesco Express (as well as a flat of water bottles, so we would have plenty for the remainder of our trip), and started down the road to another market town, Stow-on-the-Wold. In prepping for the trip, I had come across a suggested drive along what is known as the Romantic Road. The route started and ended in the village of Broadway (which wasn’t far from where we’d stay that evening) and covered a fair bit of countryside using smaller roads to do it. This is exactly what I was looking for! So, I fudged with the route a bit, so that we would drive just over half of it, visiting a fair few villages in a semi-circle that would land us in Blockley for the night.
Stow-on-the-Wold is where we got our first decent bit of walking in. We headed up to the market square to the old library, which also houses the tourist information center. We bought a good map of the Cotswolds so I could navigate us on smaller roads, getting us away from using the GPS for the day. We also passed by The Porch House, which claims to be England’s oldest inn!
Our drive through smaller villages on tiny lanes began in the twin villages of Lower and Upper Slaughter. There were spots were the road would not have fit two cars on it (which was part of the fun!) and we were driving right by the river. The best part? No crowds of people. The market towns had already begun to attract lots, but not in these villages. It was heavenly!
We moved back onto a slightly larger road, only to turn on another tiny lane into the village of Naunton. It was here that we stopped for lunch at The Black Horse Inn and sat out on the patio. It was the first real sunny day we’d had since Ireland and the perfect weather for dining al fresco.
We continued through the village and along a few more ‘B’ roads until we arrived in the village of Hailes, home to the ruins of Hailes Abbey. Operated jointly by English Heritage and the National Trust, the ruins are set up as an open air museum, with an audioguide describing life as it was in the monastery before Henry VIII and the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Much of the stonework is still present, and the all that remains of the abbey church are the foundation stones, almost setting an outline of the building in the ground. It was a beautiful site to visit.
Our little lanes took us near Stanway House (though not early enough to stop in for a visit) and the village of Stanton before landing us in Broadway and the nearby Broadway Tower. I really think we might have explored Broadway a bit more had it not been busier than the other villages, but it made for a lovely pass through. I was getting weary, so we didn’t go climb the tower, but we stopped long enough to get a photo!
We continued on away from the Romantic Road drive through the village of Chipping Campden before settling in Blockley for the night. Now, when we were booking rooms, all I knew was that I wanted one night in a sleepy Cotswold village. We found a good price at The Crown Hotel in Blockley and pounced. It wasn’t until after we booked that I found out more about the village. In the past couple of years, I had become a fan of the Father Brown series of mysteries on PBS and I discovered that much of the show is filmed in Blockley. The village itself is essentially Father Brown’s village of Kembleford. The local church of St. Peter and St. Paul is Father Brown’s St. Mary’s. And we were staying right down the lane from the church!
We got checked in to our hotel, which was backed up on to a hill and had a driveway running through it. So, while many of the rooms were above the reception area, ours was across the driveway, kind of like a little motor court hotel. It was a nice little space! We walked down to the local shop and walked back through the church yard. We then ended our day with a meal and a drink in the pub and turned in a bit early. The next day would see us driving to Wales and we were getting an early start!
I hope you enjoy the beauty we tried to capture in the photos from this day.
La Voce Vivace 