The Pretty Cotswolds Villiages Ⅰ

Why Cotswolds?

The Movie —‘The Lord of the Rings’ describes the small and rich Hobbit live in the Shire (Middle-Earth), a beautiful village in the nature. This makes me image that maybe I can find ‘the Shire’ in the UK since there are many beautiful countryside villages, and the Cotswolds could be the one. 

Source: http://blog.coldwellbanker.com/homes-for-the-hobbit-the-shire/

On 12 January, I came to visit the Cotswolds in the chilly winter (snowing) in the hope of enjoying this off-peak tourist season and take some pretty photos.

Gloves, boots and the coat hood cannot defeat the freeze of the falling snows with the strong wind toward me, and finally I find my B&B by google map. This is just to prove that not every moment on the journey is romantic, and this is my Day1.

The Cotswolds is located at ‘the heart of England’, and is dubbed as ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)’ with the honey-coloured Cotswold stone houses and picturesque rural landscape.As I hopped off the train at Moreton-in-Marsh, I already in the stone-built villages and historical towns, and I explored some in the following days by the limited local bus service:

in front of the Moreton-in-Marsh rail station (a raining day)

Day2: from Bourton-on-the-Water to Bibury

After the rich English Breakfast,

I took bus 855 to Bibury, passing by Northleach. Bibury is praised as ‘the most beautiful village in England’ by the English poet and novelist William Morris.

The honey-coloured houses are made of stones, which locally produced.Same colour and style of the stone house keep in harmony with nature. 

The famous ‘Alington Row’is next to the Coin River.

 

Stow on-the-Wold (收藏在丘陵上)

Huffkins—a famous craft bakery, established in 1890 in the Cotswolds, is renowned for the hand-made ‘Lardy Cake’. (very Sweet!!)

 

Another attraction is local antiques stores.

According to one of the store owners, ‘the price is decided by the demand'.

'the most best-selling is silver-plate cutlery, and are mainly bought by the family for self-use.'

By the way, the bus stop of 801 (return to Bourton-on-the-Water) is just next to the tourism centre and the library so it is good to get some information before visiting this town.