Cotswold—What’s a Cotswold?

  

A Cotswold trail marker

Always on the lookout for this

When planning the UK portion of our trip, daughter Shanti suggested that we visit the Cotswolds.  My first thought was “Who are they—some distant relative of Clark Griswold from National Lampoon’s European Vacation?” No, not quite.  

The Costswolds are a 79-mile long, 800 square mile British designated ‘Area of Outstanding Natural  Beauty’ (AONB) about two hours west of London.  Most of it is farmland. It also has over 4,000 miles of impressive stone walls and lots of sheep and sheep dung.  The word comes from ‘cots’ referring to sheep enclosures and ‘wold’ meaning gentile (limestone) hills.

One of countless "kissing gates" we navigated

Our first inn/pub  (on the right)

View from our lunch pub

We hiked about 10-14 miles for three days among them, eating at pubs along the way and spending the night at country inns, some of which were over 400 years old.  The area has a system of trails, which are basically right-of-ways along through and along the edges of fields, barnyards, and forests. Along the way we passed 800-year old villages, churches, and cemeteries.  We managed to dodge the rain showers, but not the ever-present sheep dung in the pastures.  Our bags magically showed up at the next B&B, often a 300-year old building.

Broadway Tower

Through many pastures with a view

old churchyard

Our experience can best be described as a delightful romp through the English countryside in the mornings, a leisurely lunch at a pub, and a long slog through nettles and sheep dung in the afternoons.  All along the way, the scenery was beautiful.  Evenings were spent enjoying good food (yes, the British can do more than fish and chips) and conversation over extended meals.

Typical Cotswold View

We met some interesting people, some cows, and lots of sheep.  What made this trip so unique is that we could walk from field to field, through farms, through pastures, forests, farmyards, and narrow alleyways between homes.  The landowners are all part of the cooperative system of rights of way through their land.  Volunteers maintain the 'kissing gates.' Unlike the States, the trail users treat the private property with respect and don't litter or harass the livestock .

Today, our third morning, we met one of the original founders of the Peace Corps, hiking most of the same route.  Unlike us, Paul and wife Mary were in their late 70’s, which we found inspiring.   We enjoyed learning about his early days in Pakistan when Sargent Shriver and Bill Moyers were setting up the Pakistan country desk. 

A fragrant lavender field

Mogul palace of some rich dude 

Along the way we had a couple of delightful surprises.  One was an immense and fragrant lavender farm.  Another was a mansion in the form of a 17th Century Indian Mogul palace.  

This time, a view when it was not cloudy

Old stone fence

newer stone fence

All in all, a very unique vacation.  What we enjoyed the most was the extended conversations with daughter Shanti and her boyfriend Alan (who is Australian, but works in London).  As the Greek crisis unfolds and the British budget was unveiled, we learned a lot about the economy, culture, and lifestyles of living in the UK. 

We have a couple more days in London, then head home on Sunday.  It’s a nice place to live, but we’ll be glad to return to our small world in Salem, OR on Sunday.