Walking in England - Bibury – Chedworth, Sunday 1998 August 9

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Bibury is a picturesque village, as so many are, so we walked around and saw the trout stream, row cottages, and flower gardens. Then we went off into a river valley, which sounds tame, but the walking was a series of ups and down, woods, vales, and a few fields. Villages and groups of houses with gardens were scattered along the trail. The ColnRiver is tiny - narrow enough to step across in places.

After lunch we had a relatively short walk, mostly through woods. We arrived at Chedworth Roman Villa. This is the excavation of a Roman-style villa, or estate, thought to belong to British Romanized gentry. Visiting was an option we all took. There was a short video explaining the site. In the central meeting house, the mosaic floor has several sections still in good shape, with intricate patterns. The floors were hypocaust, i.e., raised on short pillars covered by slate and mortar, with hot air flowing under. The bath house included a sort of sauna and a cold bath for a plunge. There were also lots of artifacts, such as coins and brooches. Some of the walls are still in place, topped by little protective roofs. They look similar to the current Cotswold walls (golden sandstone).

View map of tour to date.

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Photos

Shy Lions gate posts
A Cotswolds tradition

Hypocaust heating system in dining room
Chedworth Roman Villa

View from my room
Long stretch of valley

View from my room
Wonderful pastoral scene

Beginners climbing a stile
... with a helpful horse looking on

Budlea
Known as the "butterfly flower"

St Dennis Church, Coln
Norman, with improvements in 17 century

slate roof
Traditional strong roof

Chedworth Roman Villa, tiled floor of dining hall
Like the ones I saw in Italy, of course

Comments

[Isabel Gibson]

Heated floors!
Now there's a bright idea. I didn't know the Romans could do that - Britain must have been quite a shock after Italy, although any Romanized gentry wouldn't have the same excuse. Maybe everyone just likes to have warm feet. Your hotel-room views are lovely - the sort of scene that Stephen Pinker argues we evolved to appreciate: gently rolling open grasslands punctuated by small bits of cover, er, trees.

[Ake Och Emma]

Floor heating
Interesting that the Romans installed floor heating in the houses. I can't remember that I've ever seen that before. But then I've never seen any Roman houses in Britain, only in countries much further south. /Ake