Cheltenham & Cotswolds - June 2011

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We've visited the Cotswolds previously, but it's such a stunning spot it's so easy to always want to see more!

We booked a lovely hotel (The Frogmill) in Cheltenham, right on the edge of the Cotswolds for a Saturday night, it was a converted mill and our room was HUGE! Loads of room for Oslo to join us!
;-) We arrived early afternoon and after a cream tea with champagne (the only kind really!) at the hotel, we had grand tourist plans, ok maybe Bunny had grand plans, for the Saturday afternoon. Instead, we ended up whiling the afternoon away in the delicious sunshine in the lovely hotel courtyard with drinks and books in hand.

For dinner we ended up driving all over the place looking for a picturesque pub, only to end up driving through several small towns, then finding somewhere, then finding out we both left our wallets in our hotel room. Epic fail! We headed back to the hotel then all headed off again to find a small pub in the opposite direction. It was lovely though and Oslo enjoyed it too!

The following day, we awoke to opposite weather from the Saturday: Sunday greeted us with grey skies and rain.

We'd found a 'recommended driving route' called The Romantic Road and decided to give it a go anyway even given the dreary weather.... The drive guided us through wide upland landscapes and hidden honey-coloured stone hamlets, revealing the fascinating contrasts of peaceful, timeless villages and bustling market towns, complete with ancient manor houses, churches and traditional pubs.

Our route took us though the lovely towns of Bledington and Broadway – Broadway especially was very cute and ‘oldy-worldy’, not least because of its famous Pub/Hotel ‘The Lygon Arms’, which used to be frequented by Oliver Cromwell himself! Pretty cool place to hang out, Oslo seemed happy to wander the streets and be admired by the locals... as usual!

Although we drove through many lovely little towns, the coolest had to be the twin towns of Upper and Lower Slaughter! Such great names! The villages were tiny and both set on the banks of the beautiful River Eye, that meandered through the towns, criss-crossed with little foot bridges. It’s really good fun ‘village hopping’ through the Cotswolds, each place has its own charm and individual quirks, we are still so impressed with the sheer weight of history that lingers over parts of England like this. You don’t need to follow a guide book or know the background of every place you visit, half the fun is just stumbling across some little gems that have stayed the same for centuries and centuries. Magic :-)

And after that it was time to drive back to London, another lovely visit to the Cotswolds completed.

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