Monday 8 April 2013

Cotswolds Tour

Today after our classes (which were about mass media and crime in the 17th century and were amazing!) our director from BSU set up a little afternoon tour to see more of the Cotswolds. The Cotswolds are little villages in the beautiful  countryside located in the Southwest-ish part of England. Most of the villages are tourist areas or retirement areas (I'm going to retire in Bibury, incase you were wondering). The first village we went to was Fairford. We stopped here because of it's church. The St. Mary the Virgin Church was 'given' to Catherine of Argon by King Henry VIII. Because it was 'given' to her it was probably protected. When Henry VIII reformed to the Church of England, almost all Catholic Churches were destroyed or completely remodeled. This church, however, has it's original features still. The stained glass here is very different and dates back to the 1500's. They even had windows with the devil and demons, so that was unique. They also had windows depicting Bible stories.

Our next stop was Bibury. It is SO gorgeous here! I love it! There is a trout farm and it is so gorgeous and has beautiful gardens. The water is ridiculously clear- it's amazing! One could spend hours relaxing and spending time here. In this village there are also the Arlington Row houses. These houses date back to the 1300's and wool workers were allowed to live there as long as they kept their job. It was so beautiful and the houses are so unique!


 Our next stop was Bourton-on-the-water. This village is called the "Venice of the Cotswolds" because there is so much running water and foot bridges. It is fun to walk around and admire the water and all of the ducks trying to swim against the current. Here I had my 'high tea' of the trip. I was told to have it in the Cotswolds so that I would get clotted cream with it. So, I had my English tea, and fruit scone with clotted cream! It was delicious! I really need to make scones more often because they are fantastic!

Our final stop of our little tour was to see the Rollright stones. These stones are also from the Neolithic era, just like Stonhenge and Avebury. They are also thought to be a part of religious ceremony, but of course know one will really ever know what's up. These were smaller stones too and the legend is you can't count the circle of stones more than once and come up with the same number! It also says, if you can do it three times in a row any wish you may have will come true!







2 comments:

  1. Love the last pic- made me smile! I can see why you enjoy it there- it is storybook idyllic!

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  2. haha ya, I had to do a picture like that! I know it's childish but I could probably still play on ricks like this for hours! Yes, I love the Cotswolds! I'm so happy our director put this little tour together for us!

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