Cotswold idyll

I have been on a short holiday in the Cotswolds, staying in a favourite cottage in Stow on the Wold.  It is right in the centre of the village, tucked away behind the main street and approached by one of the medieval sheep runs - narrow alleys used for counting the sheep brought to the wool markets in years gone by.

I like staying in the centre of a village especially at this time of year as evenings darken.  It's so much cosier than being out in the middle of nowhere!  Also, it's handy for a lazy cook as Stow has lots of places to eat and good take-aways!

One of the places we visited was Great Tew, an estate village in Oxfordshire -

I remember visiting it in the 70s when it was almost derelict and I wasn't the only one to be concerned - apparently Sir Nikolaus Pevsner also condemned their deterioration as -

one of the most depressing sights in the whole county. Terraces of cottages lie derelict and will soon be beyond hope of restoration. A scheme of gradual rehabilitation is said to be in progress, but nothing has been done meanwhile to prevent the decay of unused cottages, some of which are completely ruinous and will need to be entirely rebuilt.

I am pleased to say that things have been taken in hand by the present owners of the estate and the village appears to be thriving, with a village shop, good pub and a much extended village school.  However, we couldn't find the Church which was odd?  It was there somewhere, because John Sergeant's (well known to us in the UK) father was Vicar there and John was brought up in the village and attended the school.  We scanned the horizon but couldn't see any sign of it!

I took some pictures of the delightful thatch cottages because they are extremely picturesque,  In fact, I  have a birthday card somewhere with an image of the first cottage drawn by one of my favourite artists, Richard Partis, so it was intriguing to see it in real life!

 So pretty!  I wonder what they are like to live in?