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Awake reasonably early today – our bed was really comfortable and got a good night’s sleep.
We met Sally in the morning as we returned the registration form and she showed us around. Two hidden cupboards in the club house. One with boardgames and jigsaws and the other with odd bits of kitchen equipment you may occasionally need such as a slow cooker, electric whisk and air fryer plus other gadgets.
We were going to explore some of the picture-postcard Cotswolds villages and towns today. We first headed off towards Winchcombe which was 10 minutes down the road. Lovely Cotswold stone buildings lined the narrow street, barely wide enough for two cars to pass each other, made more tricky when people parked up to offload or because they felt like it. We found a parking space (free!) so has a wander around. We picked up loaf of bread and two Chocolate Millionaire Shortbreads from the local bakers.
We were a little curious as to the cost of houses in the Cotswolds. As we walked past the estate agents windows, we checked this out. Similar, if not slightly more expensive than back home. We did wonder about maintenance costs for these old houses … some were 200 years plus old.
From Winchcombe we headed towards Stow-on-the-Wold making a detour to Haile’s Abbey on the way. Alas, the Abbey is now closed and only open for special events and tours but the church was open and this pre-dated the ruined abbey by 100 years or so. Built at some point during King Stephens reign.
The church is lit by candlelight, no electricity here. The font dates back to the 1200s. At the top end of the Abbey, the remnants of the old painted walls survive. It was quite stunning, especially as the church is left open for visitors to pop into.
We continued our journey to Stow-on-the Wold. We used to drive by here regularly from home to the Midlands and the North West before the M40 was built but nothing really looked familiar.
The town was rammed with parked cars so we followed the signs to the car park at the other end of town. Alas that car park was closed so we turned around and headed back out along with everyone else. Once we got onto the main road out of Stow, the traffic heading in the opposite direction was queuing for miles due to the roadworks. Mental note to avoid coming back.
We carried on to Bourton-on-the Water, and the car park was well signposted. It initially seemed a very small car park but opened up at the far end with plenty of spaces. It turned out we were just behind the main road through the town.
It was a very pretty town with the stream running through the middle of it … little bridges carried pedestrians and cars across to the other side. We had worked up an appetite and needed a bite to eat. After checking out the menus in a couple of places, settled in The Old Manse. Jon has Katsu Chicken with rice and chips (huge portion!) whilst I had Lamb Shank with buttery mash and veg. All very nice.
After lunch we popped into a couple of shops. Jon bought a Christmas duck for Callum and I chose an owl to add to our holiday animal collection! We also popped into the local Budgens to pick up some bread and cheese!
From Bourton, we headed to Broadway, the nearest town to Buckland. Again, this was another picturesque town with a wide road and plenty of green space running through the middle. Broadway was home to The Lygon Arms – an upmarket hotel with a restaurant ran by James Martin. There were a few other restaurants / pubs in the town that looked interesting. Nearly all the shops in town were independents.
We popped into the Broadway Deli as we thought they may have some interesting cheeses. They did! we bought some Lincolnshire Poacher and some Brie (although as it happens, the cheap Somerset Brie we picked up in Budgens was nicer!!). They also stocked a wide range of chutneys. We picked up a Quince Jam as Jon liked this on the Cheeseboard they do in The Glass House on P&O and a gooseberry chutney – I was given one for Christmas one year and it was delicious.
We walked up the main road to see what else the shops had to offer. It was getting very grey so after checking out a couple of places, we headed back to the car park just as it started to rain. One thing you don’t see everyday – a Storm Trooper hanging around outside a shop!
We called it a day and headed back to Buckland Court.
