Arlington Rd.
Nine years without visiting Britain They are many. too many. So when the opportunity arose to explore the Cotswolds in South West England, I didn't think twice. I wanted to return to a country full of history and personality and be able to share it through Instagram.
The picturesque region of the Cotswolds lies within the triangle formed by the towns of Birmingham, Oxford and Bristol , and occupies part of five English counties: Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire and Worcestershire. The nearest airports are Bristol, Birmingham and then London . We fly from Barcelona to Birmingham and start the tour from there, crossing the North of the Cotswolds in a southerly direction.
It was the perfect place to do an uncomplicated road trip : short trips, dream country roads, stone villages taken from a fairy tale, centennial hotels and pubs full of local people who are dying to tell you their story. Sounds good, right? Thus begins six days and five nights in the wonderful Cotswolds and its most instagrammable places. Ladies and gentlemen, here we come!
DAY 1
Upon arriving at birmingham in the afternoon, we picked up our rental car and we start the route in the direction of the town of Ilmington , where we would spend our first night. On the way we crossed the town of Stratford upon Avon , where shakespeare was born.
We were in a hurry to be on time for dinner (keep in mind that English times are not ours), so we skipped Stratford and went straight to our destination: **The Howards Arms**, a classic local establishment that is at the same time a pub, restaurant and bed&breakfast. Getting out of the car I already noticed the smell of fireplace from the street.
The Howards Arms has only eight rooms slightly up-to-date decor (let's put it that way) but exactly what you'd expect. A fireplace that is lit every day of the year, family photos in black and white, a bar where they serve the best local beers and where the locals gather at the end of the day to discuss the play...
Surprisingly it has a renowned chef who brings a touch of modernity to this small family business of more than 400 years old . We opted to try the classic house hamburger and a essex white wine , called New Hall Pinot Gris , which made us fall in love. And for dessert, the most highly recommended, is the sticky toffee pudding with toffee sauce and clotted cream.
English Breakfast at the Howard Arms pub-hotel in Ilmington.
DAY 2
The next morning a day full of visits and stops awaited us, so we opted for a English breakfast without any fuss. In addition, we asked for the table next to the fireplace to give it a more British touch. I think it was one of the best breakfasts of the trip and the friendliness of the staff who served it to us also deserves to be highlighted.
The village of ilmington It has three streets so we went through it quickly and headed to our next stop: ** Chipping Campden or Campden **, as the locals call it. This town is the birthplace of the famous arts&crafts movement that was born in 1902 and that supposed the recovery of craftsmanship and the culture of what is done by hand versus the process of industrialization that was lived at that time in London.
A visit that will help you better understand this movement so deeply rooted in the area of the cotswolds is the Court Barn museum, located in the same village. It is worth taking a stroll down the main street and browsing the little shops that sell all kinds of handmade items: from jewelry to stationery and decorations.
Our next stop was the Broadway town and its famous tower. After the visit, we went down to the town of Broadway to stroll through its streets and eat at one of the best hotels in the Cotswolds, The Lygon Arms . The hotel has 86 rooms and 5 restaurants but always maintaining an atmosphere of warmth and close treatment thanks to the small dimensions of its rooms and the low ceilings of the centenary building.
The restaurant we ate at was bar&grill , and although I wanted to eat healthy to counteract the English breakfast, I opted for the sole with lemon butter . I could not resist the desserts and I allowed myself to be recommended… You cannot leave without trying their unconventional homemade ice cream , such as the croissant ice cream . I assure you that it tastes 100% like a French croissant!
Impossible not to fall in love with the streets of Chipping Campden.
Taking a walk down Broadway I was amazed at how well cared for everything was: flowers on the windowsills and in the doorways, colored banners from side to side of the street, garden terraces... Everything was impeccable!
This level of detail is repeated in all the towns in the area, every day of the year, that's how idyllic the Cotswolds are. We leave our stop at Sudeley and his castle behind with the intention of having ample time at **Burton-on-the-Water**, the Venice of the Cotswolds.
The windrush river It crosses the center of this little town creating a most special picture: low stone bridges that cross a very shallow river with crystal clear water, with cafes and pubs on one side of it, and benches to admire the landscape.
Burton-on-the-water is one of the best known places in the region , visited every day by many tourists, although ** Chipping Campden or Broadway ** would not be missing either.
The oldest inn in England, The Porch House.
We had been recommended the slaughters, two small towns that are very close to Burton so we went looking for one even more idyllic picture . They are covered in just five minutes, the stop is essential even though there are no terraces or restaurants.
They are rows of stone houses following the course of a stream. For lovers of photography it is ideal because reflections are created in the water that allow you to capture beautiful and very clear images.
We couldn't spend much more time with the Slaughters because that night we stayed in the oldest inn in england : The Porch House , in the village of Stow-on-the-Wold . On the way to Stow we opted for a route of narrower roads, the ones used only by local farmers in their mud-smeared Range Rovers to check on cattle. And we ran into a pleasant surprise.
Finally, we went to check-in at The Porch House , a boutique hotel located in the center of town , with 13 refurbished and exquisitely decorated rooms , combining centuries-old wooden beams with pieces of contemporary decoration. It was founded in the year 947 and we were lucky enough to stay in their best room, the suite that is distributed over two floors and looks like something out of a story.
The amenities are handmade, it has a Nespresso coffee machine and a radio roberts to give a vintage touch to the space. We had dinner at his restaurant and I opted for a vegetarian dish, baked aubergine , accompanied -yes- by an incredible dessert, the british strawberry pavlova.
Teleporting back to Jane Austen's time at Blenheim Palace.
DAY 3
The next morning I tried what is so far the best croissant of my life , during breakfast in The Porch House . If you are going to stay there, you cannot miss it! They also have a good selection of forest fruits that they pick themselves , and that combine perfectly with muesli and yogurt that they offer in their mini buffet.
After that great start to the day, we explored stow market square Y St Edward's Church , which has a very curious side door nestled between two trees. And we didn't spend any more time on it because the splendid Blenheim Palace was waiting for us .
The visit whetted our appetite, and from there we went to Burford, another of the idyllic villages of the Cotswolds. What characterizes Burford is his steep main street that offers a quite different perspective to the rest of the towns built on the plain. It is famous for the variety of artisan shops and restaurants with hidden patios.
We decided to eat a sandwich in one of these patios and try the famous farm ice cream either farm ice cream with caramel flavor to the point of salt . That afternoon the town of Bibury , considered by William Morris as the most beautiful village in England for its row of houses on Arlington Row.
We said goodbye to Bibury and headed for Cirencester , the largest of the towns we had visited so far and the capital of the Cotswolds . We checked in at the hotel. King's Head , located in the center, right next to the market square and the church.
Our new room in Kings Head Hotel made us fall in love again . Wooden beams, welcome appetizer with gin and tonic are details that make the difference. We had dinner included and the hotel restaurant promised because there were many local customers (that's always a good sign). We tried the welshwarebit , an English bruschetta, and a classic of classics, the fish&chips with its tartar sauce.
Vintage food truck in Cirencester Park.
DAY 4
Cirencester woke up with the preparations for the Saturday Arts & Crafts market . As the artisans began to set up their stalls around the church, the locals (and us) swarmed the area to see what was cooking. A vintage food truck offered coffee, tea and cakes.
We tried to climb the tower again but my argument that we had gone to Cirencester expressly to see the views from the tower didn't pan out. A good alternative is Cirencester Park, privately owned but open to the public from 8 to 5 p.m. . It is a large green area with a very pleasant atmosphere, families walking, people riding horses, a coffee cart and homemade cakes with wooden tables to enjoy a sunny Saturday...
After the walk in the park and trying one of the cakes, we got in the car and went to the picturesque **Tetbury**. We begin our journey through its happiest corners, the Church of Santa Maria and we continue for Long Street where the best antique dealers in the area are concentrated . Our appetite was whetted and we decided not to keep our friends from Royal Oak , where we had reserved a table to eat. That was probably the tastiest burger of the trip , the fries were not far behind either. The afternoon was full of plans so we said goodbye to Tetbury. A very unusual visit awaited us in England: **the vineyards of the Woodchester Valley**, which we were lucky enough to be able to discover at the hands of a very familiar and endearing boutique winery.
they made us a vineyard tour , they explained to us the process of making their wines, we tasted different specialties and they gave us some very useful cultural insights into the varieties of English wines.
The Woodchester Valley was a major landscape change. Suddenly when you leave behind the town of nailsworth , you enter a valley where two slopes meet; in both the sloping vineyards can be seen. caught our attention Amberley, a small town with beautiful views over the valley. From there we continue driving towards the Stroud valley.
Reading with a view at the charming Hammonds Farm B&B.
We decided not to stop in the city of Stroud because our bed&breakfast was in the countryside and we felt like it. spend the afternoon in the middle of nature . It was a very wise decision because a surprise awaited us there, the Hammonds Farm Bed&Breakfast .
The rooms have a simple but very cozy decoration: warm colours, white carpentry, rustic parquet, windows facing the stroud valley and some homemade welcome cookies who always make guests happy . It is a place that captivates you little by little due to its simplicity, its charm and the humility of the family behind this small business.
They told us that we had to be ready at 6:30 p.m. take a walk with his alpacas. It was quite a discovery thanks to the father of the family, who is the one who takes care of them and knows them best. We were able to touch them, we laughed with them, we learned their body language and we watched the sunset in the valley with the whole herd , including some newly incorporated pups that looked like little balls of fur.
Not having our own restaurant, we went to dinner at a centenary pub located 20 minutes. Crown Inn is the typical english pub, just as we imagined it, built in a cider house in 1633. For dinner, I opted for the spinach cannelloni, ricotta with ratatouille and marinated tomatoes.
New friends at Chavenage House.
DAY 5
After eight hours of deep sleep in the super king size bed of Hammond's B&B everything looks better, and if you add the breakfast that they prepare for you with great care based on products ecological nor tell you.
We said goodbye to the family, promising that we would return one day, heading for our next visit: l ac ** Chavenage handle **, on the county of gloucestershire . Before we arrived, we thought that Chavenage House It would be english mansion more, that they would show us the property, the gardens and that we would continue with our route through the Cotswolds . But it wasn't like that, it was much more than that.
We had been warned that the visit would be private because the mansion was not open to the public daily, something that already caught my attention. We were going to knock on the door when he appeared Caroline Lowsley-Williams , current owner of the mansion along with the rest of her family. Quite a character and an institution in Chavenage.
We immediately saw that Caroline was the paradigm of british black humor. She began to speak without any censorship about the history of the mansion , how it came to be in his family and the difficulties involved in maintaining a property of this style today. The most special thing was discovering the nooks and crannies and those stories of inheritances, earls and butlers from the hands of the people who have grown up in Chavenage and are still there.
Currently the mansion is very fashionable because of the Poldark series, the BBC adaptation. Thanks to this, the family is restoring the most deteriorated parts of the house.
Feeling at Downton Abbey after a picnic in Dyrham Park.
After this experience, it was time to continue with our itinerary and cross the town of ** Tetbury again to reach Dyrham Park **. In Tetbury we bought some homemade sandwiches and cakes for a British-style picnic ; sitting on the sparkling lawn Dyrham Park , a manor house from the end of the 17th century located on a 110-hectare estate yes
The most interesting thing about this visit was being able to go down to what was the service floor and feel as if we had slipped into Downton Abbey. The kitchen with all its utensils, the system of bells that communicated with the rooms of the gentlemen, the pantry, the common bathroom, the tiny rooms of the service members...
Our next hotel was in ** Malmesbury ** but first we stopped in the charming town of Castle Combe . We checked in at The Old Bell, the oldest hotel in england (1220) and built next to a 12th century abbey in the heart of Malmesbury. We had dinner included at The Refectory's sophisticated restaurant. We loved everything from the service to the decoration of the room and of course the food. Steamed turbot with cannelloni and citrus sauce was spectacular , and the homemade ice cream, divine.
Our suite -located on the first floor- it had one of the most spectacular Elizabethan beds I have ever seen. I wonder if it was an antique piece or a reproduction. In any case, That night I slept like a true queen.
In love with the hanging pots on the streets of Malmesbury.
DAY 6
Bath was the last stop on our roadtrip . We decided to give ourselves time and drive on the secondary roads instead of going through the M4 or A4. We had heard of Bath many times, but this was our first time visiting.
It was a contrast if we take into account that we came from a haven of peace. It even seemed like a big city full of bustle , when in fact it only has 85,000 inhabitants.
Much to our regret, It was time to say goodbye to a lovely trip. At 3:00 p.m. we started the road to Bristol airport . As I looked out the window at the scenery, I realized that for the first time on the entire trip the sky was beginning to cover with dark clouds that brought rain
We had been in England for six days and not a single drop of rain had fallen! As well as being lucky with fantastic weather I had the feeling of having rediscovered English culture marked by him respect for traditions , to the autochthonous and to the community; for him care of public spaces , for him unconditional support for small businesses and to the crafts, and for the kind character of all the people with whom we had come across...
If you add a touch of British humor to all that, you have it all. A piece of my traveling heart remains in one of the cotswold hills.
You have all the information about the Cotswolds at www.cotswolds.com and at www.visitbritain.com
Floral decorations on the boarded houses of Castle Combe.