The Cotswolds - Stow on the Wold, Bourton on the Water and Broadway

We started Monday morning in Stow on the Wold, it was only a 10 minute drive from our B&B in Longborough. Stow on the Wold is one of the most well known Cotswold towns, and is pretty much smack bang in the middle. You can reach most of the other towns in less than half an hour.

Set on a hill top, it stands beside the Roman Fosse Way at its junction with six other roads, and where a settlement has existed since the Iron Age.

Once again we were probably the youngest people there, apart from a whole heap of high school students doing some kind of project, they seemed to follow us from town to town the whole day.

There's a huge Market square in the middle of the town, where they hold a weekly market, and it's surrounded by lots of lovely shops and tea-rooms.

St Edwards Church

Our next stop was Bourton on the Water, about 15 minutes south of Stow on the Wold. Bourton on the Water is known as Little Venice in the Cotswolds, because it is surrounded by the River Windrush, and has lots of tiny bridges going over the river into the town.

It's one of the most popular towns in the Cotswolds, so we were glad we went on a Monday, because apparently it's just full of tour groups during the weekend. It was certainly much busier than the other towns we visited, but a lot of those were almost deserted, so it didn't take much for Bourton to be the busiest!

The River Windrush

We had lunch at one of the many tea-rooms (there is literally about 10 in every town). We started chatting to the older couple next to us who offered to take our photo. The man did pretty well considering he's never used an iPhone before :)

I think we were something of a novelty being a young couple from New Zealand, and everyone was so lovely to us. To be honest, I think it's just the people in London who are grumpy, because every-time we leave London the people get much nicer!

We drove from Bourton on the Water to The Slaughters. Awful name, but ridiculously amazing scenery, and two tiny, tiny towns. The best way to see Upper and Lower Slaughter is actually by walking there from Bourton on the Water, but I was pretty sick and kept getting really tired, so wasn't sure I'd manage a walk in the Country.

The road was only one lane the whole way through, I'm not sure what would have happened if we had come across a car coming the other way. You can see below the beautiful scenery and the very skinny road!

Pretending I'm a Farmer

We headed back to the B&B for a rest since I was exhausted after the morning out. I had a few hours sleep, then we headed to the litte town of Broadway, up and to the west of Longborough.

We arrived in the late afternoon, so most things were closing. It was good since there was hardly anyone there, and it meant we could just wander the streets looking in all the shop windows and at all the houses.

We must have been in the country, since the only traffic we saw was a tractor, a dirt bike and 2 horses!

It's a pony!!

The pony did look a little suspicious. I'm pretty sure it wanted to bite us the whole time we were patting it...

We headed back to the B&B to get changed for dinner. There is a huge Arboretum just down from our B&B, full of amazing huge trees. It's literally like being in a forest. It was a bit spooky. 

I was thinking about how I'd read stories about wild cats being seen in the English countryside, and how this would be the perfect place for them to hide. When we got back to the B&B the owner told us that years ago two of his neighbours had seen a huge black cat in the Arboretum and reported it to the Police! So I wasn't that far off after all...

I think we spotted Big Foot!

We went for a quick swim in the pool before heading out to dinner. It was supposedly heated, but still quite chilly. Not sure it was the best thing to be doing when I had a bad cold...

The owner of the B&B booked us a table for dinner at a pub called The Fox Inn in Lower Oddington, just down from where we ate the night before.

The food once again was amazing. I had the Lamb Shanks and Bradley had Chicken and Veggies. The Lamb Shanks were huge, but we managed to fit in dessert this time, a yummy Cherry and Almond tart.

We still can't decide which pub had better food. Both were great, and very different, so I'd have to say it's a tie!