The Charm of the COTSWOLDS
On a cloudy Monday afternoon in August, my husband and I approach our rented holiday cottage near Bourtonon-the-Water in Gloucestershire. We are rather downcast from atiring journey, but as we drive down some narrow lanes, wondering if we’ll end up in a farmyard, the honey coloured stone cottage looms up in front of us and our mood changes.
Although slightly misty, the view from the cottage’s terrace, down the valley is stunning — different shades of green patchwork as far as the eye can see. We hastily unpack and investigate our living quarters for the next few days, then make a pot of tea and start to plan our Cotswolds sightseeing, allowing for the changeable weather.
The following morning, feeling refreshed after a good night’s sleep, we decide to visit Chedworth Roman Villa. This is one of the grandest Roman villas to be excavated in Britain, and we’re pleasantly surprised that there are people in Roman costume demonstrating the different aspects of what life was like around 2,000 years ago. Under separate canvases, a cook, a shoemaker and a writer all show us their skills; very interesting and the implements are not unlike the things we use today. Inside the modern excavation building the intricate mosaic floors, the hypocaust systems and the bathhouses are on display. They would have been the height of luxury; it is such a shame all this was abandoned when the Romans departed.
Excavators are midway through an exciting, five-year programme and the remains of the outbuildings suggest this villa was more like a self-supporting village. We spend the morning absorbing it all then drive to Lower Slaughter, a delightful little place all built of Cotswold stone.
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Esta historia es de la edición Summer 2017 de Evergreen.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
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Rural Rides
How many of us search for a dream, and then spend a lifetime fulfilling it? Clough Williams-Ellis spent 20 years seeking the ideal location to build his Italianate village and 50 years building it. Originally he thought an island might be a possible location, but it was only when he came to an untamed peninsula on the breathtaking Traeth Bach tidal estuary that he realised he had finally found his chosen spot.
The Literary Pilgrim
Browsing recently in a charity shop, I came across a copy of a book I had at home on my shelf of treasured children’s books. I was young when I first read it and it proved to be a seminal book, one to which I have been indebted ever since. First published in 1937, it was written by a Wesleyan minister who roamed England in a horse-drawn caravan, writing as he went of the countryside and its wildlife. He called himself Romany.
Almanac
The Lady Of Vision.
Rural Rides
The Charm of the COTSWOLDS
Countrycall
I felt a strong affinity with the naturalist and writer Mary Gillham. I’d spent many years cycling and walking the Taff Trail — a Sustrans cycle route, stretching some 55 miles from Cardiff to Brecon — observing, recording and writing about the wildlife of the area. I had also spent many happy hours exploring Forest Farm Country Park, somewhere which Mary had got to know so well.
Animal Magic
Roger Redfern was a true countryman who enjoyed nothing more than wandering through the hills of England, Scotland and Wales in the weekends and holidays he wasn’t teaching in a Derbyshire school.
Snow At Christmas
Christmas — that most magical time of the year — and what signifies it most is snow falling gently from the sky and creating a magical white carpet on the ground. This image can’t help bring out the child in us all — remembering a childhood of snowball fights, sledging and building snowmen in the garden.
Our Christian Heritage
In Colsterdale, North Yorkshire, 10 miles from the cathedral town of Ripon and two miles from the tourist haven of Masham, lies the small village of Healey. In most respects a typical Dales community of picturesque stone houses along a single street, it boasts an unusual and striking place of worship, the parish church of St. Paul’s.
