Cotswolds: days 2 & 3

Tuesday August 14 and Wednesday August 15^th

This is to me the most beautiful spot on earth. Tuesday is a brilliant day, warm and sunny, so after a leisurely breakfast we decide to go for a walk along the river Coln to Bibury, a tourist trap, but understandably so. 

Some pictures of my friend's garden

And her "cottage"

The walk goes through meadows and fields with sheep which at first look at us inquisitively , only to scatter when we come nearer. No cattle this time. It is very muddy and the river has flooded the meadows in a few places because of the heavy rainfall this summer. 

River Coln

It is very peaceful and apart from a group of chattering women we hardly meet anyone. 

The fields with golden corn are being harvested, the patterns left on the fields quite intriguing. We go through copses, wooded areas, up hills, across stiles of wood and slate, downhill again. It is about 3.5 miles to Bibury, some 5 kilometres. At St. Katherine's Wheel, a very nice pub, we have drinks and a lunch of sandwiches richly filled with camembert, cranberries crisp bacon and lettuce, accompanied by thick, hand cut chips. The little dog has come with us, and needs a rest too.

Bibury

It is beautiful outside in the beer garden, and we take our time. Back another way via Bibury and the Bibury Court Hotel, where we cross the Coln and retrace our steps. The buildings of light Cotswold stone look lovely with their hanging baskets. Old millstones line some walls and many gables have dovecots. We are back around 6 o'clock, and after some rest we have a salad and a few glasses of lovely red wine. It is warm enough to sit with a book in the little hut watching the river, the swans which waddle almost into the house for food in the morning, and the ducks and moorhens. My friend tears around on her lawnmower as this is one of the few and  rare dry days in a very wet summer and the grass is very tall. It takes an hour to cut her lawn only superficially. This is more of a small park than a garden.

The garden again

I have not been so sleepy for a long time, and indeed sleep like a log.

It is amazing how dark it can be in a village like this, with no street lights, no city nearby and a new moon. It is impossible to walk along the street and find one's way around without a powerful torch. And when was the last time that the first sound I heard when I woke up was the glop-glop of horses, and not the noise of planes turning towards the landing strip right over my head, or the noise of the traffic on the highway. This is bliss, this is how it should always be. But I am enjoying it now and that is a privilege.

The next day, Wednesday, there is a slight drizzle in the morning, but it is still humid and warm. We go to Fairford as there is a small food market today and the women's' guild sells jams and local produce in the village hall. 

Fairford

I browse in the lovely bookshop cum gift shop cum luxury stationary shop, before crossing over to the church opposite. Fairford church is famous for its stained glass windows, dating back to the 15^th century. There is a set of 21 windows, all medieval glass, depicting the Bible story. Only one window is partly of Victorian glass. Three windows were destroyed at one time, not by human vandalism or iconoclasm, but by an act of God, a dreadful storm which blew out the three west windows and reduced them to mere shards. 

The main window was restored with Victorian glass, the other two windows have blank parts as not all the pieces could be found or replaced. But the glass is the original glass.

I go back a second time that morning, with a more powerful camera to take pictures of the misericords as well. They have come from another church or abbey. probably hidden away from the destructive hands of Henry VIII, and were later placed in this church. They are definitely of an earlier date than the church. The church has an unusual shape, as it was extended around the existing tower which is now in the middle of the church, with the bell ringers in full view of everybody.

When we come back at lunchtime the heavens open and it seems we are in for the next flood! So any plans we have for the afternoon are shelved, and we stay indoors, reading, editing photo's and resting. It is a consolation that  I know I can always come back to this beautiful area.