Cotswolds, day 4

Thursday August 16

Today started with a clear sky, then the clouds came, there was a light rain, and after the rain came clouds and sunshine. Anyway, in spite of the weather forecast we decided to do something today. This is an old house, with beams and slanting floors. When I walk in my small bedroom, I have the feeling I am drunk. The floors are very uneven and not completely horizontal. A marble would immediately start rolling. But that is also the charm of this sprawling house, which also has modern additions and a conservatory.

My temporary front door which is seldom used

The windmill viewed from my bedroom window

From my bedroom window which is on the front of the house I have a view of the watermill opposite, now privately owned and no longer in use, although the river Coln passes under the house and then along my friend's garden.

 Some more pictures of my friend's garden

When I leave the house in the morning for a walk in the garden, a large group of ducks, some 30 or so, excitedly waddle up to me to see I if have come to feed them. So do two swans, who almost follow me into the kitchen and are quite offended when I do not offer them any food. They make hissing noises, and really do not love me for it!

The local village shop and post office

After a leisurely breakfast and all sorts of delays we set off for Stow-on-the-Wold, via winding and narrow country lanes, some of them single track.

The hunting lodge

We pass a strange house, apparently a hunting lodge which consists of a large dining hall, a kitchen and many bedrooms. Nothing else. Fox hunts are now banned, but nevertheless one goes on hunting in these parts of the world. On to Stow, a very lively and touristy market town. It is situated high on a hill, and boasts a village green with the medieval stocks, a old church with Victorian glass, several tearooms, hotels and guesthouses, but also very attractive shops.

 Kneeler in Stow Church

Stow-on-the-Wold

Cook shops and shops with country clothing . So I score in the cook shops and buy a very attractive jacket/fleece, at a discount. Parking is free but scarce. My friend doesn't follow me into the shops because of the nice dog we have with us. On we go, after buying some delicacies at the baker's, to Hidcote Manor Gardens, a National Trust property.

 Hidcote Manor Gardens

They are beautiful gardens which I once visited in a former life together with my husband.

On our way there we are almost smoked out by farmers who are burning the stubble off their fields after the harvest. So much easier than ploughing it under. The smoke makes it difficult to see where we are going. Meanwhile it looks like rain, so we decide to ignore the teashop and the plant shop and first go through the garden. I recognise the house and the impressive gates on two sides, offering splendid views across the Vale of the river Avon. Hidcote is built on a hill, and the gardens are terraced and divided into garden rooms, separated by high hedges. The different parts have different colours: there is a white garden, a blue and lilac garden, a warm garden with orange and red colours, and deep maroon. There is a lily pond and a bathing pool, too green by algae to form any temptation to a visitor. I enjoy the colours, the different leaves and textures enormously. As it is built on a hill, the terraces go down.

Hidcote

The many hedges break the wind which is not hindered by anything else up here. Just when we have more or less concluded our tour, it begins to rain, so we have tea and a cake - for me a scone with clotted cream and black currant jam – inside a restaurant.

My friend goes to see if the dog is well, and I browse in the NT shop, always a treasure trove, and come back with two heavy photo books which have been greatly reduced and are not even half price, but a third of the original price. No book lover or nature lover, nor any keen photographer could pass them by without buying!

Home in the rain, but still fantastic views from the road on this ridge across the valleys and views of the yellow stubble on the harvested fields. Passing through Chipping Camden I wish I had taken my own car. It is such a special town. The old market stalls of Cotswold stone, the golden houses, some under a very thick and cosy thatched hood, the deep hedges pruned in the form of snakes and strange creatures, it is all so very attractive that I wonder why I live where I live. Of course, I could not afford to live here, not even in the tiniest cottage. The accident of birth, I suppose, or something similar.

Home, tea in the garden with unexpected visitors, a nice meal and the evening is almost gone. It seems this village hasn't had the rain we had at Hidcote Manor.

I take some more pictures of the garden and the house, and we enjoy a leisurely evening. I am sorry to leave tomorrow.

My friend's garden