This morning we set off on a wonderful scenic drive into the beautiful Cotswolds countryside. Our first stop is Stow-on-the-Wold. At nearly 800ft, Stow is the highest of the Cotswold towns, located on the Roman Fosse Way and at the point where several roads meet. The Market Square is large and impressive and testifies to the town’s former importance. It is surrounded by town houses, independent shops, antique centres, cosy cafes and inns all built in the mellow local stone, and it has been the focus of town life over many centuries, with the medieval market stocks at one end, the ancient market cross at the other and the impressive St Edwards Hall standing in the centre.
Later we journey to Burford. Burford’s famous High Street sweeps downhill towards the River Windrush. Little has changed over the centuries, and Burford is popular with visitors, both for its beauty and history but also for its shopping, especially antiques, and for the wide variety of places to eat, with restaurants, pubs and teashops. Here you can stay in a hotel frequented by King Charles and Nell Gwynn, dine where Nelson dined or visit England’s oldest pharmacy, a chemists since 1734.
Half way down the hill, the 16th century Tolsey building, once the meeting place for medieval merchants, now houses The Tolsey Museum, a delightful, local museum illustrating the town's social and industrial past. There are wonderful alleyways and side streets just waiting to be explored and next to a set of medieval almshouses stands St John’s church, a permanent memorial to Burford’s medieval wealth. This fine church is a real gem with many interesting memorials charting some of Burford's great families including one to Henry VIII’s barber surgeon, which includes one of the earliest depictions of native Americans and the ostentatious Tanfield tomb. (attractions today are subject to individual choice and payment)
