The Cotswolds

When researching places to stay in the English countryside, 'The Cotswolds' kept coming up.  We had heard of this place from Mr. Google, and from a few other people that had also been there.  After looking at pictures, and reading a few other blogs of their travels to the Cotswolds, I knew that it was a place I wanted to visit. 

The Cotswolds is a huge area, a few hours outside of London.  Many people who permanently live in London have houses in the Cotswolds.  They go there on the weekends to get away from the busy city.  It is about 100 miles long, so there is no way that we could have seen all of the towns in the Cotswolds unless we had more time in the area.  Well, we had a weekend, so we had to be picky on the towns that we wanted to see.  I spent hours and hours on the internet, trying to find the perfect place to stay.  However, most everything was already booked up.  So, I went for the second best thing, a central location, and a good price. 

We stayed in the town of Cheltenham.  It was not one of the 'cute' towns that we wanted to see, but it was a great location and wonderful price to explore from.  It kind of reminded us of the place we are living in Chelsea, London.  We got there around 3, checked in, asked which towns were close by, and then headed to one of the Cotswold towns.

We went to Bourton on-the-water.  Many call this 'the Venice of the Cotswolds.' It was such a cute little town! We parked our car, and walked around, in and out of the rain.  We went into most all of the cute little stores, I had to restrain myself from buying tea pots, cute tea cups, and this really cool cape/scarf thing.  We headed to 'Afternoon Tea,' a British favorite.  We then walked around a little more, curving in and out of the little streets.  Watched the little kids and dogs play in the water, found a little Pub, had beers and watched Wimbledon, decided to eat typical British Pub food, walked around a little more, and then went back to our hotel in Cheltenham.  It was a great afternoon and evening! If you ever visit the Cotswolds, I highly suggest that you rent a car.  The tour buses only go to certain, busy towns, and they do not give you a lot of time to explore.  We were sure to see everything!

 It started to rain on our way to Bourton-on-the-water

 Then, it finally got sunny! A cute big house off of one of the roads.

 Shamrock Cottage

 Restaurants on the Water

 All the kids were playing in the cold water

 Our Afternoon Tea spot

 This dog was just hanging out in the water and would not get out

 Looking down one of the streets

 Everything was set back in time, even the ice cream truck

 The water was flowing from a damn

 T went to check it out

 We went inside a candy store, and all of the candy were in these cute little jars

 A cute little garden

 In front of the water

 He said that it wasn't too cold, but when I felt his hands... it was COLD!

 T was too tall for most of the pubs!

 The pub that we had fish and chips and a rump steak in while drinking beer and watching Wimbledon

 A rainbow over the cute little village

When we got to our car, it was the only one, and the guy was waiting for us so he could lock up the lot and leave...woops!