The Cotswold's again

A visit to Jackies gran in Cheltenham is always something we really look forward to. There is plenty to see and do, we are treated like royalty and the peace and quiet is awesome.

I decided to be tour leader/navigator for the weekend, and had a full agenda planned, starting fairly early on saturday morning. Our first stop was a village called Fairford, with a beautiful church, famous for having the oldest full set of stained glass windows. We continued slightly further east, to Lechlade-upon-Thames, where we parked, and went off on a short walk to St John's lock, and back into the village, along the canal. We had a very important lunch reservation for 1pm, and so made our way through Bibury and the Coln Valley to Duntisbourne Abbots. The drive took us through an absolutely amazing area of farmland and villages, and something that none of us had seen before. Much to my relief we found the pub, and made ourselves at home at a table in the corner. We were about 15 minutes late, and as it was recently awarded the Gloucestershire dining pub of the year, I expected the 'Five Mile' to reject us on arrival. They accepted us with open arms and cold beers, and in no time at all, we were enjoying a gourmet pub meal of note. I had the happiest duck I have ever eaten, with a heavenly garlic, brandy and pink peppercorn sauce. After lunch we made our way to a pub called the Thames Head (somewhere between Coates and Kemble), where we parked, and walked along a rough footpath to the reason for the pub's name, the source of the Thames river (see the 3rd picture above). The only other visitors to the source were about 100 cows, and they seemed totally disinterested. The spring is only visible in winter, and we only found the sign marking the site - no water. After a few minutes, like the cows, we had lost interest, and made our way back to the car.

On sunday we again made our way to somewhere new, this time to the England/Wales border and a village on the Severn Estuary. The village, called Frampton-on-Severn, has recently been awarded Cotswold village of the year by the Cotswold Life magazine. I don't think anyone has read the magazine yet, because the village was empty, but we thoroughly enjoyed it and found it to be a pretty special place. The village has no through traffic, and has a picturesque little canal, with views out over the estuary. It has some really old thatched and beamed houses, and plenty of open spaces. After a good pub lunch, we made our way back to Noiseville (AKA London).