Great Britain England Cotswolds Bilbury Burton Stow Slaugher Woodstock Burford Minster Lovell Oxford

It was a pure joy to drive the beautiful rural English countryside of England’s Cotswolds in the early summer with canopy tree-covered roads, fields covered with flowers, and visiting picture-perfect villages steeped in history and bursting with beautiful centuries-old mansions built with honey-colored stone and historic churches.

Bilbury

Topping our Cotswold’s list is Bilbury with its cluster of beautiful riverside cottages – don’t miss it! When describing something as “post card perfect,” Bilbury comes to our mind. So picturesque and beautifully maintained, it is difficult to determine what is real and what is “post card.”

Easily located with well-marked signs, Arlington Row (see photo) is what dreams are made of and deserving described as the most photographed street in Great Britain (we took scores of photos of it – one prettier than the next).

Blenheim Palace

Interesting and informative tours of Blenheim Palace's gilded staterooms are included with your admission fee. The 35-minute “Untold Stories” tour is also interesting. Then take a walk the over 2,000 acres of wonderfully eye-pleasing landscaped parkland, the great lake, and beautiful formal gardens. You can take a small train out to the family-friendly Pleasure Gardens.

Minster Lovell

Stow-on-the-Wold is a cute Cotswolds' village with a pretty town center to explore, relax, or have a meal or drink. We enjoy having some ice cream sitting under the trees in the small park in the town center and just soaking in the atmosphere.

Sudeley Castle

We stayed in the attractive village of Burfordbecause of its central location in the Cotswolds making taking day trips around the area very enjoyable. When we returned from our day of exploration, we had many nice restaurants and pubs along High Street to have dinner (see photo). Little has changed in Burford since the 18^th century and staying in one of its 15^thcentury inns gave us a good travel experience and better understanding how hospitality was done centuries ago.

Originally built in 1480, we stayed at Burford’s Highway Inn. It gave us a great experience of what a full service Cotswolds' Inn can be. The friendly staff was very helpful. The food and pub was atmospheric and very good. Dinner just down the street at the Golden Pleasant and the Spice Lounge was very good.

From fans of great universities and Harry Potterfilms, a day-trip to Oxford while visiting the Cotswolds is easily done. Medieval Gothic churches and colleges dominate the Oxford’s architecture. Oxford has 38 colleges where students live, study, and eat at their specific college. We started our visit at Christ Church (think Harry Potter), one of the largest colleges in Oxford with about 645 students and founded in 1524 (see photo). It was fun to see the great hall featured in the Potter movies and the rest of the self-guided tour is interesting.

We had fun across the street from Bodlein Library at the Turf Tavern Pub located down New College Lane. This is one of Oxford’s oldest pubs dating back 800 years ago. We loved the non-PC sign about Bill Clinton’s visit here (see photo). Museum fans will love Ashmolean Museum (free admission). Britain’s oldest museum and is second in reputation only to London’s British Museum.

Important driving tip: Because many of the roads in England, especially in the Cotswolds, are smaller country roads with many confusing roundabouts, getting lost is not hard. In fact, it can be fun if you can get back on track. 

Some Cotswolds history: The villages in the Cotswolds boomed during medieval times because of the wool trade. The wonderful buildings you see today were built hundreds of years ago. Today about 80% is open fields and farmland with only about 160,000 people living in the smaller towns and villages.