My reminiscing about our trip to the Cotswolds is not quite over yet. Our last day in the countryside of the Cotswolds we visited the small village of Stanton which is three and a half miles south of Broadway, the base for our stay.
After leaving our luggage with our B & B hosts with a promise to be back by 4 p.m. (they were leaving for the airport then) we set off on our adventure.
We walked out on the same road we had come in on the previous day and then set off through a forest - straight into puddles and mud. Our boots were not a pretty sight and at one point I didn't think I would be able to pull my boot out of the mud! A woman was walking on a path slightly above us with a very muddy dog who very dearly wanted to jump up on June. Luckily June was able to restrain it and the dog's owner came over and retrieved it. We did glean a bit of info from her in regards to the paths - we could have taken the one she was on and ended up in the same place. (we did that on our return)
Out of the mucky forest we came upon the small village of Buckland, a charming little place...
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| Now wouldn't I love to do some house/petsitting here...on second thought pretty isolated... |
After leaving Buckland we walked up along a path overlooking more villages and through pastures...coming across these two characters....yes we had to cross their pasture. If I had been on my own I probably would have said to hell with this and turned around...luckily June is the horse whisperer!
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| Bad horsie! |
These horeses were very inquisitive, one in particular who decided it liked the smell of the plums inside my backpack. I had no sooner got my booted feet onto the other side of the fence when it stuck it's nose onto my backpack and followed me. I was yelling "help, help it's chasing me!" while scurrying in a totally different direction than what we meant to go with the horse in hot pursuit. (or so it seemed...) It would not get it's big horsey nose off my backpack. June had to take me by the hand and lead me away - not one of my finer moments I must confess. (June says it was the black one, I say it was the brown one) We had a good laugh about it afterwards but it wasn't too funny for me at the time!!! Horses terrify me! Once safely on the other side we decided to feed them an apple each - they both dropped them in the mud. Ingrates! We regretted that action later!
We soon got to Stanton with mouths watering. We kept hearing about the wonderful Mount Inn and it's fantastic food, so we decided after days of picnics in our room we were going to splurge and have a slap up meal. (as the English say) As we approached I thought the place had a bit of a deserted air to it but it was confirmed when I tried to open the door. Locked! They started closing on Mondays the beginning of September. Let's just say the air was blue!!! After a bit of foot stamping and pouting (and that was just me) we walked over to the outdoor area with picnic tables and had our meagre lunch....thank goodness we had brought snacks with us which of course all sensible hikers do....but damn it we didn't want to have to eat it for lunch!
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| Crisps (potato chips), plums and granola bars...whoopee. No apples courtesy of those stupid horses...enough to eat but when you are salivating for something REALLY good this didn't cut it! |
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Still a bit on the grumpy side (and in need of a loo) we then proceeded to explore the village of Stanton which was quite charming and did make us feel a bit better.
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| Interior of St Michael's Church, Stanton |
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| The groove on the end of the pew above was made by shepherds' dogs way back in the day. So cool! |
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| Gargoyles in the walls |
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| Exterior of the church |
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| Charm... |
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| Charm... |
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| And more charm... |
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| Roses still hanging around in September |
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| A little bit more charm |
Need I add we were in photographer's heaven?
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| Beautiful pastoral scene on our walk back to Broadway (and we came back a slightly different way so didn't have to meet those horses again) |
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| I think I am going to do a blog post on all the sheep I have met! |
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| A toast to a wonderful time in the Cotswolds - I will be back!!! |
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| After picking up our luggage we hauled it over to The Swan where we had a meal (steak and ale pie with chips) |
Upon leaving the Swan some fellows were sitting outside having a drink and one yelled to me "Your friend has a bear back" which caught me aback for a second before I realized he meant Tready Bear hanging from June's backpack! We had a good laugh over that.
Back on the bus to Cheltenham for the night before catching the train to London and then from Victoria on to our respective destinations. (mine, East Sussex)
I hope you enjoyed traveling the Cotswolds with me!!! As Donald Duck says (I think it was him) Thhhhhhat's All Folks!
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