A fellow shepherd and Marylander, Joan, contacted me back in April about going along with her to the Cotswolds. She was here for 2 weeks on a sheep farm tour with sheep breeders from all over the US. I didn't know Joan at all, but what the heck, she raises sheep, she seems nice, she likes white wine, and I do love the Cotswolds! So I arranged to meet her at the car rental place near London. After a quick greeting hug, we got the car, packed in and off we went. Luckily we both wanted to take the back roads, see sheep and cute cottages, avoiding towns larger than 1000. She's a good navigator and we were soon joyriding down one-lane roads, through the tiny honeypot villages of the Cotswolds.
The weaver's cottages at Bibury.
Saw this gypsy wagon in a side yard of a vast estate. It might well be the fanciest chicken coop I've ever seen!
Too many choices!
This was the view from the pub where we ate dinner, drank wine, watched the sunset and stayed after everyone had left and finally realized the owners probably wanted to call it a night. We walked down the hill at 10:30, through the village and to our charming B&B where we crawled under our down duvets because the night was so chilly. It stays light out until around 10:30 or so and it's bright sunshiney at 4:00 in the morning!
Followed this pathway to another artist's studio.
The bridge to Bibury.
The Vine, our B&B for one night in the village of Stanton.
Ablington House, the 17th century B&B for our first night. Our room was up, then down, then up a couple steps, through the dining room, down a short hallway, up a few more steps, down another hallway, down more steps, turn left and we're there!
The grand front entrance to Ablington House.
And the watchdog, Marmalade, at Ablington House.
This delphinium is over 5' tall!
All the veggie gardens we saw were this perfect. The bamboo branches are ready for the climbing beans.
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