We had a great breakfast at Burford House and planned what we could do, given the weather forecast. Our plan is to walk through some Cotswold villages until the rains drive us home.
After breakfast, we went for a walk around Burford, as the forecasted rains hadn’t hit yet.
We headed down Witney Street beside Burford House to see some of the beautiful homes. Apparently the ancient Burfordians must have been dwarves given the size of some doorways!
Part way down the street, we came upon the Burford Firehall.
Group Commander Kevin just happened to be outside and when we mentioned that Matt was a firefighter back in London, ON, he took us for a tour of the firehall and chatted with us for some time.
The Great House on Witney street was built in 1690 and easily dwarves any other building in town.
The Royal Oak Inn is just down the lane from Burford House.
Our car was parked for some of the time in the town car park which has the mill stream pond beside it… a favourite spot for ducks and other water fowl.
When we left Burford, we were heading for some of the off-the-beaten track villages… Swinbrook, Asthall and Worsham towards Minster Lovell.
The footpath leads down to a lost village near Witford. On our way, I literally stopped the car on the little single lane road we were on, backed up and took this picture of cows in the meadow.
After a pleasant drive through Cotwolds white roads, we found the Lamb Inn for a great lunch in Shipton-under-Wychwood.
After lunch, we took a nice long walk around Shipton-under-Wychwood. Just down the road were the gates to Shipton Manor.
Across the road was the entrance to the Shipton Gardens which have many woodland walks.
Once again, there were so many beautiful Cotswolds homes along the streets, we could only include a couple for this blog.
The Shaven Crown Inn.
The village green.
After leaving Shipton-under-Wychwood, we drove over some more white roads to the village of Bledington.
There was a great village green with a stream running through it. Ducks and Bantams were found in the stream or walking over the roads.
So many of the buildings were build with the golden stone of the Cotwolds it was beautiful.
St. Leonard’s parish church in Bledington.
Oldest parts of the church date back to 1170.
There were many such carvings around the outside of the church.
The Kings’s Head Inn, Bledington.
We had a drink in the bar at the King’s Head… looks like a good place for dinner.
The rain finally hit the area while we were inside, but Burford was only 5 miles away, so the drive back wasn’t bad.
We had dinner at the Royal Oak in Burford, where we had dinner with Bruce and Natacha last December. It’s changed hands since then and while the food was ok it wasn’t as good as then.
Tomorrow is promising to be sunny and warm for our last full day in England. John and Debbie were schedule to arrive today, so hopefully they’re safely ensconced in their B&B in Bath by now.
One final note, I hope these pictures have given you a little glimpse of what the Cotwolds are like, but the reality is that the pictures don’t come close to the actual beauty you experience as you stroll through the villages. Sorry but you’ll all have to come for yourselves.
That’s it for now… Cheers!