Our English friends just moved to a place in the Cotswolds and were throwing a party which gave us the perfect excuse to book a weekend in the country. The Cotswolds are right out of a Lands End catalog if Nieman Marcus produced it - it's sort of like Martha's Vineyard or the Hamptons only with foxhunting and horses everywhere...seriously. We saw this scene multiple times throughout the weekend.
We had dinner a really delicious pub called the Village Inn in Barnsley. It was one of our better meals we've had in the UK and the service was wonderful (very, very rare in the UK) as we had a very charming and humble French waiter.
After cleaning up we braved the pelting rain and headed to George and Claire's for their dinner party. They managed to get 20 or more of us around a table and it was a blast. Lots of food and drink, but best of all, lots of good English humor. We were the only non-English there and we struggled to give back even 10% of the wit that was going around the table that night. It was one of those experiences where you feel like you are finally getting under the veneer of a culture and really living a bit of their lives. It was great and we both felt lucky for the experience.
The next day we got a bit of a late start as Morgan (who LOVES the countryside and all that comes with it) found herself a special treat to rub herself in - not sure what it was or that I want to know, but after a bath (and three or more shampooings) she was good as new. We also had a bit of a late start as I got us quite lost (and in fairness, it was very hard to find that teeny, tiny sign) on the way to the group pub lunch. While we showed up, we were well over an hour late. W e still managed a nice lunch with a smaller group of Claire and George's friends. It was good to swap stories from the night before and get to know few people a bit better.
I packed up my wellies and we headed out Friday night in our rental car to another cute stone cottage that we booked through Rural Retreats. This one wasn't quite as cute as our X-mas cottage, but it was fine and had a fireplace.
We had dinner a really delicious pub called the Village Inn in Barnsley. It was one of our better meals we've had in the UK and the service was wonderful (very, very rare in the UK) as we had a very charming and humble French waiter.
The next day we headed out to do some exploring in the rain. Our first stop was Burford for some breakfast. As there was no Starbucks (yet), we grabbed a so so latte from the local bakery and headed to our next stop, Chipping Camden. It's a quaint little town where we walked town a bit and then found a pub that allowed dogs (many do out there) called the Queen's Head. Surprisingly, it seemed to be full of locals who were debating all sorts of topics from politics (US and UK) to inheritances - must not have been any football or rugby games that day. It kind of reminded me of those two old guys in the balcony on the Muppet Show. It was charming. After lunch we headed to Stow-on-the-Wold (I have no idea where they get these names) were we did more wandering, saw lots of even cuter cottages with thatched roofs (this one took the prize) and then had tea at the Badger Inn - a must if you find yourself in this area.
After cleaning up we braved the pelting rain and headed to George and Claire's for their dinner party. They managed to get 20 or more of us around a table and it was a blast. Lots of food and drink, but best of all, lots of good English humor. We were the only non-English there and we struggled to give back even 10% of the wit that was going around the table that night. It was one of those experiences where you feel like you are finally getting under the veneer of a culture and really living a bit of their lives. It was great and we both felt lucky for the experience.
The next day we got a bit of a late start as Morgan (who LOVES the countryside and all that comes with it) found herself a special treat to rub herself in - not sure what it was or that I want to know, but after a bath (and three or more shampooings) she was good as new. We also had a bit of a late start as I got us quite lost (and in fairness, it was very hard to find that teeny, tiny sign) on the way to the group pub lunch. While we showed up, we were well over an hour late. W e still managed a nice lunch with a smaller group of Claire and George's friends. It was good to swap stories from the night before and get to know few people a bit better.
After that we set out for Oxford as it was on the way back to London. The architecture was beautiful and it was neat to see Christ's Church as we both become fans of the Tudors since we've moved here.
Overall, it was a really beautiful area and seemed like where fairy tales must have originated from. I can definitely see how people choose to commute 1.5 - 2 hours into London each day so they can live out here full time.
Overall, it was a really beautiful area and seemed like where fairy tales must have originated from. I can definitely see how people choose to commute 1.5 - 2 hours into London each day so they can live out here full time.
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