Tag Archives: Cotswolds

Village on a Chocolate Box

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Years ago, when I was a child [the 50s, mainly], boxes of chocolates were a favourite gift and were almost always adorned with pictures- most often totally unrelated to their contents. A common theme was cosy, thatched cottages with roses around the door. My mother was very fond of boxes of chocolates, so this made buying her a birthday or a Christmas gift very simple.

So all these twee designs on chocolate boxes led to a well-known catch-phrase [at the time] of comparing country cottages to chocolate boxes. If you said a home was like a chocolate box, everyone would know what you meant.

Nowadays though, I doubt very many people would understand the phrase at all. Boxes of chocolates have largely fallen out of fashion and favour and those that do still exist are unlikely to have photos of thatched cottages on the front and a huge red ribbon around them.

The village of Lacock in Wiltshire, though, boasts enough chocolate box cottages to stock large numbers of sweet shops and is the kind of village I imagine overseas tourists dream of visiting, should they want to see traditional British life.

Here, the two main streets host terraces of ancient buildings- half-timbered, thatched, tiny or rambling- all tended and primped for visitors. Among the homes is a village store, a post office, bakery, cafes, pub and gift shops. Outside some of the houses, shelves of home-grown garden plants are on offer- even offering ‘honesty boxes’ for payment!

In addition to all of this historic twee-ness there is the beautiful attraction that is Lacock Abbey [National Trust of course], a huge, majestic pile sitting in vast and beautiful grounds, all as meticulously tended as you would expect from a NT property.

One stunning aspect of the abbey grounds is a buttercup meadow, a sea of yellow cris-crossed with mown paths, the flowers almost tall enough to conceal a person [at least- a short person like myself!]. In the centre is an old tree, wound with something at the top [possibly willow twigs?] looking like a woody planet, and hung with beautiful bracket fungus.

The wooded area is another sea- white this time, of wild garlic, which seems to be having a good year, perhaps due to March’s incessant rain? There is an unmistakeable aroma of garlic as we wind our way nearer to the abbey.

We stop for a quick look at the courtyard- presumably accomodation for the abbey inmates, then pop inside the abbey itself, which is beautiful, hung with paintings and dressed with age appropriate furniture. We finish in the enormous hall which is decked with statues around the walls and an enormous fireplace.

Back outside, we take a moment to visit the large pond, before leaving and going to the cafe, always an obligatory deviation. The sun is out and a cheeky robin visits our table to beg for cake crumbs…now as afternoons go it’s pretty good…

For fiction by me, Jane Deans, search for novels: The Conways at Earthsend [an eco-thriller] and The Year of Familiar Strangers [mystery drama]. Visit my website: janedeans.com

In the Company of Trees

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Though it’s not on the plan, as we leave Tobacconist Farm, Minchinhampton I remember that we’re not so far from somewhere I’ve wanted to visit for a long time- the national arboretum at Westonbirt. The arboretum is home to a huge collection of trees and since we’re passing very close it seems a good chance to go and see it.

It’s a warm, bright day. We pull into the coach and motorhome, where we’re almost alone, park and decide to have coffee before we set off around the plantation.

It’s not busy on this weekday, so as we begin to stroll around the vast area we’re often out of sight of anyone. The trees here are extraordinary. As well as the well-known, indigenous trees of the UK, there are many unusual specimens from all over the globe and they’ve made a great job of labelling most of them.

This is a beautiful time to visit, as in between the trees there are huge carpets of proper British bluebells and glorious, vivid rhododendrons in eye-popping colours. The plantation is divided into areas- a lime tree grove, an oak walk, a maple loop. The maples are displaying their finest foliage, with an array of colours from lime green through to the brightest scarlet. There are, of course, some real giants here, too- towering redwoods and huge horse chestnuts.

There’s a lot to see and it requires a lot of walking, which is good for us, although for those who find it harder there’s a shuttle service to take around the site. It’s well organised. In the end we decide there’s so much to see here that we should probably have some lunch at the small cafe and continue.

After a sandwich and coffee, we’re up for finishing the circuit of the place. which means going up the other side and a wilder part, wooded and canopied. On one pathway there is the Gruffalo- and I noticed that childrens’ parties can be held here-. I think I’d have loved a birthday party in the woods as a child! [also I wish I was Julia Donaldson but that’s another [childrens’] story.

We’re working our way towards the elevated tree-top walk, which can be seen from the entrance, then we’re climbing up and getting the views. Below us there’s a woodworking workshop where furniture is being made; above us a short set of steps up to a rounded tower- all, of course, in timber.

We feel we’ve earned tea and cake, conveniently available from a kiosk near the entrance. It’s time to move on and to our next site in the village of Lacock. This site is a world away from ‘Tobacconist Farm’, which was basically a field with a shower block. This one is landscaped, the hard standing pitches meticulously lined up with their own patches of mown grass. There are carefully tended flower beds, a thoughful play area [this site is not adults only], a separate tent field, the beginnings of some glamping units. We’ve booked and already have a pitch number, so there’s no checking in- just finding the pitch and plugging in.

We take a quick stroll down the hill and across the busy road to the village for a very quick recce, then back. The day is still warm and it’s pleasant enough to cook and eat outside- which we do….

For fiction by me, Jane Deans, search for novels: The Conways at Earthsend [an eco-thriller] and The Year of Familiar Strangers [mystery drama]. Visit my website: janedeans.com

Cotswold Jaunt

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So following the unedifying debacle of a van trip to Spain in March, which nasty weather and electrical failure prompted us to abort, we settle down at home for a while, to undertake chores, take stock and have the van repaired.

It transpires that [according to the repair man] the Spanish campsite sockets were the culprits of our calamity in the electrical department. At home, April continues the soggy theme and it’s not until May comes around and there’s enough time between various obligations [health appointments] to chance a short break closer to home.

Husband is a devotee of Gloucester Rugby and has expressed a desire to watch them at their ground and this seems like an incentive to travel onwards into the Cotswolds, even though we went last year. This gives me an afternoon wander around the shopping areas, although I’m disappointed in the range of stores, which are predominantly fashion. There are some odd characters roaming the shopping centre, too…

Our onward journey takes us through some archetypal British villages-

We’re on our way again next day and on to Minchinhampton, a typical Cotswold village with pubs, church, cafe, grocery shop, a miniscule market area, allotments and a vast, open common. We’re booked in at ‘Tobacconist Farm’ and I can’t help running the old song, ‘Tobacco Road’ [first recorded in 1964 by The Nashville Teens] through my head. Access to the site is tucked away in a corner by the allotments and not easy to find, but when we do get in it’s a simple, open meadow next to a donkeys’ field, with a small shower block down at the end.

We’re not quite alone, but there are only a handful of vans around the edges of the meadow. The owner is a larger-than-life woman who clearly likes to talk and rides around on a quad bike.

Once installed, we go to stroll around the village, which is soon accomplished.

The following afternoon we go to visit Cirencester. It’s not a large town but has an enormous parish church that is easily cathedral sized! There are beautiful grounds to the rear of it and a tiny section of old Roman wall as well as a Norman arch. There isn’t a whole lot else to the town but it’s pleasant enough.

The weather deteriorates a little and there are a few showers, but next day, after a slow morning. we stride out across the common, which is undulating and dotted with communities of cowslips. There’s a huge pub which is clearly popular on this bank holiday weekend, judging by the throng of cars parked everywhere. We walk until we reach the brow of a hill overlooking a valley then turn to loop back, getting somewhat lost by attempting a different route back.

For our final night at Tobacconist Farm, we eat at the village pub on the square, which is more than acceptable and has a lovely decor.

Then we’re off towards the next destination, but not before we’ve visited a stunning plantation…

For fiction by me, Jane Deans, search for novels: The Conways at Earthsend [an eco-thriller] and The Year of Familiar Strangers [mystery drama]. Visit my website: janedeans.com