The last time we were in the Cotswolds, I wanted so badly to spend time just wandering from village to village, so this time I planned a day doing just that! We started out early in the morning from our cottage and walked the mile down the road to Lower Swell.
There were pheasants (and pheasant feathers) EVERYWHERE.
Lower Swell is adorable and very tiny and I would love to live there.
We turned left to wend our way to Stow-on-the-Wold.
This charming little path was made by the local parishioners.
When we got to Stow, our first stop was St. Edward's Church.
Supposedly these doors were the inspiration for Tolkein when he described the Doors of Durin in Moria.
So beautiful! I love the ancient door nestled between the yew trees.
The first of many many many "wool churches" we went into that day. I loved seeing bits of parish life here--notes about the upcoming rummage sale and a pew stacked with old wooden toys to entertain local children during the service.
Then we walked through Stow and instead of going to the tea shop I had planned to go to, we stopped at an earlier one which was a rookie mistake.
It was fine, but not great.
Then we set out again, walking down through Stow.
I loooove these walls with the tall stones set on edge; they are everywhere in the Cotswolds.
The walk to the next village, Upper Slaughter, was quite a bit longer and so beautiful. We walked through a number of farmholdings and talked about how amazing the Right to Roam is.
Just walking right through this farm because that's the way the public footpath goes! Lots of gates and you just need to be very careful to close them behind you.
And some pretty gorgeous homes along the way.
Lots of friendly horses!
This is part of an old mill complex. So much history!
Eventually we came out of a copse of trees and we were in Lower Slaughter.
Another beautiful little church with what appears to be the hawkish sibling of Dumbledore's owl thingie?
And since it was the day before Easter, there were lots of little things like this around the sanctuary.
We walked through Lower Slaughter...
And stopped at a playground for a few minutes on our way to Bourton-on-the-Water.
Bourton was just as charming as I remembered (if more crowded!)
We stopped at a Cornish bakery and got the best pasties I've ever had in my life. So good that we went right back after finishing them.
Then we went to the model village--when we were there with Abigail I kept thinking about how much the boys would love it, so it was fun to see it with them!
This is the bakery we loved!
Then we got some fish and chips and sat by the water people-watching while we enjoyed our snack.
And then we started back towards Lower Slaughter...
And on through it to Upper Slaughter.
Then we turned off through the woods toward the old Roman road.
Lots of ewes and lambs!
And then we eventually finally got back to our cottage just before sundown (I can't remember how many miles we did? Maybe 12? It was a long day with lots of snack stops). I was still feeling kind of jittery so I went out for a quick sunset run along the other side of the Roman road where it petered away into a trail.
It was a pretty much perfect day!
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