Wales to the Cotswolds

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

As we drove inland from the coast this morning, we found ourselves climbing over the Pisgah Valley, which was green and beautiful below us.  I did think back to How Green Was My Valley, which I dimly remember reading in high school and, I think, painted a grim picture of Wales.  The country we’ve seen has been beautiful – pastoral scenes, massive castles, and pretty villages whose names are longer than their main roads. 

As we gained altitude, it appeared as if we were rising to the level of the clouds we could see ahead of us and, indeed, most of the middle part of the day was somewhat cloudy.  We drove through Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales before crossing the border back into England near Gloucester.

We spent the afternoon wandering from one picture-perfect Cotswold village to another.  Roads lined with honey-colored stone houses seem as if they were ordered-up by some Disney set designer, and their names are as quaint as the towns themselves: Upper and Lower Swell, Little and Great Rissington, Stow-on-Wold, Bourton-on-the-Water (not to be confused with Bourton-on-the-Hill!)  We explored the quiet churchyard and pretty little St. Mary’s Church in Lower Slaughter and then took one of the ubiquitous public footpaths to walk through fields (some home to grazing sheep), past an old mill, along a small river, over low bridges and through gates until we arrived in, of course, Upper Slaughter, with its own array of perfect houses, quiet churchyard, and pretty little church, this one honoring St. Peter.  The Slaughters were perfect bookends to the one-mile footpath.

We’re spending the night in a B and B outside the beautiful village of Broadway and we’ll spend more time tomorrow exploring the Cotswolds before heading to Bath for a three-night stay.