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by Blair Howard (Author)
The Visitor's Guide to the English Cotswolds - 4th Edition Including Stratford & Shakespeare Country If you're planning a visit to the English Cotswolds, you'll find this guide to be a valuable resource. The English Cotswolds are a chain of undulating, limestone foothills that encompass a quiet, idyllic world of sleepy little towns and villages nestled among the hills and dales. Rising to just over 1,000 feet at the highest point on Cleeve Hill, the Cotswolds are spread across a half-dozen West Midland counties, including Gloucestershire, Avon, Wiltshire, Hereford and Worcester and Oxfordshire. Please allow me to introduce you to my Cotswolds and Shakespeare Country. Yes, we'll visit all the well-known and not-to-be-missed spots along the way, but I'll take you to places off the beaten path, places that very few visitors to the Cotswolds ever get to visit. Chipping Campden, Broadway, Stanton, Stanway, Snowshill, Bourton-on-the-Water, Stow-on-the-Wold, Naunton, Northleach, Chedworth, The Slaughters, Buckland, Winchcombe, Burford, Cirencester and Bath are just some of the towns we'll visit. There's an air of timelessness among these ancient hills, honey-colored towns, villages and cottages. This, then, was my world, a world quite different to that you'll find described in the average guide book to the Cotswolds. I see the Cotswolds, even the well-known sites, through different eyes than do the tour guides that steer the visitors from one well-worn site to the next, never deviating from the pre-set tour of what they think you should see. But there's more, so much more. The historic sites and attractions we'll visit along the way include: Bellas Knap (an ancient long barrow - burial mound), the Rollright Stones (a prehistoric stone circle you're not likely to find in any other guide book), the lavender farm at Snowshill, the visually stunning ruins of the Roman Villa at Chedworth, Sudeley Castle (home of Queen Catherine Parr, last wife of Henry VIII), the ruins of Hailes Abbey, Broadway Tower, Wells Cathedral, the Great Tithe Barn at Littleton, the Fleece Inn at Bretforton (one of England's oldest pubs), the Roman Baths at Bath, Wickhamford where you can visit the tomb of one of George Washington's relatives, and many more too numerous to mention here. Okay, now on to Stratford upon Avon and Shakespeare Country: Shakespeare Country encompasses, not only Stratford upon Avon, but most of the western reaches of the county of Warwickshire, along with the historic towns of Warwick, Kenilworth, and a half-a-hundred towns, villages and hamlets. It's a world unlike any other, historic, peaceful and stunningly beautiful. And then there are the great castles of Warwick and Kenilworth. Both are included, and in detail. You'll find information about where to stay and where to eat: pubs, inns, hotels and bed & breakfast houses. All the information you need to successfully plan your visit to the Cotswolds and Shakespeare Country.
