E was on holiday for a few days last week so we had an afternoon out at Stow-on-the-Wold in the Cotswolds.
With hindsight visiting on a sunny August day in the school holidays was probably not the best of ideas as the town was very busy and there was a 20 minute queue to even get into the town.
Timothy in the traffic jam feeling rather bored and asking "Are we there yet?"!
Nearly there!
A rather lovely new Cotswold stone wall.
Unsurprisingly there was no room to park in the town square so we went back to leave the car in the free car park at Tesco and walked.
This fountain was presented to the town's residents in 1896 by Piers Thursby.
The town has a lot of lovely independent shops.
This building houses the library and information centre.
The town was heaving with people and combined with cars parked all round the square made getting photographs something of a challenge!
There are a lot of pubs and tearooms.
The Cotswold Cheese Company - purchases were made :)
This is allegedly England's oldest inn built c947AD
We bought some chips from here for a rather unhealthy but tasty lunch!
Sadly, I didn't get chance to look round this interesting looking bookshop.
Time for a quick drink.
Near this cross Sir Jacob Astley surrendered to Parliamentary forces following defeat at The Battle of Stow on 21st March, 1646. 200 Royalists were slaughtered in the square and 1500 held prisoner in the church overnight. This was the last battle of the first Civil War and resulted in the end of the Royalist occupation of Oxford.
It was impossible to get a photo of the cross without people sitting on it!
It was a pity this shop was shut as the Oak Man in the photo above may well have been coming home with me.
More purchases were made here!
The church of St Edward dates back to the 11th century. I didn't go inside this time but if you want to see the church interior please see here as I did look round on my last visit. The church is about half way down the post. For some unknown reason I called the town Stow in the Wold and not Stow on the Wold!!
These are bale tombs which date from the time when individuals became wealthy due to the wool trade. The tombs have a semi-circular ribbed shape on top of the chest tomb. This may represent bales of wool or possibly the rippled shape of a pall which was suspended over a semi circular metal frame over the body during medieval funeral services.
This is the wonderful door at the church said to have inspired J R R Tolkien especially in relation to the Gates of Moria.
This churchyard was rather neat and manicured :(
Purchases for D as he was stuck at home working!
I do like the Cotswolds but the one huge disdvantage is that, like Stratford upon Avon, it is always busy.
All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera.
10 comments:
That is the problem with school holidays! I expect you enjoyed what you saw and did, despite the hordes of people though?
His Small Lordship is looking rather dapper in his new outfit! It is always the same, a popular place is bound to be busy, especially while school holidays are happening, but the plus side is popular places have plenty of hostelries and shops to tempt us, and a day out is a day out after all. Fish and chips once in a while is fine, and I am sure Timothy ate his fair share to help out.
beer and cheese? good bear Timothy!
Stow is nice.... have you ever been to Chastleton?
Toffeeapple - Thank you and yes that is true about school holidays. Usually I can switch off from hordes of people so I did enjoy it thank you :)
Rustic Pumpkin - Thank you. Timothy waves and says he is glad you like his new jumper. It is a pity I cannot sew as really he could do with a summer t-shirt!! :) Yes you are right there were so many good little shops and locally made items. I didn't have fish just the chips! :) Timothy enjoyed chips and beer! :)
The Quacks of Life - Thank you. Timothy loves both :) I like Stow too - yes I have been to Chastleton - super place although OH didn't like it - too dark!!! Church there good too although I need to go back as my photos of medieval tiles and glass were not good! I do like that area of North Cotswolds and South Warwickshire - pity property is SO expensive as I would move there!
Poor Timothy but at least he had a new outfit for the visit. I remember staying in Stow, many moons ago, at a B&B in an old mill, just us and a Dutch couple, I remember them reading the newspaper supplement in the lounge and asking us what the word 'toddlers' meant, they thought it was a breed of dog:) I love the church door and the stone boar, also the bale tombs in the churchyard. We often use supermarket car parks as you usually get two sometimes three hours and they usually have a cafe, loos etc which helps when you don't know a place very well and have travelled a distance. Looks like a lovely, if busy, day out:)
Rosie - Thank you. That is very amusing about the Dutch couple :) An old mill sounds a lovely place to stay.
The loos in Tesco were rather handy! The problem is these days so many villages don't seem to have public loos or they are hard to find! I have been known to sneak into pubs to use theirs!
Pity the churchyard was so neat around all that lovely history! The perils of the summer holidays, of course we're stuck with these for trips for the next few years but I find the amount of people frustrating :o
Pam - Thank you and I totally agree about the manicured appearance :( Perhaps they think it is what hordes of tourists are expecting in a popular Cotswold town? :( I well remember the days of having to go on holiday in school holidays when the children were young. Although having said that when we go to the Isle of Wight June or early July it is still busy :(
The photo of Timothy with his 'are we nearly there comment' makes me smile.
You have done a fantastic job with your photos considering the town was full of people and cars!
CherryPie - Thanks so much :) The more picturesque the town the more cars there seem to be!!! :(
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