Our last week in Chipping Campden had a few more interesting excursions to fill our days. In need of a small shoe repair (wearing out the stitching with all this walking) we discovered the quaintly named Blockley Cobbler situated in a semi industrial area nearby. The place is called Northwick Business Park & is a former field hospital & Polish refugee camp from the Second World War. There are many Nissen huts & old sheds converted to an assortment of ...

After an early morning walk up Dovers Hill for the view across the fields we took the advice of some locals and we went to find the Rollright Stones near Long Compton. Nothing to do with the Rolling Stones, though they are old & craggy! They don't compare to Stonehenge but they are a Neolithic ceremonial stone circle known as the King's Men plus a single King Stone. To find this ancient place just off the road with virtually no-one else there was great & ...

As we travel around this beautiful part of England, through tiny lanes & across vast rolling hills, in pretty villages & bigger towns everywhere there are marvelous dry stone walls. Some are ancient & falling down, some brand new & everything in between. I think they're really beautiful & have tried to capture a few in photos ( surprise, surprise) but going through my head has been a poem I heard on the radio once & it goes like this : I a...

Our lovely stay in Badger's End cottage in Chipping Campden has been so delightful I thought I'd make a special entry of some of the local area highlights. The cottage is just one street behind the high street (as they say in England) & is secreted behind a simple door between the Post Office & the Co-op through a tiny cobbled laneway. Built of  golden stone & with the universal pink rose climbing over it's walls it is a perfect place to stay wit...

Spent another delightful afternoon in Kiftsgate Garden close to Chipping Campden. The house sits on top of a hill & the garden encircles it but then leads down the steep escarpment to a pool lawn with a magnificent view over the countryside.  It is the creation of 3 generations of women gardeners, has many beautiful 'garden rooms' & is home to the spectacular Kiftsgate Rose - claimed to be the largest in England. It has a vast spread right to the top...