The Cotswolds My visit to the Cotswolds was on a day trip organised by tracks travel (www.tracks-travel.com) and included a visit to three separate little villiages in the area referred to as the Cotswolds. The Cotswolds is in central England and covers the area between Oxford, Stratford, Cheltenham and Bath. The first village we went to was called Burford. Burford is picturesque and has beautiful 14th ~ 16th Century houses. Our visit here involved a wander up and down the main street and popping into the little craft stores and the all essential Peter Rabbit store. We only had an hour to spend here but it was lovely and a great introduction to how you really picture little English towns to look. The houses were tiny with perfectly cared for gardens and windowsills with little knick-knacks. Just gorgeous. Bourton on Water, known as the Venice of the North was the second stop of the day. About 3 hours was spent here, and it was easy to see that this is a popular tourist destination. After a lovely lunch outside - it was a gorgeous day - we went for a wander. Bourton on Water is named due to the "river" that runs through the centre of the town. The "river", however is little stream about 5 meters wide and 1 meter deep. Not what I was picturing for a river! There were lots of duck families floating about and by mid afternoon, kids walking it there too. A visit to the miniature village was amazing as it was a replica of the real Burton on Water - only it was about a meter high. Looked fantastic and I'd definitely recommend seeing it. After this, we paid a visit to a maze. The maze supposedly should take 20 minutes but we took 45! It wasn't a big maze but you needed to find all the numbered markings and write on the piece of paper what it was and this would then help you to solve the mystery at the end (once you eventually reached the centre of the maze). However by this stage I was tired, hot and really thirsty and didn't care what the answer was - I was just glad that we'd got out of the maze! Thirdly, we visited Stow on the Wold. This is the highest point on the Cotswolds (800m) it was here that the last battle of the English War took place and the Royalist Hotel claims to be England's oldest pub, with some of the timber dating back to the 10th Century. We had an hour here and spent it having a traditional Devonshire tea (well I had the scones as I haven't turned English and developed a taste for tea). Heading outside to go for a wander, we noticed that a storm was on its way and it hit without warning so we spent the last half hour sitting on the bus. The Cotswolds are beautiful and was like you see in movies and TV shows of traditional English villages. I think one day was enough time to spend here as after a while, they all started to look the same. It would be a great place to go if you were looking for craft items or antiques but other than that, a good day out, a chance to get out of London and to see the real England. Highlights: 1. The "river" at Bourton on River 2. The minature village 3. The beautiful little houses and general picturesqueness of it all. Lowlights 1. Getting lost in the maze 2. The rain at the end of the day finishing our exploring 3. The touristy-ness of the villages - didn't feel quite right.